Switching Roles

Karl Rove, considered by some to have as much influence as Lord Cheney, resigned today, stepping down at the end of the month. Obviously the news is all over it. The reader can peruse the articles at CNN, MSNBC, CBS, but I like ABC that notes the Texas Bush's Brain reputation and Rove's "I'm Moby Dick" statement, which I find intriguing given a recent story of mine.

We are talking about a guy who refused to comply with the Judiciary Committee's subpoena. In addition to the standard line about tending to his family, he said, "I need to make some money."

Excuse me?

The criminal needs to go to prison. Last I checked, our federal prisons don't charge rent. I'm pretty sure the food is free. Overweight white Republicans are prison candy. Let's provide Karl an opportunity to switch roles.

What those paying attention know is that the Rove resignation is the latest of a list of many including Harriet Miers, Andrew Card, Dan Bartlett, and Karen Hughes. So what does this really mean? The reader can search the press which has no shortage of material and angles. Here's the Note's take on the impact on the election, and it offers some other interesting links.

The White House wants to avoid the "lame duck image." Well, W, idiot, said the following in front of everybody, "Karl Rove is moving on down the road. I'll be on the road behind you here in a little bit."

WHAT?!!!

Does the reader get the significance of this slip? I promise that I have been trained in a certain art. The words speak worlds.

Bush wants out.

Oh, uggh. I have been there. Readers of Something Else know that in November of 2006 I found myself cut in half and a dead man walking. Most likely, Bush wants out even more than we want him out, and I speak from experience when I say the experience is horrible. After TREO assassinated me, I only had to walk among the living dead for six months. Bush has SEVENTEEN more to go. The whole country is groaning. Hatred for Cheney escalates as Bush looks increasingly impotent, exposed as the puppet he is. Republicans squirm on the implications for their own seats. News of disintegration and disarray escalate on every front.

My bottom line for the god awful atrocity that is going to cost this country dearly, dearly, dearly, is that we allowed ourselves to elect an executive branch focused solely on building political power for a single individual without the slightest regard for serving the country. Rove shifted the agenda to political power for the White House and the White House alone, and every agency, every department, every organization, even scientific research, faced pressure to shift to that mission.

The GOP Congress, if awake, should be panicking. Watergate was five guys breaking into a room. Iraq is a trillion dollar escalating bloody disaster butchering children as other financial disasters brew and Afghanistan disintegrates along with our own domestic infrastructure. If the Democrats nominate a can of spam for President, spam will take the White House in 2008.

Through Rove and Cheney, we elected leadership that served itself and its best supporters, not the nation. They violated a most sacred bond between the governing and the governed. The word is betrayal. At the national level, the word is treason. They are indeed criminals. They will probably not go to prison, but prison they deserve.

If we are to survive, our leadership must serve this nation, not its own political power. Time wounds all heals. Ultimately, the four steps forward respond to the three steps back. It is slow and painful, but we progress.

The time has come for our political science experts and intellectuals to craft publications powerfully distinguishing what Rove has painfully illustrated. We win if the conversation produces meaningful election and campaign finance reform that provides relief for candidates truly committed to serving this nation and creates barriers for those seeking office to serve their own interests.

Democratic leadership must craft strategies for an MO while Bush walks dead and stymies progress and prepare for the post 2008 election when they gain the steering wheel and must immediately address the mess.

Blue money will dwarf red. Use it wisely to protect all blue freshman as cost effectively as possible and target all low hanging red fruit (Renzi).

The walking dead are zombies incapable of much. I have been one. The blue need to grow teeth, bite and bite hard. Draw blood. KILL. (The reader does get I mean politically.) We need to teach our political parties that if they nominate Lord wannabees that think this country exists to serve them, they will be crucified.

The time has come to switch roles regarding who serves whom.