Reply #40: Well, now, THIS is interesting. [View All]

I maintain it was a smart -- potentially Fitzmas-killing -- move of Bush, to dump Meiers.

Clearly Rove may just have saved his job -- even if he quietly resigns the attention is off him, much like Tenet and Ashcroft, meaning he can still retain sway.

The question is if Dems can use Fitzmas to pry Karl Rove from Bush's neck. I don't think they're smart enough (in Congress) to realize the narrow window of opportunity they have here.

If Rove remains joined to Bush at the hip, he will use his puppet Bush to destroy Fitzmas.

All he has to do is nominate someone that will unify the conservative base and draw the Dems out into a pitched battle.

Rove can afford to sacrifice a nominee to get Borked. With Fitzgerald out of the news (remember the Iran Contra investigation?) he can keephis influence, and keep plugging away for three years. That's how they got Scalia.

Now, if Rove is discredited by events in the very near future, a White House in disarray might allow a vindictive and stupid Bush to push thru say, Gonzales.

But even then, what have Dems gained? Unlike Meiers, nobody on the right would imagine that dems secretly supported Gonzales. So no political judo allowed - or needed. He would quickly be defeated and a Scalia clone thrown up in his place by a chastened Bush -- and quickly confirmed by an exhausted Senate. Just like Scalia himself in the wake of Bork and that other guy.