Karl Rove, Blackberry Junky

To find out how Karl Rove has used his RNC e-mail account, I turned to published profiles and assembled this pastiche:

Karl Rove is "a manic package of intensity and energy" who is "surgically attached to his Blackberry." "When he's not on the phone, he's tapping e-mail messages into his handheld Blackberry," "staying in the loop" even when he's out of the office. It's a passion with some history; Karl had "one of the earliest experimental e-mail programs." He can be found "'chipmunking' as he steps off of Air Force One," perhaps keeping "in constant contact with Mr. Mehlman by BlackBerry." He's used the Blackberry in the Eisenhower building while sharing "discreet chuckles with Andrew Card...and Condoleezza Rice," and in "a domestic policy meeting in the Roosevelt Room." He's been known to use it "in bed and while driving," and "when quail hunting down in South Texas...tapping away...during the shoot." In fact, "he even uses it to e-mail colleagues in the same room."

There you have it. Karl Rove, early adopter. Karl Rove, inveterate e-mailer. Karl Rove, who'd rather chipmunk than talk. But there's a punchline here. His ubiquitous Blackberry used an e-mail account issued to him by the RNC. (And given that Susan Ralston's device actually belonged to the RNC, it seems probable his did, as well.)

We're going to see a lot of smoke from the White House over the next few weeks intended to obscure the extent of the misconduct here. So let's not forget what we already know about Karl. Everything he did, he did through his Blackberry. And the entire point of his using the device for government-related work was to eliminate any trace of his actions from government records.

The Presidential Records Act was intended to make our leaders accountable. And Karl Rove deliberately flouted the law. Again.