The New York Times is adamant. Karl Rove should not be allowed to spend more time with his family.
Congress should not oblige. ...President Bush took a risk when he put someone so focused on politics as blood sport at the center of his White House.
Both houses of Congress are in Democratic hands -- for what it's worth -- but the Times' editors are hopeful.
Today, despite Mr. Rove’s claims of invincibility, both houses of Congress are back in Democratic hands, Mr. Bush’s approval ratings are around 30 percent and many Republican presidential candidates are running as fast as they can away from the Bush legacy.
Mr. Rove can now contemplate that legacy from his home in Texas. But he should not get too settled in. Congress needs to use all its power to bring Mr. Rove back to Washington to testify — in public and under oath — about how he used his office to put politics above the interests of the American people.
Lotsa luck, fellas. Elsewhere in the paper, Adam Nagourney reports that Rove's work is just beginning.
A look at the roster of every Republican presidential candidate finds people who have worked with him, and they have brought some of his methods to this race.
And not just Republicans.
“The Rove model was so impressive that the front-runner for the nomination is following the blueprint,” said Mark McKinnon, who worked with Mr. Rove in 2004 and is now advising Mr. McCain’s presidential campaign. “It is almost the Powell doctrine of politics: you just hit them with everything you got, everywhere and at the same time.” The front-runner he was referring to, Mr. McKinnon said, is a Democrat, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
