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| '''Karl Christian Rove''' LIKES HIS BOOKY WOOK. | |||
| '''Karl Christian Rove''' (born December 25, 1950) was ] to former ] ] until his resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the ]. Since leaving the ], Rove has worked as a political analyst and contributor for ], '']'', and the '']''. | |||
| For most of his career prior to his employment at the ], Rove was a ] almost exclusively for ] candidates. Rove's ] clients have included Bush (2000 and 2004 presidential elections, 1994 and 1998 Texas gubernatorial elections), ] ] (1994 U.S. Senate election), ] (1986 Texas gubernatorial election), Senator ] (2002 U.S. Senate election), ] ] (1990 Texas Agriculture Commission election), and ] (1982 ] and 1984 U.S. Senate elections). | |||
| ==Personal life and early political experiences== | |||
| ===Family, upbringing, and entry into politics=== | |||
| Rove was born the second of five children in ], and later raised in ]. His stepfather was of ]. His biological father left the family when Rove and his older brother were children. His mother's second husband, Louis Claude Rove Jr., whom Rove knew as his father, was a ], and his mother, Reba Wood, was a gift shop manager. His older brother is Eric P. Rove, and his younger sister is Reba A. Rove-Hammond. He also has a brother Olaf, and a sister, Alma Monroe. | |||
| His family moved to ] in 1965 when Rove was entering high school. He became a skilled debator.<ref></ref> Rove described his high school years as "I was the complete nerd. I had the briefcase. I had the ]. I wore ] when they were not cool. I was the thin, scrawny little guy. I was definitely uncool." Put up by a teacher to run for class senate, he beat his opponent by riding in the back of a convertible sandwiched between two attractive girls inside the school gymnasium,<ref> NPR published PBS Frontline interview, posted April 12, 2005</ref> right before his election speech. While at ],<ref> by Lee Benson, Deseret Morning News, July 20, 2005</ref> he was elected student council president his junior and senior years. | |||
| Rove began his involvement in American politics in 1968. In a 2002 '']'' interview, Rove explained, "I was the Olympus High chairman for (former ]) ]'s re-election campaign, where he was opposed by the dynamic, young, aggressive political science professor at the ], J.D. Williams."<ref name="underdog">{{cite news | url=http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,450019080,00.html | title=Triumph of the underdog | author=Lee Davidson | publisher=Deseret News | date=December 8, 2002}}</ref> Bennett was reelected to a third six-year term. Through Rove's campaign involvement, Bennett's son, ] — a future United States Senator from ] — would become a friend. Williams would later become a mentor to Rove. | |||
| In December 1969, the man Rove had known as his father left the family, and ]d Rove's mother soon afterward; it later became known he was ].<ref>{{cite web | |||
| | author = | |||
| | title = New Book Reveals Rove's Father Was Gay... | |||
| | publisher = The Huffington Post | |||
| | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/09/05/new-book-reveals-roves-f_n_28738.html | |||
| | date = September 5, 2006 | |||
| | accessdate = 2007-10-26 }}</ref><ref>Sam Stein, , ''Newsweek'', August 13, 2007</ref> After his parents' divorce, Rove learned from his aunt and uncle that the man who had raised him was not his biological father; both he and his older brother Eric were the children of another man. Rove has expressed great love and admiration for his adoptive father and for "how selfless" his love had been.<ref name="new-yorker-profile-2003">'']'' profile: by Nicholas Lemann "Profiles", The New Yorker Magazine May 12, 2003. .</ref> In 1981 Rove's mother committed ] in ].<ref name="new-yorker-profile-2003"/> | |||
| ===College, Vietnam War draft, and the Dixon campaign incident=== | |||
| In the fall of 1969, Rove entered the ], on a $1,000 scholarship,<ref>{{cite news | title=Rove: Ex-Utahn in crisis; Unethical revenge would not surprise his U. poli-sci prof; Rove known as a fierce competitor | publisher=The Salt Lake Tribune | author=Matt Canham and Thomas Burr | date=November 6, 2005}}</ref> as a ] major and joined the ] fraternity. Through the University's ], he got an ]ship with the ]. That position, and contacts from the 1968 Bennett campaign, helped him land a job in 1970 on ]'s unsuccessful re-election campaign for ] from ]. ] ] won. | |||
| In December 1969, the ] held its first lottery drawing. Those born on December 25, like Rove, received number 84. That number placed him in the middle of those (with numbers 1 through 195) who would eventually be ]. On February 17, 1970, Rove was reclassified as 2-S, a ] from the ] because of his enrollment at the ] in the fall of 1969. He maintained this deferment until December 14, 1971, despite being only a part-time student in the autumn and spring quarters of 1971 (registered for between six and 12 credit hours) and dropping out of the university in June 1971. Rove was a student at the ] in the fall of 1971; as such, he would have been eligible for 2-S status, but registrar's records show that he withdrew from classes during the first half of the semester. In December 1971 he was reclassified as 1-A. On April 27, 1972, he was reclassified as 1-H, or "not currently subject to processing for induction". The draft ended on June 30, 1973. | |||
| In the fall of 1970, Rove used a false identity to enter the campaign office of Democrat ], who was running for ]. He stole 1000 sheets of paper with campaign letterhead, printed fake campaign rally fliers promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing", and distributed them at rock concerts and ] shelters, with the effect of disrupting Dixon's rally. (Dixon eventually won the election). Rove's role would not become publicly known until August 1973. Rove told the ''Dallas Morning News'' in 1999, "It was a youthful prank at the age of 19 and I regret it."<ref name="balz-2003-strategist">{{cite news | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/rove072399.htm | title=Karl Rove - The Strategist | publisher=The Washington Post | author=Dan Balz | date=July 23, 1999}}</ref> | |||
| ===College Republicans, Watergate, and the Bushes=== | |||
| In June 1971, Rove ] of college to take a paid position as the Executive Director of the ]. Joe Abate, who was National Chairman of the College Republicans at the time, became a mentor to Rove.<ref name="new-yorker-profile-2003"/> | |||
| Rove traveled extensively, participating as an instructor at weekend seminars for campus ]s across the country. He was an active participant in ]'s ]. As a protégé of ] (later convicted as a ] conspirator), Rove painted the Nixon opponent ] as a "] peacenik", in spite of McGovern's ] stint piloting a B-24.<ref> by James Ridgeway in the Village Voice. July 19, 2005.</ref> | |||
| Rove held the position of executive director of the College Republicans until early 1973. He left the job to spend five months, without pay, campaigning full time for the position of national chairman of the organization, for the 1973-1975 term in the same years he attended ].<ref name="new-yorker-profile-2003"/> ], the group's Southern regional coordinator, who was two months younger than Rove, managed Rove's campaign. The two spent the spring of 1973 crisscrossing the country in a ], lining up the support of Republican state chairs. | |||
| The College Republicans summer 1973 convention at the Lake of the Ozarks resort in ] was quite contentious. Rove's opponent was ] of ] (the other major candidate, ] of ], dropped out, supporting Edgeworth). A number of states had sent two competing delegates, because Rove and his supporters had made credentials challenges at state and regional conventions. For example, after the Midwest regional convention, Rove forces had produced a version of the Midwestern College Republicans constitution which differed significantly from the constitution that the Edgeworth forces were using, in order to justify the unseating of the Edgeworth delegates on procedural grounds.<ref name="new-yorker-profile-2003"/> including delegations, such as ] and Missouri, which had been certified earlier by Rove himself. In the end, there were two votes, conducted by two convention chairs, and two winners — Rove and Edgeworth, each of whom delivered an acceptance speech. After the convention, both Edgeworth and Rove appealed to ] Chairman ], each contending that he was the new College Republican chairman. | |||
| While resolution was pending, Dolan went (anonymously) to the '']'' with recordings of several training seminars for young Republicans where Rove discussed campaign techniques that included rooting through opponents' garbage cans. On August 10, 1973, in the midst of the Watergate scandal, the ''Post'' broke the story in an article titled "Republican Party Probes Official as Teacher of Tricks." | |||
| At Nixon's request, a ] agent questioned Rove. As part of the investigation, Atwater signed an ], dated August 13, 1973, stating that he had heard a "20 minute anecdote similar to the one described in the ''Washington Post''" in July 1972, but that "it was a funny story during a coffee break."<ref>]'': Karl Rove - the Architect: Mastermind: Chronology - Karl Rove's life and political career] at PBS.org</ref> Former Nixon White House Counsel ], who was implicated in the Watergate break-in and became the star witness for the prosecution, has been quoted as saying that "Based on my review of the files, it appears the Watergate prosecutors were interested in Rove's activities in 1972, but because they had bigger fish to fry they did not aggressively investigate him."<ref> by David Talbot on Salon.com. March 31, 2004</ref> | |||
| On September 6, 1973, three weeks after announcing his intent to investigate the allegations against Rove, Bush chose Rove to be chairman of the College Republicans. Bush then wrote Edgeworth a letter saying that he had concluded that Rove had fairly won the vote at the convention. Edgeworth wrote back, asking about the basis of that conclusion. Not long after that, Edgeworth has said, "Bush sent me back the angriest letter I have ever received in my life. I had leaked to the ''Washington Post'', and now I was out of the Party forever." | |||
| As National Chairman, Rove introduced Bush to Atwater, who had taken Rove's job as the College Republican's executive director, and who would become Bush's main campaign strategist in future years. Bush hired Rove as a special assistant in the Republican National Committee, a job Rove left in 1974 to become executive assistant to the co-chair of the RNC, ]. | |||
| As special assistant, Rove also performed small personal tasks for Bush. In November 1973, Bush asked Rove to take a set of car keys to his son George W. Bush, who was visiting home during a break from ]. It was the first time the two met. | |||
| "Huge amounts of charisma, swagger, cowboy boots, flight jacket, wonderful smile, just charisma - you know, wow", Rove recalled years later.<ref> The Guardian, March 9, 2004</ref> | |||
| ===Residences and voting registration=== | |||
| In 1976, Rove became the Finance Director for the ], which did not have a single fundraising event on its schedule at the time. He moved to ]. Within a year, he had pulled in more than $400,000 through direct mail fundraising. | |||
| Rove married ] socialite Valerie Mather Wainwright, on 10 July 1976. He moved to ] in January 1977. His sister and father still remembered "the wedding was so extravagant that … still recall it with awe. But the marriage of the society daughter and the hardworking political hack didn't last long."<ref>{{cite news | title=From Bad to Worse | publisher=The OC Weekly, Stern Publishing, Inc. | author=James Ridgeway | date=July 22, 2005}}</ref> Wainwright divorced Rove in early 1980; she was 26 and he 29.<ref>{{cite news | title=The Man Who Would Be Kingmaker | publisher=Houston Press, New Times Inc. | author=Miriam Rozen | date=July 17, 1999}}</ref> He attended the ] in 1977; he still lacked a degree. In July 1999 he told the ''Washington Post'' that he did not have a degree because "I lack at this point one math class, which I can take by exam, and my foreign language requirement." In January 1986, the now divorced Rove married Darby Tara Hickson. She is a ] survivor, a ]er, and former employee of Karl Rove & Co. Their son, Andrew Madison Rove, born in 1989,<ref name="new-yorker-profile-2003"/> is an undergraduate at ] in ]. Rove left Texas after Bush was elected President in late 2000. | |||
| Now owning a house in the ] that is valued at $1.1 million,{{Fact|date=January 2008}} Rove sold his longtime home in ] in 2003. The ''Washington Post'' reported that Rove had agreed to reimburse the District for an estimated $3,400 in back taxes in September 2005. The taxes were owed because since 2002, when the law changed, Rove was not entitled to a homestead exemption for his DC house because he was voting elsewhere (in Texas).<ref>{{cite news | url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090202397.html | title= Rove Not Entitled to D.C. Homestead Deduction | publisher=The Washington Post | date=September 3, 2005 | author=Lori Montgomery | page= A02}}</ref> Rove was registered to vote in ], located about 80 miles west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country, on 26 May, 2004. The residence that Rove claims on Texas voter registration rolls consists of two small rental cottages, the largest of which is 814 square feet. The cottages were part of the that Rove and his wife, Darby, once owned on the Guadalupe River near ]. The Roves sold the lodge in 2003, after renovating it,<ref name="balz-2003-strategist"/> but kept the two cottages, which the lodge rents to guests. (Darby T. Rove is listed as a director of the new owner of the lodge, Estadio Partners, LLC.) In early October 2005, a resident of Kerr County filed a complaint with the District Attorney of the county to request an investigation into whether Rove and his wife violated Texas state law by illegally registering as voters in Kerr County, since neither had ever lived there.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=85|title=New Complaint Filed Against Karl ROVE With Kerr County, TX District Attorney to Investigate Illegal Voter Registration |publisher=citizensforethics.org|date=October 6, 2005}}</ref> Texas law defines a residence, for voting purposes, as "one's home and fixed place of habitation to which one intends to return after any temporary absence."<ref>{{cite news | url= http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA091005.1B.rove_residence.cdb6c0f.html | title= Rove story costs S.A. lawyer her state job | publisher=San Antonio Express-News | date=September 10, 2005 | author=Zeke MacCormack}}</ref> On 3 November, 2005, Rex Emerson, the District Attorney, announced that he had determined there was insufficient evidence to prosecute either Rove or his wife, and that his office would close the case without further action.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://web.dailytimes.com/story.lasso?wcd=17821 | title=Rove OK to vote here | publisher=The Daily Times | date=November 3, 2005 | author=Gerard MacCrossan}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110302591.html | title= Rove Is Ruled Legal Voter in Texas | publisher=The Washington Post | date=4 November 2005 | page=A12}}</ref> | |||
| In addition to the $1.1 million home he owned in the District in 2005, Rove and his wife built a home in ] worth more than $1 million, according to Rove's 2005 financial disclosure form.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/6/15/204859.shtml | title= | |||
| Bush Top Aides Have Investment Wealth | publisher=The Associated Press | date=June 15, 2005}}</ref> | |||
| ==The Texas years and notable political campaigns== | |||
| ===1977–1991=== | |||
| Rove's initial job in Texas was as a legislative aide for Fred Agnich, a Texas state representative, in Agnich's Dallas office. Later in 1977, Rove got a job as executive director of the Fund for Limited Government, a political action committee (PAC) in Houston headed by ], a Houston lawyer (later President George H.W. Bush's Secretary of State). The PAC eventually became the genesis of the Bush-for-President campaign of 1979–1980. | |||
| His work for Bill Clements during the Texas ] election of 1978 helped Clements become the first Republican Governor of Texas in over 100 years. Clements was elected to a four-year term, succeeding scandal-plagued Democrat ]. Rove was deputy director of the Governor William P. Clements Junior Committee in 1979 and 1980, and deputy executive assistant to the governor of Texas (roughly, Deputy Chief of Staff) in 1980 and 1981.<ref> (commercial site).</ref> | |||
| In 1981, Rove founded a ] consulting firm, '''Karl Rove & Co.''', in Austin. The firm's first clients included Texas Governor Bill Clements and ] congressman ], who later became a Republican congressman and ]. Rove operated his consulting business until 1999, when he sold the firm to take a full-time position in George W. Bush's presidential campaign. | |||
| Between 1981 and 1999, Rove worked on hundreds of races. Most were in a supporting role, doing direct mail fundraising. A November 2004 '']'' article<ref name="Karl Rove in a Corner">{{cite news|url= http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200411/green/3|title=Karl Rove in a Corner|author=Green, Joshua|publisher=The Atlantic Monthly|date=November 2004}} </ref> estimated that he was the primary strategist for 41 statewide, congressional, and national races, and Rove's candidates won 34 races. | |||
| Rove also did work during those years for non-political clients. From 1991 to 1996, Rove advised tobacco giant ], and ultimately earned $3,000 a month via a consulting contract. In a ], Rove testified that he severed the tie in 1996 because he felt awkward "about balancing that responsibility with his role as Bush's top political advisor" while Bush was governor of Texas and Texas was suing the ].<ref name="nerdbehind">{{cite news|url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/1999-05-13/news/feature_print.html|author=Rozen, Miriam|publisher=The Dallas Observer|date=May 13, 1999|title=The Nerd Behind the Throne}}</ref> | |||
| ====1978 George W. Bush congressional campaign==== | |||
| Rove advised the younger Bush during his unsuccessful Texas congressional campaign in 1978. | |||
| ====1980 George H. W. Bush presidential campaign==== | |||
| In 1977, Rove was the first person hired by ] for his unsuccessful ], which ended with Bush as the vice-presidential nominee. ] won the election, but Rove was fired in the middle of the campaign for leaking information to the press.<ref>http://www.newshounds.us/2005/07/20/karl_rove_and_foxs_missing_decade.php</ref> | |||
| ====1982 William Clements, Jr. gubernatorial campaign==== | |||
| In 1982, ] ran for reelection, but was defeated by Democrat ]. | |||
| ====1982 Phil Gramm congressional campaign==== | |||
| In 1982, ] was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a conservative Texas Democrat. | |||
| ====1984 Phil Gramm senatorial campaign==== | |||
| In 1984, Rove helped Gramm, who had become a Republican in 1983, defeat Republican ] in the primary and Democrat ] in the race for U.S. Senate. | |||
| ====1984 Ronald Reagan presidential campaign==== | |||
| Rove handled direct-mail for the Reagan-Bush campaign. | |||
| ====1986 William Clements, Jr. gubernatorial campaign==== | |||
| In 1986, Rove helped Clements become governor a second time. In a strategy memo Rove wrote for his client prior to the race, now among Clements's papers in the ] library, Rove quoted ]: "The whole art of war consists in a well-reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by rapid and audacious attack." | |||
| In 1986, just before a crucial debate in campaign, Rove claimed that his office had been bugged by Democrats. The police and FBI investigated and discovered that the bug's battery was so small that it needed to be changed every few hours, and the investigation was dropped.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/09/04/135514.php|title=Bush's Brain| date=September 4, 2004 |author=El Bicho|publisher=blogcritics.org}}</ref> Critics, including other Republican operatives, suspected Rove had bugged his own office to garner sympathy votes in the close governor's race.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_060404_roving.html | title= Roving Reporters|date=June 4, 2004| publisher=onthemedia.org }}</ref> | |||
| ====1988 Texas Supreme Court races==== | |||
| In 1988, Rove helped ] become the first Republican elected as Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. Phillips had been appointed to the position in November 1987 by Clements. Phillips was re-elected in 1990, 1996 and 2002. | |||
| Phillips' election in 1988 was part of an aggressive grassroots campaign called "Clean Slate '88", a conservative effort that was successful in getting five of its six candidates elected. (Ordinarily there were three justices on the ballot each year, on a nine-justice court, but, because of resignations, there were six races for the Supreme Court on the ballot in November 1988.) By 1998, Republicans held all nine seats on the Court. | |||
| ====1990 Texas gubernatorial campaign==== | |||
| In 1989, Rove encouraged George W. Bush to run for Texas governor, brought in experts to tutor him on policy, and introduced him to local reporters. Eventually, Bush decided not to run, and Rove backed another Republican for governor who lost in the primary. | |||
| ====Other 1990 Texas statewide races==== | |||
| In 1990, two other Rove candidates won: ], the future governor of the state, became agricultural commissioner, and ] became state treasurer. The 1990 election was notable because the ] (FBI), earlier that year, had investigated every Democratic officeholder in the state.{{Fact|date=December 2008}} | |||
| ====1991 Richard L. Thornburgh senatorial campaign and lawsuit==== | |||
| In 1991, ] ] resigned to run for a Senate seat in ], one made vacant by ]'s untimely death in a helicopter crash. Rove's company worked for the campaign, but it ended with an upset loss to Democrat ]. Rove subsequently sued Thornburgh alleging non-payment for services rendered. The ], worried that the suit would make it hard to recruit good candidates, urged Rove to back off. When Rove refused, the RNC hired ] to write an ] on Thornburgh's behalf. After a trial in Austin, Rove prevailed.<ref name="new-yorker-profile-2003"/> ''Karl Rove & Co. v. Thornburgh'' was heard by U.S. Federal Judge ] (who had been appointed by George H.W. Bush in 1991). | |||
| ===1992 George H. W. Bush presidential campaign=== | |||
| Rove was fired from the 1992 Bush presidential campaign after he planted a negative story with columnist ] about dissatisfaction with campaign fundraising chief ] ('']'', January 2003). Novak provided some evidence of motive in his column describing the firing of Mosbacher by former Senator ]: "Also attending the session was political consultant Karl Rove, who had been shoved aside by Mosbacher." Novak and Rove deny that Rove was the leaker, but Mosbacher maintains, "Rove is the only one with a motive to leak this. We let him go. I still believe he did it."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/06/politics/06novak.html|title=Rove and Novak, a 20-Year Friendship Born in Texas|date=August 6, 2005|author=Bumiller, Elisabeth|publisher=]|page=A8}}</ref> | |||
| During testimony before the ], Rove apparently confirmed his prior involvement with Novak in the 1992 campaign leak, according to '']'' reporter ].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/0525nj1.htm|title=Rove-Novak Call Was Concern To Leak Investigators|date=May 25, 2006|author=Waas, Murray|publisher=National Journal}}</ref> | |||
| ===1993–2000=== | |||
| '''1993 Kay Bailey Hutchison senatorial campaign''' | |||
| Rove helped Hutchison win a special Senate election in June 1993. Hutchison defeated Democrat ] to fill the last two years of ]'s term. Bentsen resigned to become ] in the Clinton administration. | |||
| '''1994 Alabama Supreme Court races''' | |||
| In 1994, a group called the '''Business Council of Alabama''' hired Rove to help run a slate of Republican candidates for the state supreme court. No Republican had been elected to that court in more than a century. The campaign by the Republicans was unprecedented in the state, which had previously only seen low-key contests. After the election, a court battle over absentee and other ballots followed that lasted more than 11 months. It ended when a federal appeals court judge ruled that disputed absentee ballots could not be counted, and ordered the ] to certify the Republican candidate for Chief Justice, ], as the winner. An appeal to the Supreme Court by the Democratic candidate was turned down within a few days, making the ruling final. Hooper won by 262 votes. | |||
| Another candidate, ], ran against ], an incumbent Democratic justice and the son-in-law of ]. The race included charges that Kennedy was mingling campaign funds with those of a ] children's foundation he was involved with. A former Rove staffer reported that some within the See camp initiated a ] that Kennedy was a ].<ref name="Karl Rove in a Corner" /> Kennedy won by less than one percentage point. | |||
| '''1994 John Ashcroft senatorial campaign''' | |||
| In 1993, according to the '']'', Karl Rove & Company was paid $300,000 in consulting fees by Ashcroft's successful 1994 Senate campaign. Ashcroft paid Rove's company more than $700,000 over the course of three campaigns. | |||
| '''1994 George W. Bush gubernatorial campaign''' | |||
| In 1993, Rove began advising George W. Bush in his successful campaign to become governor of Texas. Bush announced his candidacy in November 1993. By January 1994, Bush had spent more than $600,000 on the race against incumbent Democrat ], with $340,000 of that paid to Rove's firm. | |||
| Rove has been accused of using the ] technique to call voters to ask such things as whether people would be "more or less likely to vote for Governor Richards if knew her staff is dominated by ]s." Rove has denied having been involved in circulating these rumors about Richards during the campaign,<ref>Mark, David. ''Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning''. 2007, page 204</ref> although many critics nonetheless identify this technique, particularly as utilized in this instance against Richards, as a hallmark of his career.<ref>Burbach, Roger and Tarbell, Jim. ''Imperial Overstretch: George W. Bush and the Hubris of Empire''. 2004, page 118</ref><ref>Hill, Frances. ''Such Men are Dangerous: The Fanatics of 1692 and 2004''. 2004, page 121</ref><ref>Blumenthal, Sydney. ''How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime''. 2006, page 400</ref> | |||
| '''1996 Harold See's campaign for Associate Justice, Alabama Supreme Court''' | |||
| A former campaign worker charged that, at Rove's behest, he distributed flyers that anonymously attacked ], their own candidate. This put the opponent's campaign in an awkward position; public denials of responsibility for the scurrilous flyers would be implausible. See, the challenger and Rove's client, was elected.<ref name="Karl Rove in a Corner"/> | |||
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| {{cite news |work=] |accessdate=2008-01-17 |first=Nicholas |last=Lemann |date=2007-08-27 |title=Rovian Ways |location=] |authorlink=]}}</ref> | |||
| --> | |||
| '''1998 George W. Bush gubernatorial campaign''' | |||
| Rove was an adviser for Bush's 1998 reelection campaign. From July through December 1998, Bush’s reelection committee paid '''Rove & Co.''' nearly $2.5 million, and also paid the Rove-owned Praxis List Company $267,000 for use of mailing lists. Rove says his work for the Bush campaign included direct mail, voter contact, phone banks, computer services, and travel expenses. Of the $2.5 million, Rove said, "About 30 percent of that is postage". In all, Bush (primarily through Rove's efforts) raised $17.7 million, with $3.4 million unspent as of March 1999.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=942|date=February 5, 1999|publisher=The Texas Observer|title=Political Intelligence: Bush Goes A-Rove-ing}}</ref> | |||
| '''2000 Harold See campaign for Chief Justice''' | |||
| For the race to succeed Perry Hooper, who was retiring as ]'s chief justice, Rove lined up support for See from a majority of the state's important Republicans.<ref name="Karl Rove in a Corner"/> | |||
| ===2000 George W. Bush presidential campaign and the sale of Karl Rove & Co.=== | |||
| In early 1999, Rove sold his 20-year-old direct-mail business, | |||
| '''Karl Rove & Co.''', which provided campaign services to candidates, along with '''Praxis List Company''' (in whole or part) to Ted Delisi and Todd Olsen, two young political operatives who had worked on campaigns of some other Rove candidates. Rove helped finance the sale of the company, which had 11 employees. Selling '''Karl Rove & Co.''' was a condition that ] had insisted on before Rove took the job of chief strategist for Bush's presidential bid.<ref name="nerdbehind"/> | |||
| During the ], a ] ] used ] innuendo intended to undermine the support of then-Bush rival ]: "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?" | |||
| <ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/|title=The Anatomy of a Smear Campaign| author=Richard H. Davis| date=2004-03-21|publisher=Boston Globe}}</ref> The authors of the 2003 book and subsequent film '']'',<ref>] entry on </ref> allege that Rove was involved. In the movie, ], political director for McCain's 2000 campaign bid, says "I believe I know where that decision was made; it was at the top of the campaign". McCain campaign manager Richard Davis said he "had no idea who had made those calls, who paid for them, or how many were made", and Rove has denied any such involvement.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2007/03/rove-responds-to-2000-south-carolina.html|author=Alexander Mooney and Robert Yoon|publisher=CNN|date=March 15, 2007|title=Rove responds to 2000 South Carolina campaign allegation}}</ref> | |||
| After the ] in November 2000, Rove organized an emergency response of Republican politicians and supporters to go to ] to assist the Bush campaign's position during the ]. | |||
| ==George W. Bush Administration== | |||
| ] | |||
| George W. Bush was first inaugurated in January 2001, and Rove accepted a position in the Bush administration as Senior Advisor to the President. The ex-President's confidence in Rove was so strong that during a meeting with South Korean president ] on May 14, 2003, he brought only Rove and then-] ]. Rove has played a significant role in shaping policy at the White House. One oft-cited example is that terror warnings were regularly made at times when ]'s ratings rose during the ]. Another is the 2006 announcement that planned terrorist attacks had been thwarted, which was made soon after the Bush administration's ] program was discovered.{{Fact|date=November 2008}} Rove was reassigned from his policy development role to one focusing on strategic and tactical planning in April 2006, the same month that ] replaced ] as ].<ref>{{cite journal| url= http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-19-whitehouseshakeup_x.htm | publisher=USA Today|title=White House 'transition' continues|author=David Jackson and Richard Benedetto | date=2006-04-20}}</ref> | |||
| ===Tells Jack Abramoff about invasion of Iraq=== | |||
| On March 18, 2002, lobbyist ] told a friend, that "I was sitting with Karl Rove, Bush's top advisor, at the ] ] game, discussing ] when email came in. I showed it to him. It seems that the President was very sad to have to come out negatively regarding Israel but that they needed to mollify the ]s for the upcoming war on Iraq. That did not seem to work anyway. Bush seems to love ] and Israel, and thinks ] is nothing but a liar. I thought I'd pass that on."<ref></ref> The ], which is mentioned below, was formed in August of that year. | |||
| ===White House Iraq Group=== | |||
| In 2002 and 2003 Rove chaired meetings of the ] (WHIG), a secretive internal White House ] established by August 2002, eight months prior to the ]. According to ] and '']'', WHIG was charged with developing a strategy for publicizing the White House's assertion that ] posed a threat to the United States.<ref name="leakprobe">{{cite news | |||
| | url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/05/cia.leak.probe/ | |||
| | title=Air Force One records subpoenaed in CIA leak probe | |||
| | publisher=CNN | |||
| | author=Kelli Arena | |||
| | date=March 6, 2004 | |||
| | accessdate = 06-12-14}}</ref> WHIG's existence and membership was first identified in a ''Washington Post'' article by ] and ] on August 10, 2003; members of WHIG included Bush’s ] ], Rice, her deputy ], Vice President ]’s Chief of Staff ], legislative liaison ], and communication strategists ], ], and James R. Wilkinson. | |||
| Quoting one of WHIG's members without identifying him or her by name, the ''Washington Post'' explained that the task force's mission was to “educate the public” about the threat posed by Saddam and (in the reporters' words) “to set strategy for each stage of the confrontation with ].” Rove's "strategic communications" task force within WHIG helped write and coordinate speeches by senior Bush administration officials, emphasizing in September 2002 the theme of Iraq's purported nuclear threat.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A39500-2003Aug9 | title=Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence| author=Barton Gellman and Walter Pincus| publisher=Washington Post| date=2001-08-10}}</ref> | |||
| The White House Iraq Group was “little known” until a ] for its notes, email, and attendance records was issued by ] investigator ] in January 2004, a legal move first reported in the press and acknowledged by the White House on March 5, 2004.<ref name="leakprobe"/><ref>{{cite news | |||
| | url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002452876_leak26.html | |||
| | title=The CIA leak: Infighting, grudges, justifying a war | |||
| | publisher=CNN | |||
| | author=Tom Hamburger and Sonni Efron | |||
| | date=August 26, 2005 | |||
| | accessdate = 06-12-14}}</ref> | |||
| ===Allegations of conflict of interest=== | |||
| In March 2001, Rove met with executives from ] and successfully advocated a ] between a ] company and an Intel company supplier. Rove owned $100,000 in Intel stock at the time but had been advised by ], the White House's transition counsel, to defer selling the stock in January to obtain ethics panel approval. Rove offered no advice on the merger which needed to be approved by a joint ]-] panel since it would give a foreign company access to sensitive military technology.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A63145-2001Jun13¬Found=true| title=Bush Aide Who Held Intel Stock Met Executives Seeking Merger| first=John| last= Mintz| publisher= | |||
| Washington Post| date=June 14, 2001| pages= A14 }}</ref> In June 2001, Rove met with two ] industry lobbyists. At the time, Rove held almost $250,000 in drug industry stocks. On June 30, 2001, Rove divested his stocks in 23 companies, which included more than $100,000 in each of ], ], ], and ]. The same day, the White House confirmed reports that Rove had been involved in administration energy policy meetings while at the same time holding stock in energy companies, including Enron. | |||
| ===Criticized "liberal response" to 9/11=== | |||
| At a fund-raiser in New York City for the ] in June 2005, Rove said, "Conservatives saw the savagery of ] in the attacks and prepared for war; ]s saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." Democrats demanded Rove's resignation or an apology, and pointed out that every Democrat in the Senate voted for military force against ] in retaliation for the September 11 attacks. Rove offered no apology and retained his position.<ref> Page 115 STAT. 224 Public Law 107-40 107th Congress Joint Resolution</ref><ref></ref> | |||
| ], an organization founded in October 2001 by families of some of those who died in the terrorist attack, requested that Rove "stop trying to reap political gain in the tragic misfortune of others".<ref></ref> In contrast, the Bush administration characterized Rove's comments as "very accurate" and stated that the calls for an apology were "somewhat puzzling", since he was "simply pointing out the different philosophies when it comes to winning the ]."<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8324598/ | title=White House defends Rove over 9/11 remarks| publisher=MSNBC (Associated Press)| date=2005-06-24}} </ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200506240003| title=Fox News' Special Report parroted White House spin that Rove comments referred to two "philosophies," not two parties| publisher=Media Matters| date = 2005-06-24}}</ref> | |||
| ===2004 George W. Bush presidential campaign=== | |||
| Bush publicly thanked Rove and called him "the architect" in his 2004 victory speech, after defeating ] in the ].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/11/20041103-3.html| title=President Bush Thanks Americans in Wednesday Acceptance Speech| publisher=White House press release| date= 2004-11-03}}</ref> | |||
| During the campaign, critics alleged that Rove had professional ties to the producers of the ] television ads that criticized Kerry's Vietnam-era military service and public testimony against American soldiers, although no evidence of Rove's direct involvement was ever produced.<ref>http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/08/19/politics/campaign/20040820swift_graph.gif</ref> | |||
| A few months after the election, ] ] (D-NY) publicly alleged that Rove engineered the ] controversy during the 2004 campaign, by planting fake anti-Bush documents with ] to deflect attention from Bush's service record during the ]. Other than Rove's supposed ], however, no evidence supporting this speculation has ever been publicized. Rove himself has denied any involvement, and Hinchey himself admitted he had no evidence to support this claim.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/02/22/hinchey2.htm | title= Hinchey sees hand of Rove| author=Paul Brooks| publisher=Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY)|date=2005-02-22 }}</ref><ref>http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040922-101433-4296r.htm</ref> | |||
| ===Plame affair=== | |||
| {{main|Plame affair}} | |||
| On August 29, 2003, retired ambassador ] claimed that Rove leaked the identity of Wilson's wife, ], as a ] (CIA) employee,<ref name="timeline">{{cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/07/21/politics/20050722leak_graphic.html | title=Timeline of Plame affair | author=New York Times | date=July 21, 2005}}</ref> in retaliation for Wilson's op-ed in '']'' in which he criticized the Bush administration's citation of the ] among the justifications for the ] enumerated in Bush's 2003 ]. | |||
| On June 13, 2006, prosecutors determined there was no reason to charge Rove with any wrongdoing.<ref name="noindict">{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/13/rove.cia/ | title=Lawyer: Rove won't be charged in CIA leak case | author=CNN|date=June 13, 2006}}</ref> Fitzgerald stated previously that "very rarely do you bring a charge in a case that's going to be tried in which you ever end a ] investigation. I can tell you that the substantial bulk of the work of this investigation is concluded." In late August 2006 it became known that ] was responsible for the leak. The investigation led to felony charges being filed against ] for ] and ]. Eventually, Libby was found guilty by a jury. One juror announced that she felt that Libby was being used as a scapegoat and wondered why Rove himself wasn't charged.<ref name="WheresRove">{{cite news | last=Sniffen| first=Michael | coauthors=Matt Apuzzo| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070306/cia-leak-trial? | title=Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Trial | publisher=Associated Press | date=2007-03-06 | accessdate = 2007-03-09}}</ref> ''Washington Post'' columnist ] called on the more vocal members of the media who were publicizing Rove's involvement to apologize to him.<ref name="Imsorrysosorry">{{cite news | url=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/4168101.html | title=Some of us media folks owe Karl Rove an apology | author=Washington Post | date=September 6, 2006}}</ref> | |||
| ====Rove's email to Hadley==== | |||
| In an email sent by Rove to top White House security official ] immediately after his July 11, 2003 discussion with ] reporter ], Rove claimed that he tried to steer Cooper away from allegations Wilson was making about faulty Iraq intelligence. "Matt Cooper called to give me a heads-up that he's got a ] story coming", Rove wrote to Hadley. "When he finished his brief heads-up he immediately launched into ]. Isn't this damaging? Hasn't the president been hurt? I didn't take the bait, but I said if I were him I wouldn't get ''Time'' far out in front on this." Rove made no mention to Hadley in the e-mail of having leaked Plame's CIA identity, nor of having revealed classified information to a reporter, nor of having told the reporter that certain sensitive information would soon be declassified.<ref name="email">{{cite news | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/07/15/national/w161250D87.DTL | title=Rove E-Mailed Security Official About Talk | author=John Solomon | publisher=Associated Press|date=July 16, 2005}}</ref> Although Rove wrote to Hadley (and perhaps testified) that the initial subject of his conversation with Cooper was welfare reform and that Cooper turned the conversation to Wilson and the Niger mission, Cooper disputed this suggestion in his grand jury testimony and subsequent statements: "I can't find any record of talking about with him on July 11 , and I don't recall doing so", Cooper said.<ref name="cooper">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1083899,00.html | title=What I Told the Grand Jury | author=Matt Cooper | publisher=Time | date=July 17, 2005}}</ref> | |||
| ====Karl Rove revealed as one source of ''TIME'' article==== | |||
| {{wikinews|Karl Rove named as a source of Plame leak}} | |||
| On July 10, 2005, ''Newsweek'' posted a story from its July 18 print edition which quoted one of the e-mails written by Cooper in the days following the publication of Wilson's op-ed piece.<ref name="isikoff">{{cite news | url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8525978/site/newsweek/ | title=Matt Cooper's Source | author=Michael Isikoff | publisher=Newsweek|date=July 18, 2005}}</ref> Writing to ''TIME'' bureau chief Michael Duffy on July 11, 2003, three days before Novak's column was published, Cooper recounted a two-minute conversation with Karl Rove "on ]" in which Rove said that Wilson's wife was a CIA employee: "it was, KR said, Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on WMD issues who authorized the trip". In a ''TIME'' article released July 17, 2005, Cooper says Rove ended his conversation by saying "I've already said too much." | |||
| In addition, Rove told Cooper that CIA Director ] did not authorize Wilson's trip to Niger, and that "not only the genesis of the trip is flawed an suspect but so is the report" which Wilson made upon his return from Africa. Rove "implied strongly there's still plenty to implicate Iraqi interest in acquiring uranium fro Niger", gave Cooper a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson." Cooper recommended that his bureau chief assign a reporter to contact the CIA for further confirmation, and indicated that the tip should not be sourced to Rove or even to the White House. | |||
| Cooper testified before a grand jury on July 13, 2005, confirming that Rove was the source who told him Wilson's wife was an employee of the CIA. In the July 17, 2005 ''TIME'' article detailing his grand jury testimony, Cooper wrote that Rove never used Plame's name nor indicated that she had covert status, although Rove did apparently convey that certain information relating to her was classified: "As for Wilson's wife, I told the grand jury I was certain that Rove never used her name and that, indeed, I did not learn her name until the following week, when I either saw it in Robert Novak's column or ]d her, I can't recall which,... was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes. Did Rove say that she worked at the 'agency' on 'W.M.D.'? Yes. When he said things would be declassified soon, was that itself impermissible? I don't know. Is any of this a crime? Beats me."<ref name="cooper" /> | |||
| On August 13, 2005, journalist ] reported that ] and FBI officials had recommended appointing a special prosecutor to the case because they felt that Rove had not been truthful in early interviews, withholding from FBI investigators his conversation with Cooper about Plame and maintaining that he had first learned of Plame's CIA identity from a journalist whose name Rove could not recall.<ref name="waas">{{cite news | url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0533,waasweb1,66861,2.html | title=What Now, Karl? | author=Murray Waas | publisher=The Village Voice | date=August 13, 2005}}</ref> | |||
| Following the revelations in the Libby indictment, 16 former CIA and military intelligence officials urged Bush to suspend Rove's security clearance for his part in ] Plame.<ref name="outing">{{cite news | url=http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13175855.htm | title=Ex-intelligence officials want Rove's security clearance suspended | author=Warren P. Strobel | publisher=Knight Ridder | date=November 15, 2005}}</ref> | |||
| Rove's attorney, ], told reporters on June 13, 2006 that he had received notification from Fitzgerald indicating that Rove would not be charged with any crimes in the investigation into the leak of Plame's identity, effectively ending the matter for Rove. | |||
| On July 11, 2005, Novak said that Rove had discussed Plame with him. On July 15, Rove's lawyers said that Rove told Novak he had "heard that, too", in reference to Plame's status as a CIA employee, but was unaware at the time of the name "Valerie Plame". Rove claims to have learned of her name from his conversation with Novak.<ref name="novaksource">{{cite news | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/15/AR2005071500036.html | title=Rove Confirmed Plame Indirectly, Lawyer Says | author=Mike Allen | publisher=Washington Post | date=July 15, 2005}}</ref> | |||
| On July 13, 2006, Plame unsuccessfully sued Cheney, Rove, Libby, and others, accusing them of conspiring to destroy her career.<ref name="lawsuit">{{cite news | url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13845613/ | title=Plame sues White House figures over CIA leak | author=Associated Press | date=July 13, 2006}}</ref> | |||
| <!--====Scott McClellan's Book==== | |||
| ] claims in a new book '']'', published in the spring of 2008 by Public Affairs Books, that the statements he made in 2003 about Rove's lack of involvement in the ] were untrue, and that he had been encouraged to repeat such untruths. His book has been widely disputed, however, with many key members of McClellan's own staff telling a completely different story. Novak has questioned if McClelland wrote the book himself. It was also revealed that the publisher was seeking a negative book to increase sales.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/01/AR2008060101915.html</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Ex-spokesman attacks Bush over Iraq |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3FDDB097-FE8B-4DDE-884D-57345F734676.htm |work=AlJazeera.net |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=2008-05-28 |accessdate=2008-05-30 }}</ref>--> | |||
| ===2006 Congressional elections and beyond=== | |||
| On October 24, 2006, two weeks before the ], in an interview with ]'s ], Rove insisted that his insider polling data forecast Republican retention of both houses: | |||
| :SIEGEL: I'm looking at all the same polls that you are looking at. | |||
| :ROVE: No, you are not. I'm looking at 68 polls a week for candidates for the US House and US Senate, and Governor and you may be looking at 4-5 public polls a week that talk attitudes nationally. | |||
| :SIEGEL: I don't want to have you to call races... | |||
| :ROVE: I'm looking at all of these Robert and adding them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I'm entitled to ''the'' math.<ref>{{cite web | |||
| |url=http://www.npr.org/about/press/061024_rove.html | |||
| |publisher=] | |||
| |date=2006-10-24 | |||
| |accessdate = 2006-11-18 | |||
| |title=''] (transcript) | |||
| }}</ref> | |||
| In the election the ] won both houses of Congress. The ''White House Bulletin'', published by Bulletin News, cited rumors of Rove's impending departure from the White House staff: "'Karl represents the old style and he’s got to go if the Democrats are going to believe Bush’s talk of getting along,' said a key Bush advisor."<ref> | |||
| {{cite web | |||
| |url=http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/17/rove-departure/ | |||
| |publisher=Bulletin News cited on the blog of the ] | |||
| |date=2006-11-17 | |||
| |accessdate = 2006-11-18 | |||
| |title=REPORT: Karl Rove May Be Leaving The White House In ‘Weeks, Not Months’ | |||
| }} | |||
| </ref> However, while allowing that many Republican members of Congress are "resentful of the way he and the White House conducted the losing campaign", the '']'' also stated that, "White House officials say President Bush has every intention of keeping Mr. Rove on through the rest of his term."<ref name="NYT_Tough_Road">{{cite web | |||
| |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/washington/19rove.html | |||
| |publisher='']'' | |||
| |date=2006-11-19 | |||
| |accessdate = 2006-11-19 | |||
| |title=A Tough Road Ahead for Rove | |||
| |author=Jim Rutenberg and ] | |||
| }} </ref> | |||
| Prior to the election, Rove voiced impatience with the notion that his own reputation is on the ballot. He told the ''Washington Post'', "I understand some will see the election as a judgment on me, but the fact of the matter is that, look what has been set in motion: a broader, deeper, strengthened Republican Party, and with an emphasis on grass-roots neighbor-to-neighbor politics, is going to continue."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/29/AR2006102900753.html | title=Midterm Vote May Define Rove's Legacy | publisher=The Washington Post | author=Michael Abramowitz | date=October 30, 2006}}</ref> After the election, Rove continued to express optimism, telling the ''Post'', "The Republican philosophy is alive and well and likely to reemerge in the majority in 2008." Rove also told the ''Post'' that the GOP election strategy was working until the ] put the Republican campaign "back on its heels." Rove added "We were on a roll, and stopped it.... It revived all the stuff about ] and added to it." | |||
| In Rove's analysis, 10 of the 28 House seats Republicans lost were sacrificed because of various scandals. Another six, he said, were lost because incumbents did not recognize and react quickly enough to the threat. Rove argued that, without corruption and complacency, Republicans could have kept narrow control of the House regardless of Bush's troubles and the war.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/11/AR2006111101103.html | title=Rove Remains Steadfast in the Face of Criticism | publisher=The Washington Post | author=Peter Baker | date=November 12, 2006}}</ref> | |||
| In analyzing the results of the 2006 midterm election, Rove told | |||
| ''Time'', "The profile of corruption in the exit polls was bigger than I'd expected ... Abramoff, lobbying, ] and ] added to the general distaste that people have for all things Washington, and it just reached critical mass... Iraq mattered, but it was more frustration than it was an explicit call for withdrawal. If this was a get-out-now call for withdrawal, then ] would not have been beaten by ]. Iraq does play a role, but not the critical, central role." Again, Rove expressed optimism for the future of the ] (GOP), and defended the role of the Republican get-out-the-vote program he helped invent. He told ''Time'', | |||
| "I see this as much more of a transient, passing thing.... he Republican Party remains at its core a small-government, low-tax, limit-spending, traditional-values, strong-defense party. I see the power of the ideas, even in a tough year.... People were talking 35, 40 or more and it didn't happen. There were a number of elections which were supposed to be close and ended up not being close."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://time-blog.com/allen_report/2006/11/the_architect_speaks.html | title=The Architect Speaks | publisher=Time magazine | author=MIKE ALLEN | date=November 10, 2006}}</ref> He added that he has "fundamental confidence in the power of the underlying agenda of this President", and cited fighting the war on terror, tax cuts, ], welfare, and legal reform, reauthorization of ], reducing ]s, restrained spending. | |||
| In the January 29, 2007 issue of ''Newsweek'', GOP activist ] described how Rove showed up at a weekly meeting of influential D.C. conservatives early in the month, surprising attendees with his bubbly demeanor after weeks of rumors that he might be headed out. Norquist was quoted as saying "I think some people had given him up for dead, but he was good old Karl, upbeat and enthusiastic." At the meeting Rove previewed Bush's final two years in office, saying ] reform was likely off the table and that Iraq and the economy would be the biggest issues for 2008. "I don't know anyone who holds him personally responsible for what happened to us in the election", said a GOP national committee member, who declined to be named talking about the inner circle. "But his stature isn't quite the same." According to ''Newsweek'', "behind the scenes, according to administration officials (anonymous in order to discuss White House matters), Rove has been laying the groundwork for Bush's State of the Union address and mulling how the GOP can regain momentum in 2008.... Rove has been busy trying to find common ground with Dems, organizing two meetings between Bush and the ], a coalition of conservative lawmakers who offer the White House its best chance at compromise with the new Congress. Rove also sat in on many of Bush's meetings with members of Congress in recent weeks about Iraq."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16721090/site/newsweek/ | title=Still Busy—But Staying Out of the Spotlight | author=Holly Bailey | publisher=Newsweek | date=January 29, 2007 issue}}</ref> | |||
| ===Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys=== | |||
| {{Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy}} | |||
| {{main|Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy}} | |||
| ], chairman of the ] Republican Party, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney ] to a White House aide for Rove, asking that Iglesias be removed.<ref name="RoveGone">{{cite news | url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17560718/ | title=Report: Rove was urged to oust U.S. attorney | publisher=] | date=March 11, 2007| first= | last= | accessdate = 2007-03-12}}</ref> In 2006, Rove personally told Weh that Iglesias had been dismissed.<ref name="RoveGone" /> Weh was dissatisfied with Iglesias due in part to his failure to indict Democrats in a ] investigation. Weh followed up with, "There’s nothing we’ve done that’s wrong."<ref name="RoveGone" /> White House spokeswoman ] has said that Rove "wasn’t involved in who was going to be fired or hired."<ref name="RoveGone" /> | |||
| According to ''Newsweek'', ], ]' chief of staff, developed the list of eight prosecutors to be fired last October, with input from the White House.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17552880/site/newsweek/page/2/ | title=Fuel to the Firings | publisher=] | date=March 19, 2007| first=Michael | last=Isikoff | accessdate = 2007-03-12}}</ref> | |||
| ], a former Rove aide, was the proposed replacement for fired attorney ].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/13/fired.emails/ | title=E-mails lay out plan to dismiss U.S. attorneys | publisher=] | date=March 14, 2007| first= | last= | accessdate = 2007-03-12}}</ref> Specifically, Sampson sent an email that stated "The vast majority of U.S. attorneys, 80-85 percent I would guess, are doing a great job, are loyal Bushies, etc., etc." Later in the e-mail, Sampson wrote that home-state senators may resist replacing prosecutors "they recommended. That said, if Karl thinks there would be political will to do it, then so do I."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/03/15/national/w170841D32.DTL&type=politics | title=GOP Support for Gonzales Erodes Further | publisher=] | date=March 15, 2007| first=Laurie | last=Kellman | accessdate = 2007-03-15}}</ref> | |||
| On March 14, 2007 former U.S. Senator ] said he believes Rove was trying to influence the selection in reaction to pressure from Rep. ], then ] and a political ally of then-Gov. ], who knew Fitzgerald was seeking someone from outside Illinois to attack political corruption.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703140213mar14,1,2314396.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true | title=Fitzgerald: Rove tried to limit choice | publisher=] | date=March 14, 2007| first=Andew | last=Zajac | accessdate = 2007-03-12}}</ref> | |||
| In emails released by Congress on March 15, 2007, Rove raised the idea of firing all 93 attorneys in early January 2005.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2954988&page=1 | title= E-Mails Show Rove's Role in U.S. Attorney Firings | publisher=] | date=March 15, 2007| first=Jan | last=Greenburg | accessdate = 2007-03-12}}</ref> | |||
| On July 26, 2007 Senator ], chairman of the ], announced that the committee was issuing a ] for Rove to appear personally before the committee and testify, following Gonzales' testimony on the U.S. Attorney dismissal controversy and other matters.<ref></ref> | |||
| On July 30, 2008, a U.S. Congressional panel voted 20-14 to hold Rove in ] for defying a subpoena to testify in its probe into suspected political interference at the Justice Department.<ref name="truthout.org">http://www.truthout.org/article/house-panel-votes-cite-rove-for-contempt</ref> | |||
| On March 4, 2009 Rove and former ] ] agreed to testify under oath before congress about the firings of U.S. attorneys <ref>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/karl-rove-harriet-miers-t_n_171961.html Karl Rove, Harriet Miers To Testify Before House Judiciary Committee</ref>. | |||
| ===E-mail scandal=== | |||
| {{Main|Bush White House e-mail controversy}} | |||
| Due to investigations into White House staffers' e-mail communication related to the ] of ], it was discovered that many White House staff members, including Rove, had exchanged documents using ] e-mail ] such as gwb43.com<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1319467820070413 | title=Rove in new controversy over e-mails | publisher=Reuters | author=Steve Holland | date=April 13, 2007}}</ref> or personal e-mail accounts with third party providers such as ],<ref>{{cite news | title=E-mail Controversy Prompts Many Aides To Stop Usage | publisher=US News & World Report | author=Paul Bedard | date=March 27, 2007}}</ref> considered a violation of the ]. Over 500 of Rove's emails were mistakenly sent to a parody web site, who forwarded them to an ].<ref></ref> | |||
| ===Investigation by the Office of Special Counsel=== | |||
| On April 24, 2007, it was revealed that Rove was being investigated by the ] for his involvement in the email scandal, the firing of US attorneys, and for "improper political influence over government decision-making."<ref name=Hamburger>Tom Hamburger, , '']'' April 24, 2007, rpt. in '']'', accessed April 26, 2007.</ref> In response to this investigation and other pending complaints, 2004 Democratic candidate for ] and former 2008 presidential hopeful ] initiated a ] drive calling for Bush to fire Rove.<ref name=EdwardsRovepetition>, garnering over 32,000 signatures by April 26, 2007 before the first presidential Democratic candidates' debate, announcing that he would discuss this position during it; by the day after the debate, the petition had accumulated nearly 50,000 signatures.</ref> After Rove announced his resignation, Edwards' reply was "good riddance".<ref name=EdwardsOnRoveQuitting></ref> | |||
| ===Don Siegelman's conviction controversies=== | |||
| Former Democratic ] ]<ref></ref> was convicted in 2006 of ], ] and ]. However, some people{{Who|date=December 2008}} have suggested that he was a victim of politically-directed trial led by Karl Rove. Siegelman, who very narrowly lost re-election in 2002 to Republican Representative ], was considered by Republicans as the most serious opponent for Riley in the 2006 election, because of his popularity and record as Governor (Siegelman was defeated in the Democratic primary by ] ], who went on to lose to Riley by a wide margin in November). Siegelman was convicted of accepting $500,000 from ], then the chief executive of the ], in return for appointing Scrushy to the state hospital licensing board. Siegelman is currently serving a seven-year sentence in a federal penitentiary. | |||
| There are rumors that the ] and Rove, as chief GOP political strategist, manipulated the court and the prosecution of Siegelman to destroy him politically.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-siegelman26jun26,1,3825613.story | title=Ex-governor says he was target of Republican plot | author=Los Angeles Times | date=June 26, 2007}}</ref> There is however no doubt that Siegelman did in fact take money and he was convicted by his peers. The real contention is that he would not have been investigated if it had not been for Rove. The question of whether he took money was settled in court, but would have not gotten to court if not for Rove. | |||
| On May 22, 2008, Rove was given a subpoena to testify before a House Committee about his role in the Siegelman conviction. Rove has refused to testify, citing ]. A congressional subcommittee voted 7-1 to reject this claim. As of September 11, 2008 the situation is unresolved.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Rove_disses_Congres_refuses_subpoena_to_0710.html | title=Rove refuses subpoena, leaves country | author=The Raw Story | date=July 10, 2008}}</ref> The House Committee only wants to know if Karl Rove was involved in getting Siegelman investigated. They aren't concerned with the fact that he took bribes, but how he was investigated. | |||
| ===Resignation from the White House=== | |||
| In a '']'' interview published on August 13, 2007,<ref name="WSJ-8-13-07">{{cite web | url = http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118698747711695773.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news | title = Karl Rove to Resign At the End of August - WSJ.com | accessdate = 2007-08-13 | date = 2007-08-13 | publisher = ] }}</ref> Rove revealed that he would resign from the Administration effective August 31. Having originally floated the idea of resigning in mid-2006, Rove opted to stay with the White House through the ] and a number of policy debates in the first half of 2007. The resignation fell prior to the ] deadline, set by ] ], for any senior aides wishing to leave the administration prior to the end of Bush's second term. In a statement, he said, "There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family".<ref>{{cite web|title=Karl Rove tells WSJ he's going to resign at end of August|author=Steve Goldstein|year=2007|work=MarketWatch|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/karl-rove-tells-wsj-hes/story.aspx?guid=%7B22CBAD43-022C-4247-AF9D-A0F16F396828%7D|accessdate=2007-08-13}}</ref> | |||
| ==Activities since leaving the White House== | |||
| Shortly after leaving the White House, Rove was hired to write about the ] for '']''.<ref></ref> He was also later hired as a contributor for the '']'' and a political analyst for ]. Rove was an informal advisor to 2008 Republican Presidential candidate ], and donated $2,300 to his campaign.<ref></ref> | |||
| He is currently working on a book about his life in politics.<ref></ref> | |||
| Rove has also spent significant time on the road giving speeches to schools and other groups. Rove was scheduled to give the commencement address at ], a New England boarding school, but canceled after protests from students and faculty.<ref></ref> He instead made a private appearance at the school on February 11, 2008.<ref></ref> | |||
| On March 9, 2008, Rove appeared at the ] as a paid speaker to a crowd of approximately 1000. He was met with hostility and two students were removed by police after attempting a ] for alleged crimes committed during his time with the ]. Near the end of the speech, a member of the crowd asked Rove if the school could have the $40,000 speaking fee refunded. Rove turned down this request.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rove taunted at University of Iowa|author=Alexander Mooney|year=2008|work=CNN|url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/10/rove-taunted-at-university-of-iowa/|accessdate=2008-03-11}}</ref> | |||
| On May 22, 2008, Rove was subpoenaed by ] Chairman ] to testify on the politization of the ]. However, on July 10, Rove refused to acknowledge his congressional subpoena. Instead, he left the country on an unannounced trip.<ref></ref> | |||
| On June 24, 2008, Rove said of Democratic presidential nominee ], "Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a ] and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone."<ref></ref> | |||
| Rove agreed to debate one-time presidential candidate and former Senator ] on September 26, 2008 at the ].<ref></ref> However Edwards later dropped out and was replaced with ].<ref></ref> | |||
| Rove, who was hired by Fox News to provide analysis for the network's election coverage, defended his role on the news team to the Television Critics Association.<ref name="re-tools">{{cite web| last=Hibberd| first=James| url= http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/07/fox-news-defend.html | title= Fox News defends hiring Karl Rove publisher=The Live Feed }}</ref> | |||
| On November 3, 2008, Rove spoke on the campus of ] on the eve of ]. | |||
| On February 23, 2009 Karl Rove was again required by Congressional subpoena to testify before the House Judiciary Committee concerning his knowledge of the US Attorney firings and the alleged political prosecution of former Alabama Governor ] but did not appear on this date. He and former ] ] have since agreed to testify under oath before congress about these matters<ref>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/karl-rove-harriet-miers-t_n_171961.html Karl Rove, Harriet Miers To Testify Before House Judiciary Committee</ref>. | |||
| ==Religious views== | |||
| In their book ''The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power'', James Moore and Wayne Slater identify Rove as an ].<ref name="Moore_Slater_Architect">'''', by James Moore and Wayne Slater</ref> Slater reaffirmed this claim in a National Public Radio interview.<ref name="Slater">In an interview on NPR's program Fresh Air, Slater said "Karl Rove is... an agnostic... He told a friend in high school that he grew up in a largely areligious household. He told a friend at the University of Texas... that he would like to be a believer, but he's an agnostic, and couldn't be otherwise." , September 5, 2006. The quoted material is found from minute 6:57 to 7:15. Slater reaffirms Rove's agnosticism from 7:41 to 8:07.</ref> After this was mentioned by ] on ], Rove was asked about it in an interview by ] on ] and denied being an agnostic, saying "I'm a Christian. I go to church. I'm an ]."<ref name="chris_wallace_interview">, Interview by Chris Wallace, Monday, August 20, 2007. (Retrieved August 30, 2007)</ref> | |||
| When discussing his new book '']'', ] was asked by '']'' if "anyone in the Bush administration confided in about being an ]?", he replied, "Well, I don’t talk that much to them — maybe people think I do. I know something which is known to few but is not a secret. Karl Rove is not a believer, and he doesn’t shout it from the rooftops, but when asked, he answers quite honestly. I think the way he puts it is, “I’m not fortunate enough to be a person of faith.”<ref> However, in a discussion with members of the ], Rove, when asked whether or not he is an atheist stated that Hitchens' comments were misleading, saying, "I'm an Episcopalian ... God's chosen frozen". Rove went on to state that sometimes his religion overly stresses the importance of moderation and that he "sometimes wish ha as much faith as some of my colleagues". {{cite interview | last = Hitchens | first = Christopher | subjectlink = Christopher Hitchens | interviewer = Borish Kachka | title = Are You There, God? It's Me, Hitchens | program = New York Magazine | accessdate = 2007-05-08}} </ref> | |||
| ==Fictional portrayals== | |||
| ] in the television series '']'']] | |||
| Rove has been portrayed, caricatured, and parodied in a number of films and television shows. On the comedic side, he was portrayed by ] in the ] '']'', and voiced by ] in the animated series '']''. He has also been portrayed in an episode of '']'' ("]") and an episode of '']'' ("]"). | |||
| On the dramatic side, he was portrayed by ] in ]'s 2008 film '']'', a ] of George W. Bush. | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{reflist|colwidth=30em}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{external links}} | |||
| {{sisterlinks}} | |||
| ===Biographical data=== | |||
| * - 'Karl Rove in a Corner: Karl Rove is at his most formidable when running close races, and his skills would be notable even if he used no extreme methods', Joshua Green, '']'' (November, 2004) | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * "Karl Rove - The Architect", '']'' Public Broadcasting System (PBS). April 12, 2005. | |||
| * <cite style="font-style:italic;">Boy Genius: Karl Rove, the Brains Behind the Remarkable Political Triumph of George W. Bush</cite>, Lou Dubose, Jan Reid and Carl Cannon, 2003, Paperback, 256 pages, ISBN 1-58648-192-4. | |||
| * <cite style="font-style:italic;">]</cite>, James C. Moore and Wayne Slater, John Wiley and Sons, 2003, hardcover, 416 pages, ISBN 0-471-42327-0, and the film of the same name | |||
| ===Editorials=== | |||
| * - 'Karl Rove, ]' | |||
| * - ] - 'Karl Rove's America,' (July 15, 2005) | |||
| * - 'It's time for Karl Rove to go: The president needs to ask for a special prosecutor in the Valerie Plame case', Congressman ], ] (October 15, 2003) | |||
| * - 'It Doesn't look good for Rove' contains a legal assessment by ] regarding the state of the Plame scandal. | |||
| * - ] - 'Follow the Uranium' | |||
| * - ] - 'Where's the Newt?' where he christens the Plame scandal "Nadagate" due to his opinion that there is no scandal. | |||
| *, on the | |||
| * Dickerson, John (November 8, 2005). . '']''. | |||
| ===Media accounts=== | |||
| * - 'Reporter Says He First Learned of C.I.A. Operative From Rove,' Lorne Manly and David Johnston (July 18, 2005) | |||
| * - 'Drawing up Blueprints for Bush Victory', Rachel Clarke, ] (November 6, 2004) | |||
| * - 'The Controller: Karl Rove is working to get George Bush reelected, but he has bigger plans' (profile), ] '']'' (May 12, 2003) | |||
| * 'The brains' - Profile of Karl Rove - Special Report US Elections 2004, Julian Borger, (March 9, 2004) | |||
| * 'Karl Rove in a Corner', Joshua Green, ] (November 2004) | |||
| * - '] Analyst and a ] Reporter Say Karl Rove Named in Matt Cooper Documents', Greg Mitchell (July 2, 2005) | |||
| * - 'White House 'Puzzled' Over Rove Flap', ] (June 24, 2005) | |||
| * - 'Karl Rove The Architect' (documentary), ] Frontline (April 12, 2005) | |||
| * - 'Rove rejects charges he was CBS source', Stephen Dinan, Rowan Scarborough, '']'' (July 2, 2005) | |||
| * - 'Lawyer: Cooper "Burned" Karl Rove' - ]. | |||
| * interview with ], where he states that "my wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity", causing much speculation about his intended meaning from both sides. | |||
| * - 'Rove Fight Escalates', includes quotes from a former CIA agent who claims that Plame's 'nonofficial cover' did not qualify her as 'a covert agent'. This claim is based on a gross misquote of ''USA Today''. | |||
| * ] discusses Rove's efforts to discredit ] and the surrounding scandal] (July 13, 2005) (Real Audio) | |||
| * - 'The Plame blame: What do we know so far?' contains a recap of what is known to date (July 17, 2005) | |||
| *; provides a link to an amicus brief and also details Plame's name having being outed by the CIA '''prior''' to Novak's article. | |||
| * - about Valerie Plame | |||
| * - Staff - 'Memo Underscored Issue of Shielding Plame's Identity' - CIA memo at the center of the leak scandal was marked 'sensitive' | |||
| * - "Role of Rove, Libby in CIA Leak Case Clearer: Bush and Cheney Aides' Testimony Contradicts Earlier White House Statement" | |||
| * | |||
| * By John Solomon, ASSOCIATED PRESS, June 13, 2006 | |||
| * MSNBC, June 13, 2006 | |||
| * -Rove on the United States Constitution and the separation between church and state in schools, September 3, 2006 | |||
| ===News compilations=== | |||
| * , summary from ''Los Angeles Times'' published August 25, 2005. | |||
| ===U.S. Government links=== | |||
| * - RealVideo of Karl Rove's tour of the ] Roosevelt Room | |||
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Revision as of 20:50, 31 March 2009
| Karl Rove | |
|---|---|
 An official portrait of Karl Rove | |
| Born | (1950-12-25) December 25, 1950 (age 74) Denver, Colorado |
| Education | High School Diploma |
| Occupation | Former Deputy White House Chief of Staff |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) |
Darby Tara Hickson (m. 1986) Valerie Mather Wainwright (m. 1976–1980) |
| Children | Andrew Madison Rove |
| Website | http://www.rove.com |
Karl Christian Rove LIKES HIS BOOKY WOOK.