A letter I wrote to the TPM, Re: The Rove Non-Event: "Like a whisper"
Dear Dr. Marshall,
I believe the only election that brought fear into the hearts of every true-blue Democrat was 2004. The 2000 election was a mugging - we didn't know the nature of our assailant yet but the 1994-2000 onslaught of Gingrich and his juniors made the whole country sick of fighting. People just wanted the election to end and we allowed it to because we thought the stakes were so low (proof: why so many people felt confident to vote for Nader, because it felt like it didn't matter).
2002 was a direct result of the post-9/11 wartime 'dont switch horses in midstream' mentality. I don't give Rove credit for that. Even a doofus like Carter would have gained seats after 9/11.
It was 2004 that shocked us and made us think that Rove was a magician. And now we see that much of his skill lay not in 'getting out the vote' and 'galvanizing the base' but in 'getting the US attorneys to suppress the vote and indict Democratic opponents.' Bush-Rove won in 2004 through outright theft and we're just getting into those details now. But the Attorney Scandal is the story of the theft of 2004.
I don't know how Rove's resignation protects him from Congressional inquiry into the Attorney Scandal. Maybe it was part of a deal - if he resigns and stays out of politics (or at least 2008) then Congress will let him stay out of jail. It's a dirty deal, if it happened, but I can see that kind of deal being made. The crime is too huge, a NBA Referee scandal magnified by billions, and this could be the elegant way out.
In any case, as Green's recent Atlantic piece shows, Rove angered so many members of the GOP (the comments by DeLay are awesome) that this resignation may be their way of running him out on a rail in time to salvage whatever they can in 2008. The 'whisper'-ness may be how the GOP needs it to play out.
All the best,
JC
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