memeorandum: Three Marks on the Horizon (Michael Yon)

3:35 PM ET, August 13, 2007

Top Items:

Karl Rove to Resign At the End of August — Karl Rove, President Bush's longtime political adviser, is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff effective Aug. 31, and returning to Texas, he said in an interview with Paul Gigot, editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page.

Paul A. Gigot / Wall Street Journal:

'The Mark of Rove' — These are the days of Republican doubt, with President Bush fighting an unpopular war, Congress in opposition hands, and a 2008 presidential field trailing Democrats in nearly every poll. But don't tell that to Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's political alter ego …

New York Times:

Karl Rove, Top Strategist, Is Leaving the White House — Karl Rove, the political adviser who masterminded President George W. Bush's two winning presidential campaigns and secured his own place in history as a political strategist with extraordinary influence within the White House …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Hill, Guardian, BAGnewsNotes, Think Progress, Firedoglake, ACSBlog, culturekitchen, AMERICAblog, Central Sanity and The American Street

CNN:

Karl Rove to leave White House — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Karl Rove, President Bush's senior political adviser, will voluntarily step down from his White House post at the end of the month, senior administration officials said Monday. — "Obviously it's a big loss to us, said deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino. "

Discussion: Burnt Orange Report, On Deadline, BlueOregon and BuzzFlash.org

Washington Post:

Karl Rove, Adviser to President Bush, to Quit — Karl Rove, chief architect of the Bush presidency and the premier Republican strategist of the last decade, will step down as White House deputy chief of staff Aug. 31. — Rove revealed his plans to the Wall Street Journal …

Discussion: CBS News, Firedoglake, Connecting.the.Dots, Norwegianity and If I Ran the Zoo

Emptywheel / The Next Hurrah:

My Guesses on Why Rove Resigned — By now you've heard the news: Rove is stepping down. So here's my treatment of possible reasons why he's leaving, in reverse order of their likelihood: — Time with the Family — As he said to the WSJ, he wants to spend more time with this family.

Discussion: The Hill, The Seminal, Ezra Klein, MSNBC, Prairie Weather, The Lede and The Sideshow

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

The Rove Legacy — Karl Rove leaves the White House in anything but victory. His legendary reputation was seriously diminished by the Republican defeat in the 2006 midterm elections, and has been eroded almost every day since then, as President Bush has struggled through his second term.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Hill, Visible Vote 08 and Faux Real

Andrew Samwick / Vox Baby:

Rove and Mythology — From the WSJ editorial with Paul Gigot, in which Karl Rove announced his departure from his current position as Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House: … When I was at CEA, I was in perhaps a dozen meetings where Karl Rove was also present.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Real Clear Politics:
On Karl Rove — Before taking my job as director of the Office …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
EXIT ROVE — So Karl Rove is resigning. I got up in the middle …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Left in the West, The Carpetbagger Report and Blah3

Michelle Malkin:
WSJ: Karl Rove to resign

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Captain's Quarters, Crooks and Liars, The Atlantic Online, Blogs of War, Associated Press and Hot Air

Pajamas Media:
M.C. Rove Rappin' No More — Karl Rove To Quit, He Tells WSJ:

Discussion: protein wisdom and The Moderate Voice

The Politico:
Analysis: Rove bows out despised and deified

Discussion: Redstate and Washington Wire

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Sudden Timing Of Karl Rove's Departure Surprises And Intrigues Most

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Guardian and Central Sanity

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
Karl Rove to resign

Discussion: Washington Wire, CNN Political Ticker and The Moderate Voice

Washington Wire:
Bloggers' Take on Rove's Resignation

Discussion: New York Times and The Strata-Sphere

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Why Don't Journalists Just Tell Us What They Know?

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Booman Tribune and Prairie Weather

Rasmussen Reports:
Karl Rove: 29% Favorable

Discussion: MSNBC and Hot Air

Terence Hunt / Associated Press: Karl Rove to leave White House

USA Today:

Major attacks decline in Iraq — The number of truck bombs and other large al-Qaeda-style attacks in Iraq have declined nearly 50% since the United States started increasing troop levels in Iraq about six months ago, according to the U.S. military command in Iraq.

Discussion: Think Progress, The Captain's Journal, Agence France Presse, Captain's Quarters, The Strata-Sphere, Comments From Left Field, Donklephant, New York Times, Hot Air, Wake up America, Iowa Voice, Redstate and Balloon Juice

Michael Yon:

Three Marks on the Horizon — Almost everyone (by now) must have heard about the "lazy" Iraqi parliament members who, like so many Neros fiddling while Rome burns around them, are taking a month off. Yet comparatively few Americans will ever hear or read about IA Scorpion Company Commander Captain Baker …

Discussion: Wizbang, The Sundries Shack and Wake up America

Brian C. Mooney / Boston Globe:

Giuliani continues his conservative shift — Favors fewer rights for same-sex unions — Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani continues to discard the moderate and liberal positions of his past. The latest is civil unions for same-sex couples, which the Republican presidential candidate has been backing away from in recent months.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, DownWithTyranny!, Liberal Values, TIME and The Carpetbagger Report

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: It's All About Them — Will we elect another narcissist in chief?

Discussion: Vox Baby, Economist's View, Middle Earth Journal, The Sideshow and Prairie Weather

Gina Kolata / New York Times:

The Myth, the Math, the Sex — EVERYONE knows men are promiscuous by nature. It's part of the genetic strategy that evolved to help men spread their genes far and wide. The strategy is different for a woman, who has to go through so much just to have a baby and then nurture it.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, JustOneMinute, Brian Beutler, Vox Popoli and Feministe

Rob Stein / Washington Post:

America Loses Its Stature as Tallest Country — Pundits often opine that America's stature is declining on the global stage. It turns out that Americans — literally — are not standing as tall, compared with the rest of the world, as they used to. — U.S. adults lost their position …

Paul J. Saunders / Washington Post:

Not the Way to Intervene — Ivo Daalder and Robert Kagan are frustrated that the United States has not been able to count on the U.N. Security Council to provide legitimacy for American military action, and they want the world's democracies to decide when intervention is appropriate [" The Next Intervention," op-ed, Aug. 6].

Discussion: The Corner and The Atlantic Online