Liberal Talk Radio

Timothy Noah, July 2003:

One thing Chatterbox will say for certain: President Bush is not about to fire Rice. Asked about this yesterday, Bush said: “Dr. Condoleezza Rice is an honest, fabulous person. And America is lucky to have her service. Period.” If he’d been getting ready to can her, he’d have said, “Dr. Rice has my full support and confidence.” That’s Washington-ese for “She’s toast.”

Scott McClellan, July 2005, on Karl Rove:

“Any individual who works here at the White House has the confidence of the president. They wouldn’t be working here at the White House if they didn’t have the president’s confidence,” McClellan said.

Are the knives really out for Karl? I don’t believe it. The Prez would never can Rove. Still, it’s a funny choice of words.

Bonus Conspiracy Angle: Rove has every intention of being fired or resigning. He knows what a huge press bonanza it will be, and how much it will distract the public from the President’s stalling agenda. So he’s falling on his sword. Would he sacrifice all that for the Prez? Absolutely. Recall this swooning Rove quote from two years ago:

I can literally remember what he was wearing: an Air National Guard flight jacket, cowboy boots, bluejeans, [sic] complete with the—in Texas you see it a lot—one of the back pockets will have a circle worn in the pocket from where you carry your tin of snuff, your tin of tobacco. He was exuding more charisma than any one individual should be allowed to have.

Recall Obi-Wan’s words to Darth Vader: “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerfull than you can possibly imagine.”