No! This is too funny! Stop! I can't take it!

That Karl Rove is one hell of a humorous guy, as he demonstrates here.

Put this poll in your pipe and smoke it

Conservative bloggers have been peeing in their pants lately with delight over polls that show great public dissatisfaction with the Democratic-controlled Congress.

They ignore, of course, the fact that the low numbers for Congress reflect, in part, great dismay that lawmakers aren't taking a harder stance against the Bush administration. The right-wingers want us to think that the polls reflect an anti-liberal bent among the public, which is nonsense.

And the conservatives have got nothing to say about a Pew poll showing that Americans favor the Democratic Party over the Republicans by a margin of 15 percentage points. Karl Rove's dreams of a permanent Republican majority are gone with the wind, as this piece notes.

Karl Rove, the agnostic

Bill Moyers delivers an apt farewell to Karl Rove here, and The Rascal resurrects an item offered here three months ago about Rove lacking any religious faith (which, by the way, doesn't necessarily make him a bad guy).

Same to you, Karl!

Granted, it's not as big a stunner as Tommy Thompson's withdrawal from the presidential race, but Karl Rove's resignation from his White House gig is major news nonetheless.

As for why Rove is leaving, I' m not going to be modest. He knew The Rascal was on his case. Let him also know this: He can run, but he can't hide. I'll hound him to the ends of the earth -- even to Poughkeepsie, if it comes to that.

I'll have more to report on Rove later today, as I'm calling in all my chits from among the political intelligentsia. You'll find the straight skinny here and nowhere else.

But let's get serious for a minute here. Let's not be taken in by all the nonsense we're going to hear about Rove having been some kind of political genius. The one inescapable fact is that he's been the "architect" (as George W. Bush calls him) of the most spectacularly unsuccessful presidency since Richard Nixon's and one of the worst in American history.

Yes, the disastrous war in Iraq has been Dick Cheney's doing more than Rove's, but Rove, given his influence with Bush, could have steered the president away from this tragic blunder.

On domestic policy, Rove is almost entirely to blame for the administration's failures, as is explained in a piece in the current issue of The Atlantic (subscription required to get it online). The man, for all his vaunted brilliance as a campaigner, has a tin ear when it comes to the politics of governance.

Rove's departure from the White House should be cause for lament among Democrats, who have enjoyed kicking him around, and cause for pleasure among some Republican insiders, who often bristled at his arrogance and abrasiveness.

It's not unlikely, of course, that Rove will make more headlines in the coming months. He's still a major figure in ongoing investigations, including the probe of how and why a bunch of federal prosecutors got canned.

UPDATE: You would think that a British paper like The London Times would be the last to refer to Rove as "Turd Blossom" in a headline. You'd be wrong. FURTHER UPDATE: Somebody at The Times had second thoughts and took down the "Turd" headline.

Have you ever heard Bush sing?

Well, here's your chance. Dick Cheney and Karl Rove also lend their vocal talents to this effort.

Is Rockford guy covering for Karl Rove?

There's speculation in the blogosphere lately (here, for example) that Rockford native Michael Elston, a Justice Department official who finds himself in hot water in the Prosecutorgate scandal, has been telling falsehoods to congressional investigators to protect White House aide Karl Rove.

There's also more speculation (here, for example) that Elston's alleged intimidation of three fired federal prosecutors amounted to illegal witness-tampering.

Background on Elston's role in the scandal can be found here and here.

UPDATE: Speaking of Karl Rove, an acquintance of his says the man is an atheist (or at least an agnostic). Hmmm. That throws a whole new light on Rove's political manipulation of the religious right.

UPDATE II: By the way, Rove's son, Andrew, is now of military age, and some of us are wondering if he'll soon volunteer to serve in the war his daddy so enthusiastically supports.

The Rascal's on a mission

Posting here will be light over the next few days as I head off to Springfield to impart a bit of wisdom to the fine folks who make the laws in this state.

Upon my return, we'll have plenty to talk about.

Perhaps Alberto Gonzales will have resigned by then. Maybe Karl Rove will have overcome his fear of Sheryl Crow. And the good burghers of Belvidere might have figured a way to recover from their self-inflicted wounds with respect to public education.