Arianna Huffington, August 13:
So this is the way the Rove ends, not with an indictment but with a “rambunctious” resignation.
Having dodged the Plamegate bullet and confident of executive privileging his way out of the U.S. Attorney firings scandal he no doubt masterminded, Rove is heading out the door the doughy personification of the Bush White House.
In his exit-announcing interview with WSJ editorial page editor Paul Gigot, the man dubbed the Boy Genius manifested all the worst traits of the administration he helped forge: he was delusional, fanatical, and deceptive.
The delusions are front and center. Gigot describes Rove as “relaxed” and “cheerful.” So with Iraq an unmitigated disaster, Afghanistan slipping further into chaos (largely because of Iraq), Bush’s popularity at an all-time low, his signature efforts on Social Security and immigration dead, and his dreams of a permanent GOP majority crumbling around him, Rove is relaxed and cheerful? The 2006 thumping must have left him positively giddy.