Nobody agrees with me but Rove was FIRED! He was fired by the leadership of the rank and file Republican Party. He was chopped off in one fell blow and gave the standard excuse when you are fired: I HAVE to spend more time with the fam. It is obvious he has already started honoring that excuse by appearing in every media market he can think of over the past week. No cleaning out his desk, closing files and fond good byes for him.

Rove is a silver tongued snake. So soothing that after a few minutes of his cynisism you just fall asleep. No wonder Bush loved him so much.

Well, one of thge premises of the Constitution is that politicians have a very strong instinct for self-preservation, and that would always act as a corrective. Between the consultant-captive Dems and the Bush-bot GOPers, I think we are going to see that severely tested in the next 15 months.

The Brits are likely to see Petraeus rallying to their support in the south east area where drawdown is laconically described, ’rout’, by year’s end. That part of the nation may be the first test for ability to govern in the civilian paradigm.

â€But I do find it curious that Rove leaves–all the while promising glorious success in Iraq. Republicans–even Fox News–is surprisingly and publicly gleeful at his departure.

The Fall-back Strategy

Perhaps something to consider in regard to Turdblossom’s rather â€sudden†desire to resign:

The WH has been pushing â€Executive Privilege†all over the place as a means of â€shielding†its wrong-doers bozos from the reach of Congressional investigators.

This, however, may just be the 1st part of the WH strategy. The 2nd part of the â€Circle The Wagons†strategy comes about like this.

Let’s assume for the sake of this hypothesis, that the WH legal beagles (like Fielding, Addington, etc.) that are gaming the system have figured their odds are â€dangerous†of losing in Federal Court on one or more Executive Privilege claims.

Claims put forth to shield folks like Turdblossom for example. *g*

Let’s suppose that the WH legal beagles believe that if a Federal Court reviewed their claim of Executive Privilege regarding Turdblossom’s involvement in the US Attorneys Firing or perhaps Hatch Act violations, the Court would find â€strong†evidence of â€wrongdoing†that negated any claims of Executive Privilege, and instead strongly supported Congressional Oversight rights to investigate by means of supeanas for WH staff.

So Turdblossom â€gets†to leave town. Just why is that you ask?

’Cause folks who are actually â€employed†by the US Government are not able to claim the 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination when testifying!

One has to be a â€private citizen†before these critters can have 5th Amendment rights when testifying.

US Government â€employees†gots to answer when Congress comes calling!

As a â€private citizen†however, one gets to plead the 5th!

If scuttlebutt were to leak from, let’s say a little fat birdie in the AG office, that good ol’ Turdblossom was in serious jeopardy of â€criminal†Hatch Act violations, why then Turdblossom jest might find being a private citizen a tad bit more comfortable.

It don’t mean he’s gotta stop his political feckin’ of Democrats. No, it don’t mean that at all! It jest means that he’ll be dipping his beak in the private funding trough (which by the way is far more rewarding) instead of collecting a government paycheck.

Gotta admit, sure sounds like a plan.

Mad Dogs — do you have a reference for that? I’m not aware of any exclusion of government employees from the Fifth Amendment.

It would indeed be logical for the congressional GOP to be demanding changes, but since there have been numerous points in the past where congressional electoral reality has crashed on the shores of Bush’s stubbornness, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Considering the top-down authoritarian nature of the GOP, I’m not convinced they can do anything other than what Bush wants until he actually leaves office.

Mad Ogs – Redshift is absolutely right. In fact, there was a classic display very recently in relation to Sara Taylor. Sorry about your name; I mistyped it a long time ago, I think at FDL, and wanted to see if you remembered….

bmaz,

An additional item for your consideration is a post at FDL that asked this question (and didn’t get an answer that I can see):

â€If she asserts her Fifth amendment privileges, wouldn’t it be the first executive branch employee to assert it during congressional hearings?â€

The question was by CTuttle – see http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..o-testify/

And again, as far I can find out, Sara Taylor was an â€ex-employee†at her Congressional testimony, and that is exactly my point regarding one’s â€ability†to use the 5th Amendment.

So it still comes down to:

US Government Employee – No 5th Amendment right at Congressional Testimony?

Private Citizen – 5th Amendment right is operative at Congressional Testimony.

â€I’m making the â€case†that there cannot be such a thing as taking the 5th while one is still a US government employee and is called via subpoena to testify before a Congressional committee.â€

IIRC, a lot of police departments fire employees as soon as they take the 5th. That may be the source of the confusion.

I never believe this ’GOP X in revolt’ crap when I see it. When it comes down to it, they are Republicans, period. There are no ’moderates’, they do what the leadership tells them to do, which is usually ’support the President’ – and which is fine by me – they are killing their brand. I approve of them running it into the ground. More please.

All the rest is just noise.

bmaz is an attorney.

Mad Dogs – It is not up in the air at all. It just flat out cannot and does not impinge on an individual’s right to plead the Fifth. You can, and absolutely should be, fired. But you still retain the right. If you lie, perjury is appropriate; but that doesn’t really involve the 5th at that point because you have waived it in order to testify. Irrespective of what the law review article says, the remedies of any contempt finding would be very limited, and certainly would not include incarceration of any variety. And with all deference to Boo, being an attorney doesn’t mean diddly squat. There are plenty of nimrod attorneys around; and I am far to often in that very category. Here, however, I am pretty sure I have given a correct reading of the law.

Knock yourself out. I applaud the effort. It is an interesting concept and there is a compelling morality to it. But it would take a Constitutional amendment to implement.

Technically, Goodling announced she would plead the Fifth was she was still employed. She resigned before she actually got there, though, and of course they gave her immunity.

Sounds like Leahy informed Bush & Co in no uncertain terms that SJC would be hauling in Rove to testify. And that inspired him to quit before having to say â€5th Amendment†while working in the WH.

It’s always nicer to say ’goodbye’ rather than ’I was fired.’

But, as was said above, that’s no reason for him to cease political activities/consultations if he wants.