Noone Mourns The Wicked*

Well, well, well, Karl Rove is stepping down. To "spend more time with his family." (I don't buy that one--how many politicians/executives/wankers who find themselves in bad positions or falling out of favour suddenly realize they want to see their kids more?")

There is, behind all of Rove's nasty horribleness, behind his demonizing of democrats/gays/war opponents, behind his divisive and toxic tactics, one little glimmer of goodness: Rather than making a permanent Republican majority, he may have turned voters away from Republicans for a long, long time. We shouldn't have had to stack the Supreme Court, shred the constitution, bankrupt the country, enter into a pointless war, lose a major city, etc etc etc to get there, of course.

I'll also leave to those more versed in American politics than me to speculate on reasons and timing. Though given that there was speculation Libby fell on his sword and then was pardoned in order to protect Rove, I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

And, of course, Rove will still be safe from Congress (see, e.g., Harriet Meirs' invocation of executive privilege.)

*hat tip to David for the title

Update: Hindsight is so 20/20, Sullivan.