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Popular culture has given us a series of memorable duos—Laurel and Hardy, Sonny and Cher, Batman and Robin. Now the Republicans have produced George Bush and his alter ego, Karl Rove. Because of “Plamegate,” the relationship of the GOP’s dynamic duo dese rves close attention. 

The Bush-Rove partnership formed in 1993 when George decided to run for governor of Texas. Rove was the architect of Bush’s successful gubernatorial and presidential campaigns. Often characterized as “Bush’s brain,” Karl choreograph ed George’s public appearances and fabricated his image as a leader. While Bush had a reputation for being ill-tempered and belligerent, after Rove began his makeover there were few glimpses of W’s dark side. Building upon Bush’s bonhomie Rove created a p opular image of George as a regular guy, “a good Christian.” 

Now, Karl’s day job is to certify the loyalty of all White House appointments and nominations; he also considers the political ramifications of all Bush policies—a huge chore considering that i n this administration, everything is political. Karl’s night job is more sinister. Often described as the consummate political trickster, Rove is W’s enforcer. If a Democrat’s career is destroyed by a carefully staged negative campaign, Washingtonians usu ally credit this to the deceptively cherubic Karl; it is said to bear, “the mark of Rove.” In 2004, John Kerry led Bush in the polls until the notorious Swift boat ads flooded TV screens. Kerry never recovered from the attacks on his patriotism. Most poli tical observers credited the Democrat’s demise to the machinations of Karl Rove. 

Bush and Rove have a strong personal bond. Writing in the May 1, 2003, edition of the New York Review of Books, veteran political analyst Elizabeth Drew remarked that the two share an appetite for extreme conservative doctrine along with a capacity for ruthlessness and a reservoir of resentment. Drew observed that while W covers his true nature with a veneer of amiability, Rove is more transparent; he plays not only to win, but also to destroy his opponents. In the White House the two work in unison; neither takes political action without consulting the other. 

When Robert Novak outed CIA-operative Valerie Plame in a July 14, 2003, column, it was widely felt to bear the mark of Rove. In 2002, Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, had gone to Niger to investigate the possibility of Iraqi purchase of uranium. Although Wilson, a seasoned diplomat who had worked for the first President Bush and Bill Clinton, reported that the purchase was “highly unlikely,” George W. Bush ignored this information and used the unfounded accusations in his controversial 2003 State of the Union Address justifying an attack on Iraq. 

Subsequently, Wilson told his side of the story in a July 6, 2003, op-ed piece in the New York Times, titled “What I Didn’t Find in Africa.” After the Wilson article ran, the Bush administration was deluged with questions about why one of their representatives publicly disagreed with them. Novak served as their mouthpiece, indicating in his column that it hadn’t been the administration that suggested that Wilson go to Niger but, instead, his wife. “Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction,” he wrote. 

In the course of this explanation for seemingly inconsistent administration conduct, Plame was outed as an undercover CIA operator, a federal felony. A grand jury was convened and an aggressive special prosecutor, Robert Fitzgerald, was assigned to invest igate. 

At the time the Novak column appeared, many Washington insiders saw the machinations of Bush-Rove. It was assumed that Karl had been tasked to clean up the Wilson affair, and in the course of providing deep background to Novak and others, identifi ed Wilson’s wife as a CIA agent. Most hypothesized that Bush and Rove were unaware that it is a crime to reveal the identity of an undercover CIA agent. While Karl has consistently denied identifying Plame by name, recent e-mails provided to the grand jury by Time magazine reporter, Matthew Cooper, indicate that Rove did describe her as “Wilson’s wife.” 

Since Time revealed Rove as their primary source for information about Valerie Plame, the White House has been assailed with calls for Karl to resign or, at the least, give up his security clearance. Predictably, George Bush and his press secretary, Scott McClellan, have stonewalled, refusing to respond to reporters’ inquiries about Rove.  

Plamegate provides a rare glimpse into the Machiavellian world of Bush and Rove. This administration talks a lot about character and responsibility, but its operational philosophy is that the ends justify the means; that it doesn’t matter how you get the job done so long as you are successful. In a rigid hierarchy, Bus h and Rove demand discipline and don’t tolerate dissent. Most Washington observers believe they outed Valerie Plame in order to punish Joseph Wilson and provide a warning for others. 

As we consider Plamegate, it should be remembered that Rove is Bush’s a lter ego. He plays Mr. Hyde to the president’s Dr. Jekyll. If Karl is guilty, then George is too. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer and activist. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net 

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