Karl Rove, Voter Suppression and the Cashiered U.S. Attorneys

By Scott Horton

Paul Kiel at Talking Points Memo reviews a critical speech that Karl Rove delivered before the Republican National Lawyers Association on April 7, 2006 that appears to prefigure the coup carried out within the Department of Justice exactly eight months later. After a lengthy discussion of the Republican voter suppression program, this exchange occurs in the question-and-answer session:

QUESTION: In 2008, what states do you think are going to be the swing states? . . .

ROVE: You know, I think in 2008, there will be a number of states which will be competitive that are familiar states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, maybe not Florida, Colorado, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nevada, Iowa, New Mexico.

Note that the states overlap almost perfectly with Rove's later hit list for the installation of politically pliant U.S. attorneys. The interchange suggests strongly that the agenda for replacement is geared to partisan electoral politics--that, under the guise of “voter fraud,” the new U.S. attorneys are to carry out steps designed to suppress registration and voting by likely Democratic voters in order to insure a polling edge for the Republican party.

In the meantime, let’s recall Time editor Stengel's remarks about the Rove affair. The American people don't want to see Rove compelled to testify, offered Stengel. Well, the polls are now in, and 73 percent of Americans want to see Rove compelled to testify, under oath and publicly, according to a poll organized for the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg News. Even Republicans want to see Rove sworn in and testifying. The poll also shows that Americans do indeed view the U.S. attorney scandal as a “very big deal.” And that they want to see Alberto Gonzales removed as attorney general.