LITTLE ROCK, Ark., March 8 -- In an interview this week in his windowless West Wing office, Karl Rove said that there is "very little" discussion about President Bush's legacy at the White House these days, only a focus on developing good policy that might have a long-term impact. "The president's attitude is, 'History is going to write the legacy long after we are all dead or in no position to affect it -- so why worry about it?' " Rove said.

Yet history is never far from Rove's mind. While he has kept a low profile in Washington since the midterm election losses took some of the edge off his reputation as a political genius, Rove, a Bush senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, has begun trying to put his own distinctive spin on current events and the longer historical view.

He spoke last month to GOP partisans gathered for a Lincoln Day dinner in Springfield, Ill., where he argued that the midterm losses, while painful, were in keeping with historical patterns for the second term of a two-term president. Later, he gave an overview of the historical development of presidential communications before a group of students at Texas State University.

On Thursday, he came to an unlikely venue, a forum sponsored by the public service school started by former president Bill Clinton at the University of Arkansas. His topic was again historical: an appraisal of the debts that presidents owe their predecessors. He waxed at length about Harry S. Truman's creation of the National Security Council and Clinton's National Economic Council, and how both institutions have made the modern president stronger and more effective.

His point was that presidents often come to adopt institutions and policies created by their predecessors, and Rove clearly suggests that this will one day happen as well to the institutions and policies shaped by Bush. "Presidents set in motion certain things that their successors evaluate and decide by and large, particularly the structural ones, to adopt," Rove said in the West Wing interview.

He said that the biggest Bush legacy will be what he terms the "Bush doctrine." It "says if you train a terrorist, harbor a terrorist, feed a terrorist, you will be treated like a terrorist yourself. And then the corollary of that, which is that we will not wait until dangers fully materialize before taking action."

Bush has spoken in similar terms. In public and private settings, he has discussed his desire to leave his successors stronger tools for dealing with the "war on terrorism," the enterprise he sees as the central mission of his presidency. The inference is that while would-be presidents may criticize tactics such as his military tribunals and warrantless electronic surveillance, they will come to recognize the necessity of such policies in a protracted struggle against Islamic radicalism.

Despite Rove's disclaimer, there's plenty of evidence that the Bush legacy is of more than passing interest at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Plans for the Bush library are taking shape, and there seems to be a loose White House campaign to try to define Bush's tenure more favorably than the rough verdict now being rendered by the American public, largely over the Iraq war.

Recent months have brought high-level references to past occupants of the Oval Office, such as Truman and Gerald R. Ford, who came to be considered better presidents after they left office. "I think history will regard us as having made good, sound, solid decisions," Vice President Cheney told ABC News recently after noting the improvement in public appraisals of those presidents after unfavorable starts to their ex-presidencies.

As with almost all things Rove, his assessment of the Bush administration's potential legacy will leave controversy in its wake. Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser in the Carter administration, said the next president will be forced to discard the most "extreme policies" of the Bush administration if he or she hopes to regain American influence in the world, and to abandon Bush's vision of Islamic extremists as on par with the Nazi empire or the Soviet Union at their zeniths.

The next president, he said, "will have to make serious readjustments with rationality."

Brzezinski and Paul C. Light, a scholar of U.S. government at New York University, also seemed skeptical that some of the institutional arrangements created by Bush -- such as the White House Homeland Security Council, to coordinate anti-terrorism policy -- will be of lasting significance. "I don't think their gifts to future presidents are particularly grand," Light said.

Some of the president's own supporters seem to be coming to grips with the prospect of a much less powerful Bush legacy than they had once imagined. In an essay in the current issue of Texas Monthly, Matthew Dowd -- chief strategist for the 2004 Bush reelection campaign -- voiced disappointment that Bush's "promise to reform government in a fundamental way never fully happened," partly because of GOP success in the 2002 midterm elections.

When "all the levers of power in Washington became Republican, creating consensus seemed to become unnecessary at the White House," Dowd wrote. "That hurt him. Now, near the end of his presidency, when many of us thought we would have helped solve the problem of polarization, we're in an even more polarized place."

In the West Wing interview, Rove adopted a longer view, citing the policy of containment of the Soviet Union, adopted by Truman in the 1940s and then embraced by a succession of presidents despite initial misgivings, as reason to believe history may offer a kinder assessment of the durability of Bush policies and institutional changes.

Rove rejected the suggestion that future presidents might be deterred from the Bush doctrine by the enduring violence and unintended consequences let loose by the invasion of Iraq. "Could be," he said. "But it has a logic of force and nature and reality that will cause people to examine it, adjust it, test it, resist it -- but ultimately embrace it."

Skip Rutherford, who was involved in creating the nearby Clinton Library and is dean of the Clinton School here, said he invited Rove to speak after the two talked from time to time about presidential libraries. Bush is in negotiations to build his own library, at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

In keeping with the spirit of the occasion, Rove lavishly praised Clinton. "The 42nd president cared passionately about the fate of people who elected him. He exercised the full powers of his office. He mastered complex problems and made sure the president remained at the vital center of action," he said, recalling words of John F. Kennedy. "These things matter. And they will be seen to matter by history."

As for the next putative President Clinton, Rove was more guarded. Pressed by Rutherford during a question-and-answer session for an assessment of the 2008 presidential hopefuls, Rove only allowed that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is a "formidable candidate."
 

reader comments

       This president and his advisors will probably be judged as the most incompetent, arrogant, cynical and manipulative administration in US history. The sooner they are gone, the better.
By ktx | Mar 9, 2007 12:17:56 AM | Request Removal

       I would pay to see what the CIA is going to do to Turd Blossom.
By samellison | Mar 9, 2007 12:40:37 AM | Request Removal

       Hey, Karl, just have noted author Jenna Bush write another book! It about a draft-dodging coward who was AWOL from his National Guard unit for a year but then his father’s friends helped him make some money after his own businesses had failed time after time because he was smoking too much dope and then he got elected president even though his opponent got 500,000 more votes because the Supreme Court was friends with his dad and then he started a war to impress Poppy and, like, he got to wear a flight suit and say brave stuff like *Bring it on*, like he wasn’t really a coward, and then a bad hurricane hit New Orleans but he and his friend Brownie took care of that but things started going bad when they tried to say he was a liar and a chickenhawk but like before he never had to worry because he never read the newspapers anyway and Uncle Dick told him just keep doing what I tell you and the coward knew that his dad was still well-connected and has a lot of rich friends but then the mess boys ate the strawberries and . . . .
By mikeasr | Mar 9, 2007 12:46:31 AM | Request Removal

       The Bush Doctrine is of pre-emptive aggressive war, otherwise known since Nuremburg as a War Crime. Good luck polishing the blossom on that turd, Rover.
By teddy94110 | Mar 9, 2007 12:52:47 AM | Request Removal

       talk of Rove and the Bush legacy...and not a single mention of Scooter Libby or Roves role in outing a CIA agent. wow, that sure is some hardhitting coverage there. keep eating those cocktail weenies, pal. mmm...dee-licious!
By TasteTheCheesesteak | Mar 9, 2007 12:57:33 AM | Request Removal

       oh, and by the way...Bush has been stuck at 30 percent approval for a long time now. nobody likes him. he is incredibly unpopular. people do not like him. they do not like his policies. they do not think he is honest. the sooner you idiots internalize these basic facts, the better.
By TasteTheCheesesteak | Mar 9, 2007 12:59:21 AM | Request Removal

       The Bushs legacy is 650000 dead Iraqis, 3200 dead american troops, and record profits for Exxon Mobil.
By playa_brotha | Mar 9, 2007 1:04:26 AM | Request Removal

       You can spin events to fool people when you are in power and is willing to use it shamelessly, but you cannot spin the so-called Bush Doctrine to fool history. It had brought on nothing but disaster and misery for not just Afganistan and Iraq but also the rest of the world, including the USA, now and in the forseeable future. Bushs only legacy will be a hard-learned lesson to the Americans: Dont elect at least dont re-elect someone who is intellectually unqualified to hold the most powerful and capable of the worst destructionjob in the world
By wing | Mar 9, 2007 1:19:59 AM | Request Removal

       Rove is to Bush what Goebbels was to Hitler.
By alphwilliams | Mar 9, 2007 1:35:11 AM | Request Removal

       Positive Legacy??? The only positive is for Bush to get *The F--- out of Dodge* The sooner the better.
By mdmnb | Mar 9, 2007 1:38:46 AM | Request Removal

       All you crooks, just get the hell out of Washington first, then we will decide about your legacy.
By sidkalaria | Mar 9, 2007 1:39:16 AM | Request Removal

       Writers,when I see your scribbles written down in a panic, not attached anymore to the rest of world, there is only one explanation. The U.S.A. is going down in free fall, the final struggle of ones an Empire !!!
By jw.holtkamp | Mar 9, 2007 2:26:12 AM | Request Removal

       I doubt that many policies of the Bush administration will last more than ten minutes after the inauguration of a new president. So many of this administrations policies have become self-evident failures during Mr. Bushs time in office that I just cant see any successor, Republican or Democrat, accepting, let alone welcoming, such albatrosses after the bungler has gone.
By davidakers1 | Mar 9, 2007 2:46:33 AM | Request Removal

       The only legacy George W. Bush will have is that he has never missed an opportunity to plunge this country closer and closer to 3rd world status. With trusty collaborators such as Cheney, Rumsfield, Mitch McConnell, Vincente Fox, red China and Wal-Mart. Never have so few done so much to so many in six long years. I have often hear of people knocking their brains out against the wall, but with a President an supporting cast as this, were building a wall exactly for that function.
By stanjax3 | Mar 9, 2007 3:25:46 AM | Request Removal

       Its premature to write a legacy for Bush since he hasnt been impeached yet.
By binckeslaw | Mar 9, 2007 4:28:38 AM | Request Removal

       HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHa!!!!!!!!!!!! What kind of imbecile does Rove think we are????? There is no question, no shred of uncertainty that history will write that this has been one of the most if not THE most disastrous administrations ever to foist themselves upon the American public. And worst of all is that they assumed power in 2000 illegitimately, something current Americans sweep under the rug, but future generations take far more seriously. And do not console yourselves, oh trunkheads, that Bush won in 2004, as the 2000 election would never have had him the incumbent had a fair accounting of the election of 2000 been performed. And fear ye not that the future looks upon Rove with the same kind of love we throw toward Goebbels and Trotsky. Rove should be tried for treason!
By ethan.quern | Mar 9, 2007 4:50:30 AM | Request Removal

       When the Saudis organised 9/11 and you really want to attack Iran the US attacks Iraq because it is sandwiched between the two and is brimming with cheap oil. Quite how Karl hopes to spin this disaster for posterity I dont know. The rest of the world now rates the US as the worlds most dangerous nation.... ahead of both Iran and Israel.... with N Korea trailing in 4th place. Well done Karl and the rest of the White House team.
By kuseldavid | Mar 9, 2007 4:52:38 AM | Request Removal

       In all seriousness, the Bush presidency ought to be a warning to all American invested in the integrity of our politiccal process. Bush and his team were masters of the electoral game, that allowed them to assume power, but that was all they had to offer, first...last...and always. There is no question in my mind that if the media had not made secret deals and the bulge in Bushs coat during the Kerry debate had been revealed for what it was, Kerry would now be president. Furthermore, if the press had not gone wild about the initial recount in 2000 and portrayed the Miami putsch as anything but the obvious Republithug theatre it was, public sentiment would have been behind Gore 1000...afterall he DID win the popular vote. I will always be grateful to Bush for reducing my taxes. As a moderate wage earner, the few moments of financial joy Ive had are due to his tax cuts, but one must compare this to a mountainous landslide of moronic misjudgments and tragic mismanagement on a host of important issues. When all is said and done, the sheer inability of this administration to forge a wise coherent policy has left this country in miserable shape, and will take years to reverse. On balance, Bush has done far more harm to America than help, and all his Republican enablers are every bit as much to blame. If America is ever to retain its greatness, we must pull together as one, revile the politics of division over social issues, and end the stalemate of polarization. This is the true challenge America faces, and is perhaps the most important challenge in its history.
By ethan.quern | Mar 9, 2007 5:10:27 AM | Request Removal

       Karl, I*m wishing a massive coronary for you so I can come and dance on your grave.
By billgk | Mar 9, 2007 5:10:33 AM | Request Removal

       Mr. Rove, are you and Ken Mehlman still sleeping with Jeff Gannon?
By billgk | Mar 9, 2007 5:12:02 AM | Request Removal

The Ted Haggard Presidential Advisor Library should be erected right next to the Bush Library. Bush accomplished a difficult task that no one imagined he would be able to do. He made Saddam Hussein look like a great leader by comparison.
By open | Mar 9, 2007 5:28:22 AM | Request Removal

       If the expression of the American People*s Will is manifested in election outcomes, then the success of efforts by political candidates and their parties to shape the issues to their own benefit will have profound effects on the course of our Government and our Nation. Ergo, the spending of Billions of dollars in the election process. BTW, have you ever wondered where those billions of dollars are coming from, who solicits, who contributes, who spends and reciprocates? People and organizations with these kinds of resources and power expect to get a guaranteed return on their sizable investments. They usually do. In short, they get to call the shots.
By leochen24551 | Mar 9, 2007 5:45:13 AM | Request Removal

       Karl may have forgotten that history is written by historians. Historians can be stupid of course, but most of them--and heres the key point--MOST OF THEM ARE SMART. Smart people have a way of looking at the facts and coming to the right--maybe even the obvious--conclusion. The conclusion? George W. Bush was a subnormal chunk of excrement unqualified to clip my dogs toenails. That he became president of a scientific western republic at the height of its powers is one of the great mysteries of the ages.
By nerdoff | Mar 9, 2007 6:09:35 AM | Request Removal

       The truth about Bushs 8 years will be vindicated by historians who will expose the hatred, innuendo and misinformation from the cut n run democrats and their liars in the media.
By dh1stacy | Mar 9, 2007 6:19:30 AM | Request Removal

       Why would anyone believe an advertising man promoting a product?
By smokinmike | Mar 9, 2007 6:35:53 AM | Request Removal

       The real question is where the Bush Library will be located and what will be placed for public view. Perhaps it will be only open to registered Republicans, those who donated money or those who profited from the Iraq War through the expansion of unlimited and accounted spending. I do not think most of us will spend any or much time there...besides Crawford, Texas not a place most of us wish to visit.
By cowboy3 | Mar 9, 2007 6:36:01 AM | Request Removal

       dh1stacy: Great insight. I hadnt thought of that.
By nerdoff | Mar 9, 2007 6:37:11 AM | Request Removal

       Their legacy is one of deliberate destruction of the middle class and total contempt for the Constitution.
By daffna55 | Mar 9, 2007 7:06:36 AM | Request Removal

       Why isn*t this pig facing jail time like his cohort Scooter? Here is your legacy Karl--worst president ever. Your help in this achievement was invaluable and I hope you rot in hell.
By branfo4 | Mar 9, 2007 7:26:16 AM | Request Removal

       The best thing that could happen to Rove would be being sent to prison and made somebody*s b****. Thinking of him getting passed around in prison is the funniest thing that could happen to that pig. Maybe they would even make him squeal like in that movie Deliverance!!
By rgwin229 | Mar 9, 2007 7:30:43 AM | Request Removal

       To Mikeasr~~You said all!!I totally agree. Rove evil porky pigis a joke and an embarrassment to this country.What legacy???
By moorehoney | Mar 9, 2007 7:30:54 AM | Request Removal

       **... the biggest Bush legacy will be what he terms the Bush doctrine. It says if you train a terrorist, harbor a terrorist, feed a terrorist, you will be treated like a terrorist yourself.** What goes around comes around, and Rove has trained, fed, nurtured and harbored a formidable terrorist in George W. Bush. The worst president ever? Like some earlier postings said, the impeachment has not happened, yet.
By H5N1 | Mar 9, 2007 7:41:20 AM | Request Removal

       Bush will go down in history as the architect *said with tongue in cheek* of Armageddon. This blinded egotist and his merry band of neo-con Pandora*s let the insane Middle East Genie out of the bottle and will be remembered historically as having done so. Rove the so-called brains behind this mafia-like group can not salvage the don*s historical reputation. Scarface is scarface as history has proven. IMPEACH ROVE and HISTORICALLY DISS THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION.
By jimarush | Mar 9, 2007 7:46:29 AM | Request Removal

       So Cheney thinks history will regard him as making good and sound decisions ??? If history notices him at all it will be to wonder how he ever stayed in office and what were they thinking re: electing Bush.
By rn1956 | Mar 9, 2007 7:51:55 AM | Request Removal

       Rove could only make a speech like this to an American audience and not get laughed out of the room. And even then to only 28 per cent of them. Thats put things in perspective has it not?
By harkadahl | Mar 9, 2007 7:54:14 AM | Request Removal

       Rove Doing His Part to Help Shape a Positive Legacy for Bush - How is that? I havent seen in the news anywhere that this melon headed small packaged delusional half-wit has shot himself in the egoistic greedy treasonous head. That would be an improvement not only in the Administrations image, but improve the general quality of life on Earth. Removing that much hot air may help global warming too.
By fool_superior | Mar 9, 2007 8:11:51 AM | Request Removal

       samellison - I agree. Where is the pay per view? The black bag guys are going to get Rove someday. Count on it.
By fool_superior | Mar 9, 2007 8:13:33 AM | Request Removal

       History is already in the making, Mr. Rove. And it is not being kind to your boss and his gang of thugs.
By aa_desmedt | Mar 9, 2007 8:14:24 AM | Request Removal

       Mikeaser, Good one! That pretty much sums it up.....GJKBear in SATX.
By gjkbear | Mar 9, 2007 8:19:12 AM | Request Removal

       Do you want to see Bushs legacy? Visit your local VA hospital.
By ralphbrouchoud | Mar 9, 2007 8:20:30 AM | Request Removal

       If Bush and Cheney arent impeached it will mean that we have lost our democracy and open the door for the next administration to do whatever they want with no repercussions. Bushs legacy is already written and he will go down as the most constitutionally destructive president we have ever had. The puzzling thing to me is that congress will not carry out the will of the American people, maybe they too want a dictatorship.
By timechange | Mar 9, 2007 8:28:33 AM | Request Removal

       Mr Abramowitz, correct, Carl Rove is engaged in a serious way trying to build support and a positive legacy for a failed President who has constantly turned the chances for victory into the morass of impending defeat. The ineptness continues with an implemented too little too late policy rigidly enforced. Intellectual insufficiency is constantly turned into a lemming like instinct.
By kentow7 | Mar 9, 2007 8:31:49 AM | Request Removal

       dh1staacy, Do you know any Democrats? I mean personally. Your ability to lump everyone under 1 banner is amazing. Please enumerate for us liberals just what it is that you think our President has done for America that he deserves a good legacy for? I want real items too, not just talking points that you heard from Rush or Hannity or OReilley or perhaps from the Ann Coulter school of humanity. I do not lump all Republicans in one basket. Most of them are hard working, ethical people who are just finding ways to live their lives. Most of the Democrats are the same way. It is just that all the bad ones make the press. Surely you can admit that mistakes were made and that there are many scandals in both parties....GJKBear in SATX.
By gjkbear | Mar 9, 2007 8:33:05 AM | Request Removal

       If Bush and Cheney arent impeached it will mean that we have lost our democracy and open the door for the next administration to do whatever they want with no repercussions. Bushs legacy is already written and he will go down as the most constitutionally destructive president we have ever had. The puzzling thing to me is that congress will not carry out the will of the American people, maybe they too want a dictatorship.
By timechange | Mar 9, 2007 8:33:20 AM | Request Removal

       Rove continues to do what Rove does best, SPINNING his service to the LEGACY OF GEORGE W. BUSH which if successful will automatically secure ROVES PERSONAL PLACE IN HISTORY as the master of the DECIDER AS THE RASPUTIN OF THE 21st Century in American Politics.....not too bad for a piece of red-necked poor white trash from the sticks of Texas!
By sidney_keith | Mar 9, 2007 8:33:27 AM | Request Removal

       The Bush Doctrine can never be anything but unworkable theory we have shown that we cant trust our intelligence assessments enough to support pre-emptive strikes. Its too paranoia-based to act on. Maybe Bushs excesses will create a backlash against such an all-powerful executive branch?
By lloree | Mar 9, 2007 8:38:37 AM | Request Removal

       Mr. Rove is too late. The legacy President Bush will be remembered for is the Iraq War. This resulted in over 3200 military deaths uncounted wounded huge suffering in Iraq and USA a tremendous deficit and the list goes on. This was an avoidable war that used manipulated intel to justify it. No tons of lipstick can change that.
By ramos | Mar 9, 2007 8:39:13 AM | Request Removal

       It is Mission Impossible. And Rove isnt Tom Cruise. Besides, it would be one or other way known officially in the future what 9-11 really was. And when it becomes the official knowledge, what then? In short, no way, Jose!
By aepelbaum | Mar 9, 2007 8:41:22 AM | Request Removal

       I think the conservatives are already paying the price for their ideological hypocrisy. Some of the most thoughtful Democrats and newly minted Independents are ex-conservatives-- ranging from Kevin Phillips, Father of the Southern Strategy, to Michael Lind at The New America Foundation, Tom Frank, John Dean, etc. Whats left in the reactionary Republican party is the chaff, like Krauthammer, OBeirne, and a blogosphere which is more an echo chamber than a forum for thought. If Limbaugh is their candidate for Nobel Prize, it should be obvious to everybody that there is less there than meets the eye. Bush pushed the envelope on Reaganism and exposed it in all its hypocrisy not to be the sunny face of Reagan, but the scowling face of Newt. For many reasons like the extreme polarization on wedge, religious, and sectional issues the historical judgment on the Bush Administration is already clear-- and we will not have to wait 50 years to wait for its verdict-- Reactionary.
By Jeff-for-progress | Mar 9, 2007 8:42:30 AM | Request Removal

       Karl Rove is George Bushs legacy. A legacy of Hitler like political manipulation of Americans through fear, manipulation of Christian extremists, manipulation of the truth about WMD, manipulaton of blood, death and maining in Iraq for profit, and manipulation of the right wing press including Will, Novak, Krauthammer and FOX News. History will show Rove as the evil wizard of Dick Cheney. Both manipulated the lack of intelligence of George Bush. This is George Bushs legacy and, now, the legacy of the Republican Party.
By coloradodog | Mar 9, 2007 8:44:33 AM | Request Removal

       Why isnt this guy in jail?
By obrier2 | Mar 9, 2007 8:46:10 AM | Request Removal

       The best thing Herr Rove can do for Bush is resign and get out of dodge. He should consider buying property next to the Bush ranch in Paraguay. It is a paradise for the likes of Rove as they have a corrupt legal system so he would be able to buy protection. Although we now have an extradition treaty with Paraguay it has holes in it that even this fat fellow can pass through unscathed.
By bfc1949 | Mar 9, 2007 8:49:30 AM | Request Removal

       President Bush is a uniter, not a divider. He has united people from all across the political spectrum, in believing he is a dope.
By mschabb | Mar 9, 2007 8:56:01 AM | Request Removal

       As it stands the massive amount of data on the Internet will stand as a witness to this administration and those that supported it. History will not be kind in fact it may put this group with the likes of some of the most evil and vile people of all times.
By antonio | Mar 9, 2007 8:58:09 AM | Request Removal

       Do these Bush groupies live on this planet? George W. Bush will go into history books as the mass murder that he is. Not only for the need less saughter of peoples of other countries, but FOR OUR OWN MEN AND WOMEN!!
By tbellamy22 | Mar 9, 2007 9:00:36 AM | Request Removal

       ethan.quern - well put however those lower taxes that Bush gave you and that you are grateful for will need now to be reversed and raised probably by a Democrat just to get the country out of the financial mess that this administrations policies have created *a trillion $$$ illigal war*. I can hear the repubs screaming now about that and will never realize its cause - or at least not admit to it.
By kathy.mccrorey | Mar 9, 2007 9:01:14 AM | Request Removal

       dh1stacy - you do mean Bushs hatred of this country and its citizens right?
By kathy.mccrorey | Mar 9, 2007 9:04:02 AM | Request Removal

       The G.W. Bush legacy in his adult life from Harken Energy to the White House = FAILURE!
By edpietrusinski45 | Mar 9, 2007 9:12:00 AM | Request Removal

       history will document events as they actually happened therefore unless Bush hires his own historians to write his history and bands all others from writting about him and that legacy will not be a good one. Yes there were problems with Truman and Ford but NEVER to the extent of this president. I cannot imagine a time in history when the general public or historians will look back at the Iraq war and say *oh, yeah, he was right - just wont happen.
By kathy.mccrorey | Mar 9, 2007 9:15:47 AM | Request Removal

       The only serious question left for historians will be whether Bush, or James Buchanan, was the worst and most damaging president in U.S. history.
By rungus | Mar 9, 2007 9:18:07 AM | Request Removal

       His legacy should read, Dont abuse alcohol and drugs. Look at how I turned out. Howdy Doodys legacy will be that of a cheerleader. Did Karl the nerd know Howdy during his cheerleading days? I could see him with his own little pom poms in the crowd cheering Georgie on.
By gary.f.moffatt | Mar 9, 2007 9:18:28 AM | Request Removal

       My prayer: God Protect Us From Anyone Using The Bush-Cheney-Rove Model As A Future American President!!!!!
By clgrafton24 | Mar 9, 2007 9:23:02 AM | Request Removal

       bush*s legacy, jeezus, where to begin. Liar, traitor, drunk, deserter, coward, fraud, warmonger, imbecile, arrogant, malignant narcissist. bush will go down in history as the criminal who singlehandedly did more damage to the United States than all the wars and conflicts with Britian, Spain, Germany, the Soviet Union and Vietnam combined. His legacy in a word, failure.
By rcubedkc | Mar 9, 2007 9:25:31 AM | Request Removal

       Karl and Bush are still doing the same drugs they did while rooming together in school... No amount of laquer or paint can color this administration anything but UGLY! and nothing will sweeten the stench of the SH*T theyll leave behind, the only POSITIVE part is that his days are numbered and come Jan 09 hes gone for sure, if we cant get rid of him sooner with Sanctions and then IMPEACHMENT.. How do you spell AAINATION is it with 2 ae?
By jvman4ubellsouth.net | Mar 9, 2007 9:31:52 AM | Request Removal

       alphwilliams said - Rove is to Bush what Goebbels was to Hitler. . . . . . I almost agree with you - Rove is to Dick as Goebbels was to Hitler, Dick to Bush is as Edgar Bergen was to Charlie McCarthy
By pkrishna | Mar 9, 2007 9:33:12 AM | Request Removal

       Rove has tailored the Bush image to appeal to those who like quick, simple answers [and those who like tax cuts for the rich]. It is an interesting coalition of the ultra rich and the ultra dumb that is perfect for both groups because the ultra rich dont care a bit what happens to anyone but themselves and the ultra dumb still have not figured this out.
By rkerg | Mar 9, 2007 9:34:06 AM | Request Removal

       Ja Vohl! Borrowing Josef Goebbels playbook and showing how effective telling The Big Lie is in American politics. Sanctioning torture. Going to war on rigged data. Warrentless wiretapping. Signing statements. Ignoring the Geneva Convention. Banning stem cell research and backing creationism. Ignoring global warming. The Patriot Act...That is quite a legacy...Someday it will be known as George, Karl and Dick*s Failed Experiment in Fascism.
By braultrl | Mar 9, 2007 9:44:27 AM | Request Removal

       that is ASSASSINATION... with two asses,
By jvman4ubellsouth.net | Mar 9, 2007 9:44:53 AM | Request Removal

       Plans for the Bush library are taking shape... thereby creating thousands of high paying manufacturing jobs at crayon factories throughout the U.S.
By klosskid | Mar 9, 2007 9:45:22 AM | Request Removal

       Unfortunately, everything they touch turns to C*AP! Thats their legacy!
By wimapa | Mar 9, 2007 9:46:16 AM | Request Removal

       fourteen karl roves couldnt salvage this wannabe dictators legacy. he WILL be remembered as by far the worst president in history and his administration will share that same fate.
By red2million | Mar 9, 2007 9:47:21 AM | Request Removal

       Dont you think that it is ironic that while your forces are trying to impose democracy on an historically tribal country, your own country is being run by a mad dictator. Isn*t that what you called Sadaam Hussein?
By raeandjim | Mar 9, 2007 9:51:45 AM | Request Removal

       rungus, Im inclined to place Bush behind Buchanan. His reliance on Condi in recent days may push him further from the bottom-- but not much, IMO. Rove and others are preparing the ground for the upgrading that Reagan is getting. Diggins in a recent book places Reagan behind Lincoln and FDR, quite incredible, but to be expected as the 2008 Republican candidates, particularly Giuliani, are attempting to place their candidacies within the Reagan legacy. Do you think folks, will attempt to do a similar thing with Bush in the near or far future? I dont think so.
By Jeff-for-progress | Mar 9, 2007 9:54:20 AM | Request Removal

       Bush legacy. Record defecits, shrinking middle class, two failed military missions, medicare drug program, no child left behind, torture legalised, domestic spying legalised, out of country prison camps, civil liberties reduced, national healthcare crisis, record poverty levels, record number of billionaires produced, record trade imbalance, world image damaged, record oil company profits, intense partisanship and division, hundreds of feet of tape demonstrating an inarticulate and sophmorish president lieing to the american people, and the world.
By jmangan | Mar 9, 2007 9:55:15 AM | Request Removal

       Legacy, shmegacy - start a war and try to justify it later. Sacrifice good men and women to his crusade - tax breaks for the rich - secret CIA prisons in foreign lands - condone torture - abuse the vets with little or no care for them - allow millions of ILlegals into our country - allow education to drop to almost Mexicos level - lie about WMDs - casually drop the identity of a CIA agent into the public realm and let someone else take the fall - what a legacy Bush will leave and with the help of Rove. Nothing can save the legacy of the barstool pilot and the draft dodger unless they suborn all future historians.
By gwenpac | Mar 9, 2007 9:56:12 AM | Request Removal

       THE BUSH LEGACY-A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN
By dboening | Mar 9, 2007 9:57:02 AM | Request Removal

       See, the big problem for The Chimp and his followers is that historians tend to be able to read and write better than the average person. This suggests that they will have some analytical facilities and thus must come to the conclusion that this gang was a horrid aberration. The fact that he lost the popular vote in 2000 will usually appear in the first paragraph of any history to be written because historians will have to acknowledge the wisdom of the American people. I also believe, as time passes, the judicial coup de etat that put the Chimp in office will be seen as a Supreme Court decision right up there with Plessy and Dred Scott. There will be a lot of effort made to let the American People off the hook for this administration. After that, historians will only need to report facts, and our descendants will learn to loathe and disrespect the Chimp as much as some 70 percent of us do right now.....
By jmccas | Mar 9, 2007 10:07:36 AM | Request Removal

       Rove Doing His Part to Help Shape a Positive Legacy for Bush: OK now grab a handful of HORSE SH^T and start to shape it into a pile of HORSE SH^T and their you have George Bush.
By ezwider420 | Mar 9, 2007 10:20:19 AM | Request Removal

       All of you are referring to the legacy of s Bush and I think we all agree that the only time we should use the word legacy and Bush in the same sentence is how he got into college in the first place! So lets talk about the guy that wrote this article for the Washington Post. How far did he stick his nose up Roves behind????? One more thing, there is NO WAY a guy with a a low C from college is going to be admitted into an MBA program to any of the top 10 colleges in the nation...NO WAY, unless its just all on paper!!!
By mhim429 | Mar 9, 2007 10:24:35 AM | Request Removal

       Rove should crawl back into the woodwork. There is NO way the Bush legacy will be anything else than disastrous and Rove took his good share in making it such a bust
By la-mute | Mar 9, 2007 10:26:56 AM | Request Removal

       Theres not enough polish in the world for the turd that is the Bu$h pResidency. I suggest a presidential library in a cardboard box behind Union Station, or maybe Westboro Baptist.
By irae | Mar 9, 2007 10:29:44 AM | Request Removal

       I must confess, I pulled a Bushie in not reading this whole article. Going by his past performances, I know Rove if not hauled into court in the meantime will do all he can to paint a rosy history for W just short?of being criminal.
By robjak1 | Mar 9, 2007 10:32:46 AM | Request Removal

       The presidents attitude is, History is going to write the legacy long after we are all dead or in no position to affect it -- so why worry about it? Rove said. Sorry guys, your legacy is ALREADY cast in stone and everyone knows what it is.
By reightler2 | Mar 9, 2007 10:47:36 AM | Request Removal

       Bushs legacy is clear even though it resides in the dankest sewer. And the sewer management association will demand that Bushs legacy relocate.
By rude4good | Mar 9, 2007 10:48:42 AM | Request Removal

       I predict that a generation or two from now Bush will still be on the minds of Americans. The impoverished natives of the US will dig Bush up and pound a stake through his heart. They will do that in gratitude for the failures and debts incurred by him that none of them can ever repay and to be sure he never comes back again.
By red-ruffian | Mar 9, 2007 10:51:01 AM | Request Removal

       How do you spell F-A-I-L-U-R-E, Karl? Its a bit late to call this administration by any other name.
By sameolddoc | Mar 9, 2007 10:51:24 AM | Request Removal

       Rove, what planet did he come from? Bushs legacy? -- death, doom.destruction and corruption and billions for his friends. Bushs legacy my foot.
By bghgh | Mar 9, 2007 10:51:55 AM | Request Removal

       Come on George put on your cheer leader skirt and outfit. Give us a cheer--- OK NOW... YOU HAVE OIL YES YOU DO... YOU HAVE OIL WE ARE HERE TO STEAL IT FROM YOU!!! GOOOOO TEAM! What legacy???
By ezwider420 | Mar 9, 2007 10:53:00 AM | Request Removal

       Legacy? I look forward to the day Bushs legacy is behind us.
By eruddock | Mar 9, 2007 11:07:05 AM | Request Removal

       What hard-hitting journalism. Get ready for that Pulitzer Abramowitz. Maybe Karl can write your acceptance speech. And what exactly is Karls contribution to Bushs legacy? Plamegate? Divisive politics? Jeff Gannon? Abramoff? What drivel.
By gerardmadison | Mar 9, 2007 11:09:53 AM | Request Removal

       Just curious: The military was caught planting positive articles in the Iraqi media in an effort to spin the American involvement there.... How much did Karl pay you to plant this horsesh*t, Michael? This crap sounds like Georgie in Wonderland, Karl is the Hare, and you are, who? If you keep writing like this, well certainly know youre through the looking glass.
By layneta | Mar 9, 2007 11:17:13 AM | Request Removal

       A TREASONOUS CRIMINAL SHAPES A POSITIVE LEGACY FOR ANOTHER TREASONOUS CRIMINAL??? The Bush/Cheney administration is guilty of international terrorism and genocide. But, WaPoo actually believes that we believe their lies, again. I am so glad I cancelled my subscription to WaPoo, the propaganda arm of the traitors in the White House. Get the REAL news from BuzzFlash.Com, CrooksAndLiars.Com, MediaMatters.Com, HuffingtonPost.Com. Show the corrupt politicians in Washington who is the boss. WE THE PEOPLE will MARCH ON THE PENTAGON, Saturday, March 17th! AnswerCoalition.Org
By kevinschmidt | Mar 9, 2007 11:21:15 AM | Request Removal

       Rove could infinitesimally improve Bush`s abysmal record by jumping off a cliff. Think of it as falling on his sword for his Fearless Leader.
By pjwhite530 | Mar 9, 2007 11:23:24 AM | Request Removal

       Up is down and down is up. It must be true because I read it in WaPoo!
By kevinschmidt | Mar 9, 2007 11:23:45 AM | Request Removal

       BOYCOTT WaPoo! Cancel your subscription today!!!
By kevinschmidt | Mar 9, 2007 11:25:10 AM | Request Removal

       If Mr. Roves assessment is taken seriously by Bushs successors, we can only say that Bush will be remembered as the man who fashioned the rope with which future American Presidents will hang themselves--and their country.
By bsmith | Mar 9, 2007 11:34:27 AM | Request Removal

       The evidence is in. Bush/Cheney did in fact invade Iraq to steal their oil and to steal U.S. tax dollars. If Congress refuses to end the corrupt and genocidal Bush/Cheney terrorist administration with impeachments, then it is up to WE THE PEOPLE to do it for them! We must march on the White House and refuse to leave until both Bush and dick Cheney resign and leave the White House. If they wont go willingly, then we should go in to evict them and kick them out the door!
By kevinschmidt | Mar 9, 2007 11:34:35 AM | Request Removal

       Here is what the Mayor of Salt Lake City said Never before has there been such a compelling case for impeachment and removal from office of the president of the United States for heinous human rights violations, breaches of trust, abuses of power injurious to the nation, war crimes, misleading Congress and the American people about threats to our nation’s security and the supposed case for war, and grave violations of treaties, the Constitution, and domestic statutory law. There*s Dumbya*s legacy!
By braultrl | Mar 9, 2007 11:34:51 AM | Request Removal

       Rove is dreamin. There is no way this clown isnt going down as the worst Pres in modern times. Example-a fat blithering idiot in So Amer is more popular than our idiot.
By edfeeney | Mar 9, 2007 11:38:48 AM | Request Removal

       I do not think people will embrace preemptive war. I think that corporations and politicians that do their bidding will and force it down peoples throats.
By ebgill | Mar 9, 2007 11:41:25 AM | Request Removal

       Embrace pre-emptive attacks. So, were better off as barbarians and killers huh? Well guess what - I choose to NOT embrace that insanity. The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service. - Albert Einstein
By annie | Mar 9, 2007 11:45:47 AM | Request Removal

       To bad Rove didnt have time to testify for his co-worker Libby. Maybe the jurors could have heard a defense for the lies Libby told for Cheney. Loyal Republicans friends like Rove are hard to come by. I noticed a pattern in the Republican party as when your lying and stealing for the White House you get praise, but when your caught no body knows you. Just ask Jack Abramoff who was loyal and gave money once caught no one in the White House knew who he was. But then came those pictures and videos. Yes Bush even asked by name about Jacks kids and got those big checks yet later didnt know who Jack was and never heard of him. Rove will go down with the rest of the White House criminals.
By jackierawlings | Mar 9, 2007 11:48:10 AM | Request Removal

       *train a terrorist, harbour a terrorist, feed a terrorist then you will be treated as a terrorist* Gee wasnt that what Rumsfeld was doing in Afghanistan the first time round?
By PierreGarenne | Mar 9, 2007 11:50:36 AM | Request Removal

       Bush and his love intrest Karl a.k.a. Turd blossom a laughing all the way to the bank. Dead soldiers, maimed who cares! money is god, and each day the war lasts more money. His friends are makeing money and so is he. Its all good.
By jpenergy | Mar 9, 2007 11:54:36 AM | Request Removal

       His legacy is going to show that he was only a president to republicans. When he was speaking at events, they were always carefully choreographed to make sure only his supporters/organizations were present. He has not appeared before diverse groups since his presidency began. I have not had a president since Bush came in--maybe I will have one in 2008! Here*s hoping...
By cfair01 | Mar 9, 2007 11:57:03 AM | Request Removal

       The bush library? Good one! The average broom closet should provide plenty of room. Legacy, indeed. It will take years to clean up after these thugs, and to restore what we were as a nation pre-bush/cheney.
By gvaness | Mar 9, 2007 11:58:59 AM | Request Removal

       Sadly, like many of the people posting here, I think there is little positive that will be part of this presidents legacy. However, there is one very real possibility that has received little attention to date...If VP Cheney were to resign midterm due to health reasons, Bush could appoint Condileeza Rice to take his place, thus naming the first woman AND first black to that office. Politically, it would also take some of the wind out of Hillary Clintons and Barack Obamas sails as we head toward the 2008 elections.
By cadbury | Mar 9, 2007 12:00:34 PM | Request Removal

       Why dont you mention that this jerk should be in jail?
By neatonm | Mar 9, 2007 12:03:37 PM | Request Removal

       Good luck with that Karl. So much for your ability to make bush a president.
By tooter | Mar 9, 2007 12:22:13 PM | Request Removal

       DARN IT KARL! YOUR WIFE MUST MAKE YOU TAKE A BATH EVERY MINUTE I MEAN WHY COMING IN THE HOUSE SMELLING LIKE POOP EVERY DAMN DAY
By danders5000 | Mar 9, 2007 12:22:44 PM | Request Removal

       The Bush legacy along with Rove and the rest of its true believers is going into the dumpster where no supporters will be able to gather in protest. Then it is onto the truck which NO ONE will chase down the street in the interests of retrieval or redemption. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
By BeOfUse | Mar 9, 2007 12:26:59 PM | Request Removal

       How nice! Rove is now stepping up to shape a positive legacy for the current commander in chief. Too bad he didnt feel up to this job back when it could have been more impactful - like when Katrina hit, or when the intelligence did not conclusively prove Iraq had WMD, or when the war we won was restarted by an insurgency he didnt feel was all that powerful. The Bush legacy will be a legacy of failure. What are the positives? The assertion of the Bush doctrine? That if you feed a traitor, you are yourself a traitor? When did Hussein ever feed, train, harbor Bin Laden? What history will say about the Bush band of brothers is that after all is said and done, actions speak louder than words. The Bush-Cheney-Rove policy of loudly announcing lies as truth is far removed from a glittering legacy. They can spin it all they want, but they surely must know that they have failed in every endeavour they have started. But from this article, it sounds like Rove hasnt learned that spin isnt the same as truth. The Bushies had the chance to create a postive legacy but they let it slip through their hands.
By anne | Mar 9, 2007 12:28:59 PM | Request Removal

       condoliza is joined at the hip with the traitor bush. Appointing her VP would only harm her chances of future elected public office. I know I wont vote for anyone thats been involved with this continuing criminal enterprise known as the bush administration.
By rcubedkc | Mar 9, 2007 12:30:18 PM | Request Removal

       Oh yeah, I am sure all the history books will write glowing praise of George W Bush. Not.
By barbnc | Mar 9, 2007 12:34:39 PM | Request Removal

       Michelangelo carved his statue of David from a solid, forty-foot tall block of marble, and it has endured for centuries. I pity Karl Rove, using a plastic spoon to try to carve a legacy from a less-than-six-foot tall block of soft crud. Good luck, Karl.
By norriehoyt | Mar 9, 2007 12:50:39 PM | Request Removal

       Considering everything the Administration has done, in the name of protecting the country. I would rather defend myself. At least, I will conduct my own defense with dignity and honour.
By jhuer | Mar 9, 2007 1:09:02 PM | Request Removal

       Damage control starts early this time.
By olroy | Mar 9, 2007 1:10:16 PM | Request Removal

       Good riddance, Rove. I dont know why any self-respecting corporation, university or any other legitimate concern would even bother to talk to you. Youve made your black mark on history, I can assure you....
By nyboy47 | Mar 9, 2007 1:13:34 PM | Request Removal

       The Bush Legacy?? Im certain he will go down in history as the worst US President ever. Bush will eclipse even Nixon - in his immediate post Watergate reviews. But even Nixon, possibly the second most despised leader of the free world, managed to elevate his legacy to that of elder statesman in his final years - mostly based on his trip to China. What has George W. Bush done that even comes close to being as positive as that - outside of the hallucinogenic circles surrounding him?
By wicked49 | Mar 9, 2007 1:15:28 PM | Request Removal

       Bush, Cheney, Gonzalez, Rumsfeld, and all their neo-con buddies like Scooter Libby, grover norquist and the office of special plans are alll going down as the worst government in US history, criminals, war mongers, war profiteers, and general scumbags. Ill be telling the story as long as I live.
By onestring | Mar 9, 2007 1:19:50 PM | Request Removal

       President Bush will be remembered as a national embarrassment. It is not necessary to enumerate the litany of bone head stunts that he has perpetrated or the incredible hypocracy of the man but one fact stands out clearly most of what Bush has done will be repealed, revoked, or rescinded. President Clinton has major problems as well, most notably his allowing Capital to completely crush Labor, under the rubrick of globalization. Clinton looks like a political giant compared to Bush though.
By hmc120455 | Mar 9, 2007 1:20:21 PM | Request Removal

       Bushs legacy will be the ruination of the Republic party for a generation.
By ldymoonshadow | Mar 9, 2007 1:32:52 PM | Request Removal

       SAME ,OL BUDDY B.S.--GOOD ,OL D.C. POLITICS
By dboening | Mar 9, 2007 1:41:08 PM | Request Removal

       Out of all the stories that need to be told -- *true* stories -- why did you waste your time interviewing Karl Rove and letting him spread his hallucinations about a Bush legacy? Why would you do that? Why?
By sethsonderling | Mar 9, 2007 1:43:12 PM | Request Removal

       KARL ROVE IS A JOKE FROM WAY BACK IF A IDOT LIKE HIM HAD BEEN IM MY SQUAD IN KOREA IN THE 50TH WE COULD HAVE HAD A G,I, PARTY EVERT--NIGHT
By rugman | Mar 9, 2007 1:50:56 PM | Request Removal

       I cant imagine President Bush having a legacy that anyone could be proud of. Whoever the next president is will have to undo so much damage that Bush did to this country and to our image in so many countries around the world, there will be few who will see his legacy in a good light. However, it is certainly not too late. He can still salvage his legacy in the time remaining in his presidency. I think he would do well to follow Secretary Rices advice more - that just might help him to save some of his legacy so it will be viewed in a more favorable light by succeeding generations. Ruth Beazer
By rthbzr | Mar 9, 2007 1:58:03 PM | Request Removal

       Just how blind is fat-boy KARL??? He and the rest of the true *axis of evil*[George*johnWayne*Bush, DICKY, DONNY, Condo]will have the lowest legacy of any regime in the history of the United States of Arrogance. I truly despise this group. Lies, lies, lies!!! Lives and $$$$$$$$$$ wasted so this regime can stuff a few already over-stuffed pockets.
By kentigereyes | Mar 9, 2007 1:59:57 PM | Request Removal

       The man who perfected the art of the push poll. A man who smeared John McCain for having a mulato daughter from an affair when he actually adopted an orphan. Rov is completely indifferent to truth, integrity, empathy, or decency. Why the WP praises socipaths like him is beyond me.
By charlie3410 | Mar 9, 2007 2:08:58 PM | Request Removal

       This is all common garbage and hype. Rove is a Fascist. A theocracy will never function in this country. The Republican and member of the Baptist Church who sold their souls for the last six years of facism will be remembered for what they really are. Not the Karl Rove image. I understand that he is busy recruiting new divisions of troops to fight the war in Iraq. There is the Pat Robertson Infantry Division fully armed with cardboard trucks. Then there is the Jerry Falwell armored brigade fully armed with red pick up trucks. Together they will rush off to do combat led by Ann Coulter and Robert Novaks. Go to it guys! Show us how it is done!
By Bismarck6 | Mar 9, 2007 2:10:39 PM | Request Removal

       These morons are all delusional and if it wasnt so sad and scary that these clowns are in charge and are so out of touch with reality I would feel sorry for them. they will all fade away to never be heard from again. That is their legacy. Of collassal failure
By pwalters3 | Mar 9, 2007 2:12:41 PM | Request Removal

       The only Positive Legacy for Bush is how much he helped al-Qaeda with his insane war in Iraq. Of course, most Americans regard that as not just a Folly, but Insanity.
By willaffl | Mar 9, 2007 2:12:55 PM | Request Removal

       Well well! He is the master of deceit and mass maniputlation! He is the perfect man for the job! He is ONE the worst! The range of worst public office holderS/EVIL, DECEIT, DANGEROUS MEN racks this way: 1. CHENEY 2. GW BUSH 3. KARL ROVE THEY ARE ALL BAD FOR THE COUNTRY!
By aishablack1 | Mar 9, 2007 2:20:25 PM | Request Removal

       Not only the clocks spring forward, but April fools day came early as well. Add both Cheney and Rove to the long list of those in terminal denial. Zbigniew Brzezinski speaks for those of us in reality based community when he said **The next president will have to make serious readjustments with rationality.**. Unless congress is able to put these moonbats in a legislative straight jacket, electing a sane administration might prove too little, too late.
By slim | Mar 9, 2007 2:24:49 PM | Request Removal

       The Bush Doctrine: We can retaliate against you before you can attack us, before you have the weapons to attack us with, before you even thoght of attacking us! Do you hear us Lichtenstein?
By rj2z | Mar 9, 2007 2:35:35 PM | Request Removal

       Recent months have brought high-level references to past occupants of the Oval Office, such as Truman and Gerald R. Ford, who came to be considered better presidents after they left office. I think history will regard us as having made good, sound, solid decisions, Vice President Cheney told ABC News recently after noting the improvement in public appraisals of those presidents after unfavorable starts to their ex-presidencies. Dont overlook that word us, where Cheney started out talking about previous presidents. This administrations legacy will surely reflect that the occupant of the oval office allowed his subordinate to run things far too much of the time. I consider the first five years to have been a regency it may not be that today, but the damage is irreversible.
By johnalene | Mar 9, 2007 2:42:36 PM | Request Removal

       Bush legacy will read he stole from the poor and gave to the rich. Bush legacy will read he took the greatest Nation in World and made it into a third world country. Bush legacy will read he killed millions upon millions of innocent people and did not have to face lady justice. Bush will go down in history as the worse president this country have had, that my friends will be his legacy. A liar like Rove could not save bush from the harsh legacy that history has for him. God Bless us one and all.
By chipper56 | Mar 9, 2007 2:59:59 PM | Request Removal

       Who really cares what Karl Rove has to say. All hes trying to do is obfuscate the American public to some how make Bushs philosphies credible. It shocks me how the White House can just sit there, make policy and say, oh, well be vindicated by history. If what you are doing is making the present situation worse then you should try to correct the problem now and not wait for history to probably see you as right in 50 years. As for some how drawing a parallel between Kennans Containment Policy and anything that Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice or any other neo-con has to offer is a joke. What we should be doing now is trying to develop a containment policy with regrds to Iraq so we can get our men and women out there who are continuoulsy dying for a failed policy. The Bush Doctrine is the most robust form of organized hypocricy and because of the stubborness behind the bush doctrine no future president should embrace it. The crux of what the one percent or bush doctrine enatils is acting with malice on a perceived threat with out having any form of justification for actions taken on the threat. Any person in their right mind would never embrace this type of policy. Past presidents did not do it and future wont because of the abismal failure that came out of this doctrine. Karl Rove needs to be seen for what hes worth by the American public. Hes an obfuscator a liar and it could be argued that hes a treasonist. Hes more concerned about the philosophies of personal gain rather than doing whats right for the collective good. The latter of which has been seen for the past six years.
By bigb1037 | Mar 9, 2007 3:00:01 PM | Request Removal

       The Bush Doctrine of preemptive war will go down in history as one of the greatest errors of U.S. foreign policy. Bush, Cheney, Rove, and Libby will be set up as examples of how to not conduct a war, of how not to conduct diplomacy, and of how not to conduct an administration.
By esvoboda | Mar 9, 2007 3:08:36 PM | Request Removal

       The principal accomplishment of the Bush administration is more damage to our country than anything in its history. Recovering will take decades, if recovery is even possible. Future historians may well be writing that the decline and fall of the US was initiated by the Bush administration.
By veehaann | Mar 9, 2007 3:55:21 PM | Request Removal

      Karl Rove - and, for that matter, anybody in charge at the White House, the State Department and the Defense Department - might still make a positive dent on history once they will not only have heard of, but read and understood that the world aint flat, e.g. by reading, reflecting on and trying to act in line with such lessons as given in The Ugly American by WILLIAM J. LEDERER and EUGENE BURDICK [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_American]
By solami | Mar 9, 2007 3:57:14 PM | Request Removal

       to be sure, I am always amazed by the force, imagination and pertinence of American thinkers who have given the world such excellent advices as: NEVER GIVE A SUCKER A SECOND CHANCE, only to find out, to the dismay of a minority of at least one, that a majority of their fellow-citizens seem incapable to appreciate and follow through with such wisdoms
By solami | Mar 9, 2007 4:22:18 PM | Request Removal

       Rove has all the reasoning of Hitlers Thousand Year Reich behind him. Like Hitler, like Stalin, like Tojo, like Franco, like Mussolini, the porcine plotter is nothing but a fount of braggadocio and obfuscation. It should be apparent to all viewers that America post-Bush will be unable to pursue policy goals via economic, political, or military means because the black hearted fantasies of the right wing turned out to be bigger failures than even the left could have conceived of. Our military is stretched thin with shortages of equipment, ammunition, and personnel, and the manner in which the troops have been treated ensures that no person with an inkling of sense will join up knowing they will be underpaid compared to mercenaries, abused by their superiors, and should they be wounded will be cheated out of their disability should they be fortunate enough to survive the steeply increasing number of bombings and sniper attacks. Our economy is based on branding crappy products imported from China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia. How long can this dreamworld last as we sink into an economy where the haves idly ponder why the poor dont eat cake if they have no bread? No manufacturing, no union protections, and collusion in outsourcing our economic strength as well as our military technology to potential enemies in China will leave us defenseless. We have no political capital with anyone but the UK, who only like us in the way Darth Vader regarded Luke Skywalker as the emperor tried to turn him to the dark side. Our policies abroad are derived from the failures of European empires with no consciousness of how they failed. The GOP, ruled by its extremist right wing, has succumbed to its darkest authoritarian impulses and has succeeded in making our nation the poster child for torture, lawlessness, authoritarianism and lack of civil rights. The legacy of the Rove Republicans will be similar to that of totalitarian-authoritarians past unless the Democrats root out every last slimy corner despoiled by the GOP since Nixon, with a South African style Truth commission.
By sparkplug | Mar 9, 2007 4:38:17 PM | Request Removal

       LEGACY? Why should this prsident woryy about a legacy? He just this week screwed up again. He put a .54 tariff on biofuels from Brazil. Now look at his thinking... by the time oil barons, pipelines, and numerous other profiteers het their cut, the price of ethanol will be higher than gasoline is now. Bush seems to have 0 sense when it comes to anything. That will be his legacy, along with spending our national treasury, lying, filling his staff with criminals, sending tomorrows youth to their deaths, trying despartly to start wars with other countries and just general screw ups. Rove should be tried for a number of events. Bush also! Cheney is passed his time and as dumb as Bush. Rice is a trouble maker and I hope the Democrats get her back to Alabama picking cotton.
By svmn | Mar 9, 2007 4:51:06 PM | Request Removal

       Legacy? What legacy? Bush has sent countless youth to their deaths based on lies, spent our national treasury, stocked his administration with quasi criminals from Texas. He, Rove, Rice and Cheney should be tried before the Senate and House. Given a fair trial and then disposed of. Just this week he screwed up again in Brazil. He put a .54 tariff on each gallon of ethanol. By the time all his friends in the oil industry get their share, gasoline will be cheaper to buy. Several writers have nailed this guy, saying he is the worst President in history. I agree. He is obsessed with war, yet he doesnt have a nice military record. Rice is certainly not a military genius. No one asked to see his given to grades before he was elected by the right wing. Yale should be closed if they gave him a diploma. How much does a diploma cost? Bush can not even read the speeches Rove writes for him without screwing them up. I think Bush is the most dangerous man alive. He created the terrorist in Iraq, he knows terrorism. Rove will only need a half or less sheet of paper to write his legacy. Historians will crucify him.
By svmn | Mar 9, 2007 5:11:46 PM | Request Removal

       Mr. Rove needs to watch which bars he goes into to avoid the wrath of the Christian Right which is becoming aware of the Gay Mafia that exists in the higher realms of government. The bloggers seem to be having a field day reporting which bars Rove has been frequenting.
By pamwv41 | Mar 9, 2007 5:24:54 PM | Request Removal

       If the priests of a country have to purify the ground that Bush has walked on, there is going to have to be a lot of revisionism to pull this president out of the muck he has steeped himself in. My cat box has fewer turds in it than the turds laid down by this administration.
By pamwv41 | Mar 9, 2007 5:41:21 PM | Request Removal

       no way this president can have a good legacy with all the corruption that has flowed through and around this adminastration. Rove, Abramoff, Reed, Norquist, Delay, Cunningham, Chaney, false news casts, censuring scientist, lies to invade Iraq, fired Attorney Generals for political purposes,Walter Reed hospital, on and on and on. Then add the violation of Seperation of Church and State... Tax breaks for the wealth, not the poor or middle class...and dont forget this adminastration getting into bed with the Military Industrial machine and send our troops into action ill equipped and understaffed to fight and contain the Iraqy criminals... Nothing good from this adminastration. Only saddness, pain.
By mallen8688 | Mar 9, 2007 6:03:28 PM | Request Removal

       Legacy ? Think back to the stories of the depression. 75 years later, and we still understand how bad it was. Why ? Word of mouth - past down through the generations.
By birdinflight | Mar 9, 2007 6:16:15 PM | Request Removal

       Karl Rove is a second rate hack who has been allowed to damage this country and its Constitution. Your positive spin regarding this person says more about your your newspaper than anything else. The Bush legacy is toast and he contributed to it. The Washington Post has taken the easy road. Solid honest journalism is hardly breathing anymore.
By hartsfield2 | Mar 9, 2007 6:59:39 PM | Request Removal

       I wonder if Roves name is in that little black book?
By Frodo911 | Mar 9, 2007 7:08:31 PM | Request Removal

       Bushs legacy cant be anything but a horror story and as far as a library at SMU maybe you could go to protectsmu.org. I think maybe Bob Jones.
By dalandis1 | Mar 9, 2007 7:36:57 PM | Request Removal

       Karl Rove is a sleazy character. I just do not like him and I really dislike Bush. I kick myself for voting for him. I really wanted MsCain but Rove the Assasin took care of that. Come to think about it Bush is a sleazeball too. I would not want to be him. I couldnt forgive myself for misleading the American People and being responsible for so many dead Americans in Iraq and lets not forget the dead Iraqis too. Add the wounded and limbless and you have the makings of an Americab dictator.
By rymp | Mar 9, 2007 7:50:03 PM | Request Removal

       Legacy? I think we would just like to *forget* these past 6 years but events, perpetrated by The Decider and his gang, wont let us. Karl Rove? You mean that fat kid who never graduated from college but thinks he is smart. Unfortunately, others, including WP and NYT reporters, did too but not me. According to this guru, he just has a good memory and no ethics. Smart? Not quite, no evidence....check out the data. Opportunist is more like it. Hey, Mike, good try...grab another handful of those cocktail weenies they hand out at the White House and tell us another story but, remember Mom, dont speak with your mouth full.
By grossman | Mar 9, 2007 8:31:40 PM | Request Removal

       Cant the Washington Post move beyond these pieces that taste like tofu. Puff puff pass.
By gjcomm | Mar 9, 2007 9:27:06 PM | Request Removal

       What possible legacy? 3 trillion dollars of debt? 3200 dead Americans in Iraq? a policy of secrecy that shrouds the accumulation of executive power? the wiretapping, surveilling, and privacy violations? the loss of our moral authority that once led world debate? torture? human rights violations? indefinite imprisonments? the resurgence of the Taliban? fear mongering? hyperpartisanship? When this 8 year nightmare is over, his legacy will be the sound of a collective sigh around the country and the world..
By bklyndan22 | Mar 9, 2007 9:41:06 PM | Request Removal

       The real question is why the WAPO and Michael Abramowitz feel it is acceptable to continue to lie so consistently and blatantly. First they lie about Libby and his conviction and now this flowery piece on Rove. The real interesting side of this is that the great rightwing hordes consider the WAPO too liberal to even read. It must be an overt attempt to gain readership through dissemination of information. It is obvious that the two has been news outlets the WAPO and the NYTimes are anachronisms, soon to be overtaken by online news…real news.
By jfk02 | Mar 9, 2007 10:17:39 PM | Request Removal

       Nice to look at as well.....
By tasgardson | Mar 9, 2007 10:45:13 PM | Request Removal

       George Bush will leave a legacy, all right. As Americas Hitler/Stalin/Napoleon/Saddam. Once the American people learn that 911 was an inside job, orchestrated by the Bush administration to take us to war in Iraq to control their oil, Bush will go down in history as the anti-Christ mentioned in Revelations. Which is apparently what it took for Americans and the world at large to reclaim their rights and rebuild their planet for the good of all, instead of only a few. Go, Bush.
By shaman7214 | Mar 9, 2007 11:19:24 PM | Request Removal

       May I suggest, school yard Bully politics , War Monger! Felon, traitor!, Coward, Serial Killer, uneducated,The great destroy! International terrorist, Accepter of bribes, Government for sale, God forsaken, Violator of the Constitution, Dictatorship. The list goes on and on. A Legacy of the worst most destructive government the US has ever known.
By allanhahn | Mar 9, 2007 11:30:51 PM | Request Removal

       The lynchpin which could come off, to send the presidential legacy spin wheel rolling into the ditch of history, is illegal alien amnesty. This plan is in defiance of the sacred will of the American people, and at the behest of the international bankers and Supra-nationalists, who have loyalty to NO nation. Lawmakers conspire behind closed doors, to sell our country down the river. We cannot succumb as a country or people. We must fight back and claim the Federal Reserve as a spoil of war, for it properly belongs to the American people, not the international bankers. It is a clear case of a public servantPres. Bush promoting special interests, to the detriment of his nation. Any responsible president would demand a clarification of position, regarding Mexican intentionsAs if we didnt know already. That means the War President does not do business with Mexico, until formal terms of surrender are signed by Mexico. Mexico has invaded, and currently occupies and claims American territory for Mexico. Mexico is under the illusion that American territory belongs to Mexico. That nation must be made to understand that there will be NO Reconquista, through sheer demographics, and a dual citizenship strategy. There will be NO path to American citizenship for these invaders who come to supplant us. Mexico has sent the drug cartel mafia, and Mexican soldiers onto American soil, to run harmful drugs into our country. The criminal gangs which infest Los Angeles and other cities, are the shock troops of the globalists, who flood our country with endless waves of Third World humanity, with their subversive policies. The president contributes to the globalist mindset, and thus loses the hearts of his countrymen. We believe in nationalism--not guest worker programs and free trade, which reward invaders for ruining our country, and self-determination. We the People, believe that the money power must reside with us-- not private monopolies, such as the Federal Reserve. We are witness to the destruction of our middle class by the corporate robber barons, who flood our nation with cheap slave labor, thereby systematically driving down wages, and ushering in a return to feudalism, and serfdom for a once free people. The President has played directly into the hands of these One World Government forces,and therefore proves himself not in the same league as Andrew Jackson. He has failed to fathom the danger to our republic from monied interests. The mind of the president seems to be distracted by other matters, while federal agents, Compean and Ramos continue to rot in prison. All of these things can be read like stratigraphy, or tree rings. All foreign policy comes to naught, when ones nation is already occupied by a hostile foreign power, and the government is hijacked by a hostile corporate takeover. ------------------------- Let me issue and control a nations money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Amschel Rothschild, 1790
By tasgardson | Mar 9, 2007 11:33:25 PM | Request Removal

       Absolutely brilliant. History will be rewritten for sure by our next President, if we are to regain our feet in the world.
By lowelldaasch | Mar 10, 2007 12:21:46 AM | Request Removal

       Having helped create the debacle that is the Bush Presidency, Mr Rove has a clear interest in potraying it in as flattering a light as possible. Notwithstanding his and Mr Cheyneys views, however, history is unlikely to be as kind as they hope and history would be absolutely RIGHT!
By ioahimie | Mar 10, 2007 12:26:42 AM | Request Removal

       I live about 35 miles from Shrubs ranch. You know that place where he goes and pretends to be a cowboy. If he built his presidential library across the road from my house, and there is room, I wouldnt walk across the road to see it. I hope Karl and George know we dont forget so easily and our children have also been watching. They are kidding themselves if they think people will start thinking kindly of George W. People tried to make out nice about Nixon a while back. I dont think it caught on. Efforts to build George Ws reputation will be futile.
By thebaizes | Mar 10, 2007 12:33:05 AM | Request Removal

       Rove will have a tough time finding a posotive legacy for bush although the man is a hell of a liar i have to give him credit for that.
By frogpa | Mar 10, 2007 1:08:59 AM | Request Removal

       NOBODY ELECTED ROVE - the only way to get rid of this turd is to impeach the VP and the Pres. So what are the Democrats waiting for? There is plenty of good cause to get rid of that whole bunch and put them all in jail-sooner is better-GET ON WITH THE JOB YOU WERE SENT TO DC TO DO
By tucanofulano | Mar 10, 2007 2:20:26 AM | Request Removal

       One thing will surely go down in history that will really disturb the diehard Bush followers. He never could walk on water as they have long believed. They will still say he can. Kool-aid does that to you.
By thebaizes | Mar 10, 2007 2:22:04 AM | Request Removal

       Karl Rove is going to have a tough job trying to bring a decent legacy to President Bush. He has squandered resources, ignored enviornmental issues, cuts veterans benefits and done nothing toward social programs,protected corporations while ignoring or elimating unions and has taken us into an unnecessary war in Iraq. Yes, I would say Karl Rove has indeed got his work cut out for him. I find it ironic that he spoke at the Clinton Library and invoked the names of Presidents Clinton, Kennedy and Truman as examples. George Bush isnt even in the same league as these. Oh President Bush will have a legacy alright. He will go down as the worst and most dangerous president in the history of this country.
By ellejordan28 | Mar 10, 2007 2:29:36 AM | Request Removal

       Does anyone remember when our troops first entered Baghdad and Saddams loyal general kept saying that they were winning and the infidel Americans were no where near Baghdad. All the time our troops were sitting on a tank across the street behind him waving at the camera. Well Karl sort of sounds like Saddams general. I dont know what kind of dope the Bush administration is smoking but they are certainly in denial of facts.
By thebaizes | Mar 10, 2007 2:56:19 AM | Request Removal

       The legacy was written, in permanent ink, when Bush, with Rove`s help, dragged us into a `preemptive war` based on deliberately manufactured evidence, i.e., a lie. And then smeared and ruined anyone who tried to stop them. As any child who tells a lie learns, eventually the lie comes back to kick you in the derriere. Unless, of course, that child is a sociopath. Well, BushCo told lie after lie after lie, like the sociopaths they are, and now that whole house of cards is tumbling down. Bush`s lies have been exposed to the light of day. And boy do they hate it! Bush`s legacy? He`s a !@#$^* LIAR. And Rove is a !@#$^* ENABLER/LIAR. Impeachment is too good for these wackos. How about trial and then confinement in tiny cells for the rest of their lives for all the people they have killed?
By pjwhite530 | Mar 10, 2007 3:04:05 AM | Request Removal

       Bush legacy: in dutch we have this proverb ** Veel beloven, weinig geven, doet een gek in vreugde leven **. Just like the senators in Rome did, give the people bread and games, but punish them severely for what they have commited and have not commited. Consider everybody that is against the Rome reign as enemies that must be crusified, strangled in public in a strangle-chair or fed to the lions. The should not warship any god but ours.
By jw.holtkamp | Mar 10, 2007 6:50:41 AM | Request Removal

       WHAT GOOD IS A LIBRARY FOR A PRESIDENT THAT CANNOT READ !!!
By jw.holtkamp | Mar 10, 2007 6:56:59 AM | Request Removal

       THE ONLY LEGACIES OF THE EXTREME CHRISTIAN TERRORIST IN CHIEF ARE FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES, FEAR, LIES END FEAR AND LIES.
By jw.holtkamp | Mar 10, 2007 7:02:22 AM | Request Removal

       In the entire history of America, there has never been a president who got, while he is still alive, honored with a movie in which he is assassinated. What a nice legacy is that than. As far as I am concerned this is the only **positive** legacy he left behind.
By jw.holtkamp | Mar 10, 2007 7:25:09 AM | Request Removal

       Spilled Milk, Spilled milk. spilled milk, if Rove can recover spilled milk, please let him do it.
By isang011 | Mar 10, 2007 8:57:25 AM | Request Removal

       I would like to know when Bush plans on firing Rove like he said he would. What were the famous words that were later changed when he found out that Rove was actually involved. First, it was something like anyone involved in the leak will be fired. Then, after he found out Turd Blossom was involved something like it was anyone being prosecuted. Well, I believe we now know that Rove was very involved. So, why is this man still on the national payroll? And when is this Democratic Congress going to go after Articles of Impeachment in regards to Dick Cheney. Im just a nobody but it sure looks like there is enough evidence to make the charge stick!!!!!
By sccameron | Mar 10, 2007 9:01:25 AM | Request Removal

       Legacy? tell with you tomorrow. Legacy? Huh about Walter Reed Hospital? Destruction of Iraq, maiming american citizens in war which we were involved on the wing of a lie? Legacy with Haliburton and rising oil prices? In the 8 years of Clintons administration, we bought gas for $0.98 a gallon....Legacy. Let Rove try..perhaps, he can pick up the spilled milk
By isang011 | Mar 10, 2007 9:03:03 AM | Request Removal

       This is what always happen when the Supreme select our President instead of the American people.
By isang011 | Mar 10, 2007 9:12:11 AM | Request Removal

       ROVE, FROM A POLITICIAN TO HISTORIAN? GREAT CROSS OVERS
By isang011 | Mar 10, 2007 9:19:49 AM | Request Removal

       A POSITIVE LEGACY FOR GEORGE W. BUSH? YOU/EWE MUST BE JOKING! EITHER THAT OR YOU/EWE HAVE BEEN DRINKING TOO MUCH KOOL-AID!
By oldcoyoteknose | Mar 11, 2007 2:02:55 PM | Request Removal

       Karl Rove is perfectly correct when he states that History is going to write the legacy long after we are all dead or in no position to affect it. The only problem is, the final analysis may not be a positive one...
By lisebrouillette | Mar 11, 2007 11:52:39 PM | Request Removal