Rove departure seen as 'good news for conservatives'

Karl Rove discusses his departure, with President Bush today on White House South Lawn (Photo ? Carrie Devorah)

One of the architects of the Reagan Revolution calls the announcement of Karl Rove's departure from the White House "good news for conservatives."

"We may have a more conservative Bush presidency with Rove back in Texas," said Richard Viguerie, author of "Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause."

Viguerie – who invented the idea of using direct mail as a means of going over the heads of what he considered to be a biased establishment press – said that as Bush's chief political adviser, Rove was a "master in the care and feeding of conservative leaders, keeping them mostly silent as the Republican Party moved left during the Bush presidency."

"He used the usual carrot and stick to do this. The carrot was access to the White House, and conservative leaders proved just as vulnerable as others to the lure of a photo op with the president, lunch in the West Wing or a returned phone call from Karl Rove," Viguerie explained. "The stick was fear – speak out, and not only will you lose any hope of access, you will be branded as an extremist, or someone who's helping the Democrats by speaking out."

Viguerie charged that by using both carrot and stick, Rove silenced or gained the support of most conservative leaders as Bush and congressional Republicans "greatly expanded the size and reach of the federal government."

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The expansion, he said, included the "No Child Left Behind" education bill, the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, prescription drug benefits, nation-building on a scale never attempted before, farm subsidies, steel tariffs and massive federal deficits.

White House adviser Karl Rove and President Bush today (Photo ? Carrie Devorah)

Rove confirmed today, standing with President Bush and first lady Laura Bush on the White House South Lawn, he will leave at the end of this month.

Bush, who has worked with Rove since the beginning of his political career in Texas, appeared grim-faced as told reporters "Karl Rove is moving on down the road."

"We've been friends for a long time and we're still going to be friends ... I'll be on the road behind you here in a bit," Bush said.

Rove, choking back tears, said he was "grateful to have been a witness to history."

"It has been the joy and the honor of a lifetime," he said. "But now is the time. ... At month's end, I will join those whom you meet in your travels, the ordinary Americans who tell you they are praying for you."

White House adviser Karl Rove, President Bush and first lady Laura Bush prepare to leave Washington for Texas (Photo ? Carrie Devorah)

Rove, along with his wife and son, then joined the president and first lady on the president's helicopter. They flew to Texas on Air Force One, where the president is vacationing.

'Raw, naked political power'

Viguerie acknowledged that as the architect of Bush's election victories in 2000 and 2004, Rove was a "political genius," but said as the president's chief policy adviser, he was "the architect of George W. Bush's betrayal of the conservative cause."

Viguerie said Rove's biggest failure was to leave the White House without achieving his stated goal of establishing the Republicans as the nation's permanent governing party.

Richard Viguerie

"Rove failed in that goal primarily because he attempted to advance the Republican Party by using raw, naked political power and bribing voters," Viguerie maintained. "He copied the Democrats and was more successful than them – for a while. But then conservatives and independents caught on to his game. We started rebelling, first over Harriet Miers and most recently over the amnesty bill. Meanwhile, the Republican Party had lost its 'brand' as the party of small government."

The way to recover from the Rove era, says Viguerie, is to "reject the bribing of voters and instead build on President Reagan's legacy."

The conservative movement and the Republican Party, if it wishes to survive, must be re-established as the movement and party of ideas, he said, "empowering people instead of government and with a strong national defense but no more nation- building."

Viguerie helped transform American politics by pioneering the use of direct-mail fundraising in the political and ideological spheres. Dubbed by some as the "Funding Father of the conservative movement," Viguerie motivated millions of Americans to participate in politics for the first time.

In his book, Viguerie shows federal spending under the Bush administration has grown five times larger than that during the second term of the Clinton administration, painting the president as a traitor to his party.

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