NYT: At Milestone in Inquiry, Rove, and the G.O.P., Breathe a Bit Easier

[DeepModem Mom]

At Milestone in Inquiry, Rove, and the G.O.P., Breathe a Bit Easier
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: October 29, 2005


WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 - After months of uncertainty and four grand jury appearances, Karl Rove escaped the worst possible outcome on Friday, and a collective sigh of relief swept the Bush administration and the Republican Party.

Mr. Rove remained under a legal cloud: not indicted, but still at the center of the unfinished business in the C.I.A. leak case. He was absent from public view for most of the day, and conspicuously avoided giving any appearance that he had begun to celebrate.

But several friends and colleagues said he had resumed his role as the ubiquitous adviser who has guided George W. Bush's political career since before Mr. Bush's days as Texas governor. Even as the administration somberly accepted the resignation of I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, a pall that had fallen over Mr. Rove's section of the West Wing seemed to lift. And Mr. Rove, who just two weeks earlier had seemed in grave danger of being charged with a crime, took comfort in having survived this important point in the case....A Republican official who had heard from Mr. Rove's friends said he seemed "relieved" though chastened by the five counts brought against Mr. Libby. The official said Mr. Rove and White House colleagues did not want to make any statements that would provoke Mr. Fitzgerald....

***

Although Mr. Rove had reportedly been distracted by the investigation, several of his colleagues said Friday that in fact he had been engaged in his work all along. They denied that the case had caused any preoccupation contributing to the two central political disasters of recent weeks: the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and the crash-and-burn of Harriet E. Miers's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Still, they acknowledged that if Mr. Rove's legal troubles were indeed starting to fade, his prospects for helping the administration regain its footing were greater....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/politics/29rove.html