The Wall Street Journal reports that Karl Rove is quitting at the end of the month:
Karl Rove, President Bush’s longtime political adviser, is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff effective Aug. 31, and returning to Texas, marking a turning point for the Bush presidency. . . . Mr. Rove revealed his plans in an interview with Paul Gigot, editor of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page.
He wants to spend more time with his family.
“I just think it’s time,” Mr. Rove said in the interview. “There’s always something that can keep you here, and as much as I’d like to be here, I’ve got to do this for the sake of my family.” Mr. Rove and his wife have a home in Ingram, Texas, and a son who attends college in nearby San Antonio.
Who will be the evil genius behind Bush’s every move?
Uh, besides Dick Cheney, that is.
P.S. Michelle Malkin notes that Rove considered leaving a year ago, and invites us to use our imagination:
Imagine how much better off the White House and the Republican Party might be now if he had, in fact, left a year ago.
And Allahpundit takes her up on the invitation:
The die on Plame had already been cast by then and Jorge Arbusto surely wouldn’t have needed Rove around to get him excited about shamnesty, but who knows what it might have meant to the U.S. Attorney scandal and to the strategic masterstroke of pulling the ripcord on Rumsfeld the day after the election instead of weeks before.
Heh.
P.P.S. Gigot’s interview with Rove is here.