Rove Keeps the Heat on Hillary Clinton

In this photograph provided by "Meet the Press," White House political adviser Karl Rove appears on "Meet the Press'" Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007, at the NBC studios in Washington. (AP Photo/Meet The Press, Alex Wong) (Alex Wong - AP)

"I've said enough," he said.

Rove said the GOP's chances in 2008 may be helped by the high negative ratings for Clinton and for the Democratic-led Congress. Congress' approval in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll this month stood at 25 percent, compared with 35 percent for Bush.

After Rove announced he was leaving the White House, he had traveled with Bush to his Texas ranch Monday, then left Friday after a GOP barbecue for more than 300 big donors from around the nation.

At a Democratic debate in Iowa on Sunday, Clinton responded to Rove's criticism.

"I don't think Karl Rove is going to endorse me, but I find it interesting that he's obsessed with me," she said.

She said no candidate will escape the "Republican attack machine," and added: "I know how to beat them."

Last week, Clinton's campaign ran a television ad saying struggling families and U.S. troops are "invisible" to Bush. White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino called that "unconscionable." Rove said that was laughable.

On other issues, Rove:

_Blamed congressional Democrats for standing in the way of changing Social Security and immigration law, two important pieces of Bush's second-term domestic policy that fizzled. Democratic leaders didn't want to give Bush a "political victory," Rove said.

_Said he doesn't think he owes an apology to Valerie Plame whose CIA employment was revealed by newspaper columnist Robert Novak's in 2003, shortly after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, began criticizing the administration's march to war in Iraq. Rove said he talked to Novak about Plame, but said he did not confirm that she worked for the CIA _ only that he, too, had heard that she did.

_Predicted that Democratic-led investigations into U.S. attorney firings and other matters would follow him after he departs the White House _ a decision he insisted was not in response to probes on Capitol Hill. "They'll keep after me," he said.

_Admitted that the GOP is suffering. "Is the Republican Party a little bit behind the curve? You bet," he said.

Rove appeared on "Fox News Sunday," NBC's "Meet the Press" and CBS' "Face the Nation."