Bush's Not-So-Easy Riders

Rove, Visible and Vocal

Karl Rove may be getting ready to pad his bank account significantly. The auction of his proposed book began last week, and word is that an announcement could come this week about a publishing deal worth potentially in the seven figures for the former senior adviser to President Bush.

With recent appearances on "The Charlie Rose Show," "Hannity & Colmes" and "Fox News Sunday," as well as opinion pieces in the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Financial Times, Rove is certainly doing his level best to keep his name out there as he tries to sell his book -- so much so that he might be in danger of overexposure. He found time to travel to Duke University, where more than 1,000 people turned out to see him be interviewed by professor Peter Feaver, who until recently worked with Rove from his perch on the National Security Council staff.

It was not an altogether friendly appearance, as some in the crowd interrupted Rove with shouts of "liar" or "murderer." At one point, Rove shot back, "I don't like to be slandered," according to an account in the Raleigh News & Observer, though Feaver professed to be pleased with the event: "Karl doesn't disappoint: he is humorous, engaging, informative, and, yes, provocative."

Going, Going . . .

The parade of people moving out of the West Wing is getting longer. On Friday, the White House announced that congressional liaison Ca ndy Wolff and top speechwriter Bill McGurn will be leaving shortly, joining Rove, press secretary Tony Snow, terrorism adviser Fran Townsend and others who have decided to bail out as the administration heads into the home stretch.

Wolff will be replaced by Dan Meyer, a former Hill staffer and private lobbyist who joined the administration earlier this year. The new chief speechwriter will be Ma rc Thiessen, a onetime Pentagon wordsmith and aide to former senator Jesse Helms (R-N.C.).

Neither Wolff nor McGurn, a former Wall Street Journal editorial writer, have said what they will do next, according to press secretary Dana Perino, who said both had advised chief of staff Joshua M. Bolten long ago that they were planning to leave by the end of the year. McGurn will stay on a bit longer to help out with next month's State of the Union address.

Lessons Learned Dept.

Speaking of Meyer, the onetime chief of staff to then-House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) is one of a trio of senior White House aides who had the searing experience of being bested politically by President Bill Clinton during the 1995 budget showdown. The other two are White House counselor Ed Gillespie, then an aide to Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.), and top political adviser Barry Jackson, then the chief of staff to Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio).

The three helped devise President Bush's hard-line strategy toward Congress this year, which appears to be resulting in a series of victories for him on the budget, Iraq funding and an energy bill that was stripped of provisions that he opposes. While there are certainly differences between the Bush and Clinton eras, the idea that even an unpopular president can exert leverage through use of the veto pen and the bully pulpit has seemed to resonate through the West Wing this fall.

"These guys remember what Clinton did to us," said another veteran of the earlier battles, onetime Gingrich aide Ed Kutler, a lobbyist at Clark & Weinstock. "These are people who learned the lessons of the powers of a president, even a weakened president, in the final days of a Congress. And they have done a good job of using them."

Who's in Charge?

Vice President Cheney:

"I think we've got people on the other side who don't believe as I do. . . . They don't think al-Qaeda is involved in Iraq . . . or they really do want to close Guantanamo. (Dec. 5, 2007, interview with the Politico)

President Bush:

"I'd like to end Guantanamo. I'd like it to be over with." (June 21, 2006, news conference)