The Unbelievable Karl Rove

As Deborah Orin-Eilbeck writes in the New York Post: "No one's calling Karl Rove 'Boy Genius' anymore. After last week's election debacle, some Republicans wonder aloud if it's time for President Bush's political guru to follow Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld and walk the plank.

"The final blow for many Republicans was President Bush's decision to fire Rumsfeld right after the election -- instead of a few months before, when it might have helped save the House and Senate.

"'Everyone knew the election was about Iraq except them,' says a disgusted GOP strategist, noting that it was Rove's job to make sure Bush knew."

Rod Dreher writes in the Dallas Morning News: "Old CW: Mr. Rove's strategy of winning elections by playing hard to the GOP base proves him a political genius. New CW: How could this knucklehead have allowed the president to alienate so many swing voters?"

Oversight Ahoy!

James Glanz, David Johnston and Thom Shanker write in the New York Times: "Oversight, the power wielded by congressional committees to demand information and internal documents and to haul executive branch officials to hearings, by subpoena if necessary, is reverberating through Congress as a Democratic battle cry. . . .

"In the Senate, Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who is in line to become chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that seeking a new strategy for Iraq would be his primary focus, but that he would also look carefully at military contracting. . . .

"The Appropriations Committee, which is likely to be led by Representative David R. Obey of Wisconsin, is likely to review more closely spending like large supplementary requests for Iraq and Afghanistan. . . .

"The Senate Judiciary Committee has staff members trying to compile a complete list of unanswered questions.

"Some Democrats said before the election that they would inquire more deeply into some issues, asking for fuller accountability among senior officers and civilian officials at the Pentagon over the harsh treatment of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

"'I think the accountability for Abu Ghraib has not yet been accomplished in terms of finding out who was involved, at what level,' said Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island."

Erica Werner writes for the Associated Press: "The Democratic congressman who will investigate the Bush administration's running of the government says there are so many areas of possible wrongdoing, his biggest problem will be deciding which ones to pursue.

"There's the response to Hurricane Katrina, government contracting in Iraq and on homeland security, decision-making at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, and allegations of corporate profiteering, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., told the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.