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Ärende: Press Release (070813a) for Mon, 2007 Aug 13
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Roundtable Discussion with Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the
President
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary August 13, 2007

Roundtable Discussion with Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the
President Aboard Air Force One En route Waco, Texas

˙˙White House News


1:09 P.M. EDT

Q Some people have said -- some of the political analysts have already said
that this spells the end of -- marks the end of President Bush's political
life. What do you think?

MR. ROVE: Absolutely not. Why would it? He's the President of the United
States.

Q Because --

MR. ROVE: Well, but look, every President plays a -- even if they're not
running again, plays a big role in shaping the nature of the debate, the
policy debate, which in turn has a big impact on politics. And you can bet,
being as competitive as he is, that he's going to use every lever he's got
command over, every power that he controls to continue to drive the policy
debate right up to noon on January 20, 2009.

Q Karl, were you considering staying longer, to kind of bring home the '08
elections a little? Maybe help from the White House to pave the ground,
while the other candidates are duking it out?

MR. ROVE: No, we just -- we started talking about this over a year ago and
we just -- we mutually reinforced bad behavior by constantly finding
excuses that we could postpone the discussion. But now is the right time to
do it. It gives -- if Josh has thought through, and is thinking through --
I think he's thought through, if the truth be known, about how he wants to
handle this, and this gives him enough time to both put responsibilities
into some people's hands and recruit people to step in to do other
responsibility.

Q Do you have -- in your last conversation with the President about this,
can you tell us when that was and was he understanding, or was he asking
you to stay at that point still?

MR. ROVE: You know, we've been talking about this for a year. I can't tell
you what time this spring, or late this winter where we sort of finally
agreed. But constantly it was, like, we'd say, okay, both of us recognize
that it's time. And then we'd say, well, let's talk about this again after
the State of the Union, or let's talk about it after the surge. But this
was just the best logical point to do it, after Congress went out and
before the fall.

Q Did he ever ask you to reconsider, stay on until the end of the term?

MR. ROVE: You know, here's the deal, I mean, we talked about it. When
you've got a good friend and you talk through it -- look, both of us would
have liked to have been in a place where we both could have walked out,
where I could have followed him out the door on the 20th. But I've got a
family, and I've asked my family to go through a lot and to sacrifice a
lot. And this all actually started with things in our family, talking about
what the future would hold for us. And as time went on it became clear that
it was time for us to think about the next chapter.

Look, I love my job. I have fun. It is a joy to walk in the door. I have
the most incredible colleagues in the world. And I know it sounds corny,
but it's inspiring to walk into the Oval Office, the tone he sets, you
know, the good nature he has, the focus, the vision -- it's inspiring. And
I deliberately used that word today because he just -- he makes it a
wonderful place to work. And my colleagues make it a magical place to work.
And you have such a sense of satisfaction of serving the country and doing
important work in combination with some really extraordinary people. And
would I like to enjoy that right up until January 20? You bet I would; 526
more days of that would be great. But I wouldn't be doing the right thing
by my family, and it really is time for me to do this.

Q When was the first time that you broached the subject with him?

MR. ROVE: Late spring/early summer of last year.

Q Where --

MR. ROVE: It was in the Oval and it was just one day, and I said, you know,
I'm beginning to think I need to think about is there a time before January
2009, that we need to depart.

Q -- after-thought, or did you go in there to talk about it?

MR. ROVE: Look, it was at the end of a day and we didn't have much else to
talk about. He had a little bit of time on his hands and it just seemed
like a good moment.

Q Do you feel like any unfinished business as you leave, particular issue
or --

MR. ROVE: I mean, you know, look, that's it -- I mean, the President is an
activist President. We face a big set of votes and discussions and debates
this fall on Iraq, on the budget -- which is not just about spending.
Imbedded in each one of those appropriation bills are serious policy
questions. We have initiatives on energy, on education, on No Child Left
Behind, which is coming through, on health care. There will be a State of
the Union next year, which will also help shape next year, as well.

So, look, there's a robust set of issues that we're dealing with. And,
again, I'd love to be around for them. In a way, I'll be kibitzing from the
outside -- he knows my phone number and I know his. But, no, there's a lot
of unfinished business ahead and we're in the midst of some very important
things.

And we're winning some of these battles. The Competitive Initiative, which
he laid out in the State of the Union, I believe last year, has just now
been signed into law. We have No Child Left Behind, which we can either do
by law or regulation -- we want to do it by law. The energy, 20-in-10,
which we can do both by legislation and regulation, some of it embodied in
various legislative proposals on the Hill.

Look, the President did not come to occupy this office. He came to fulfill
his responsibilities to press the agenda every single day he's in office.

Q How frequently do you think you'll stay in touch with him in the coming
--

Q With you departing and with Bartlett gone, who's going to fill that role
of providing counsel to the President?

MR. ROVE: Look, the great thing is the President creates an environment in
which people feel very confident. It depends on how quickly they get
acclimated, but they tend to get acclimated quickly; where they understand
speaking plainly and candidly about what you think is what he expects and
what he rewards.

I've seen it. And you talk to people today inside the White House that
served in previous administrations -- not to disparage previous
administrations -- but the collegiality that they talk about is remarkable.
And what's amazing to me is the collegiality takes place in an environment
in which people can have deep and serious disagreements about things -- you
know, try and litigate it through to a point where they come to an
agreement, and if not, carry them into the Oval Office, and at the end of
it, feel that the process -- that they were heard and that they were
well-served and that the country has been well-served by the decision that
was made.

The President is really -- look, he is focused on setting the tone. He
understands how vital it is that a President get unvarnished advice. He
understands more than a lot of people how powerful that office is in
discouraging people. You know, members of Congress -- my office was 15
steps from the door to the Oval Office --

Q Did you count them?

MR. ROVE: Somebody did. (Laughter.) I think they must have been very long
steps.

Members of Congress would be sitting there in my office and they'll say, "I
need to tell the President X" -- and they'll walk into that Oval and say,
"Hey, you're looking pretty today." But he's very good at -- particularly
with staff -- teasing out what it is that they want to say and get people
to say it.

Now, sometimes, to me the amazing thing is sitting there in the Oval, those
two couches are as close as Jim and are to each other, and there will be a
member of the Cabinet advocating one position, and there will be the junior
G-man from some other Cabinet department or someplace in the bowels of the
administration taking the other side. And that's pretty remarkable to be
able to create that kind of atmosphere.

Q So are you replaceable then?

MR. ROVE: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

Q Is anyone else on the White House staff replaceable?

MR. ROVE: Everybody is. Except two.

Q Karl, are you going to go to any other campaigns, or even in an informal
role? Or are you out?

MR. ROVE: I don't intend to take a formal role. I've got friends in all the
campaigns. I do want to see this President succeeded by a Republican. I'll
be happy to, if asked my opinion, I'm an opinionated person. But I don't
anticipate taking any formal role in any campaign, and if I did I would
shortly thereafter die -- check the whereabouts of my wife if I'm found
dead. (Laughter.)

Q Karl, can I ask you, I know you mentioned your family as being a big
issue here. There's obviously been pressure that's come to bear on you --
the investigations and subpoenas and the like. Has that affected your
family? Has that in any way figuring in on your decision to leave?

MR. ROVE: It's not figured in my decision, no. I think they are only
vaguely aware of the subpoenas. They obviously were more than vaguely aware
of the investigation. And look, I'm realistic enough to understand that the
subpoenas are going to keep flying my way. I'm Moby Dick and we've got
three or four members of Congress who are trying to cast themselves in the
part of Captain Ahab -- so they're going to keep coming.

But anybody who suggests the investigations had something to do with
getting me out is sort of putting Congress in the position of being the
rooster that believes that by crowing loudly brings the sun to come up.

Q But are you protected now, in terms of legality? I mean, because of
executive privilege? How does that work now?

MR. ROVE: After I leave the White House the things that I've -- the advice
that I've given the President, my role within the White House remains
protected; I do not lose privilege by leaving the White House -- just as
former Presidents don't lose the privilege when they leave the White House.
You remember that there have been instances where the current President, on
behalf of President Clinton, has asserted privilege.

Q So what are you going to do? I mean, you know campaigns, you know the
game. What's on the agenda?

MR. ROVE: I have no idea. I'd like to teach eventually, but in the meantime
I need to make some money. I have an employment record that I think would
be attractive to any employer: I've worked in an industrial kitchen in a
hospital; I've waited tables; I've worked in convenience stores and have
been robbed at the point of a gun twice; I've pumped gas; I've babysat;
I've cut lawns; I've delivered newspapers.

Q -- really going to do?

MR. ROVE: I have no idea.

Q You have no idea?

Q Are you talking to any universities?

Q There's no deal that's in the works, at all?

MR. ROVE: No. The President has encouraged me to write a book. I will do a
book.

Q But you've not made any -- there's no deal going, right, that you're
going to be announcing soon?

MR. ROVE: Other than I've done what everybody does, and that is talk to Bob
Barnett. (Laughter.)

Q A book about -- you have talked to Barnett, by the way?

MR. ROVE: Yes.

Q A book about your experiences? A book about modern campaigning? A book
about the historical --

MR. ROVE: It's going to be about the most important and interesting thing
that the American people want to know, which is my relationship with you.
With you. (Laughter.)

Q What's it going to be? What are the --

MR. ROVE: I don't know.

Q Is it going to be about political theory, running campaigns? Or is it
going to be more like your experiences in --

MR. ROVE: I think it's going to -- I'm a student of history, so I'd rather
talk about the history of this President and get in there, stay in there
and be in there.

Q Not a thriller? (Laughter.)

MR. ROVE: We know the outcome of the true critical moments. (Laughter.)

Q Any titles?

MR. ROVE: Come on, please!

Q Have you kept a diary throughout this time to help you?

MR. ROVE: No.

Q So you're going to be doing this on your prodigious memory?

MR. ROVE: That's your characterization of it, but I appreciate the kind
word that you had for me.

Q Do you have your own characterization of any effect you've had on the
modern election campaign and electioneering?

MR. ROVE: I think there's the mistaken impression, and then there's the
reality. The mistaken impression -- in fact, I talked with a colleague of
yours not too long ago about this, the idea that this is all about playing
to the base; that supposedly the success of the two campaigns have been
that the President played to the base of the Republican Party. Completely
inaccurate.

I hope that this idea holds currency in the high councils of the Democratic
Party, because it absolutely misses the story of 2000 and 2004, let alone
the President's time in office. The base is something that's by its very
nature a small part of a greater thing.

Q So what's your advice to the Republican front-runner coming up?

MR. ROVE: Well, I don't have advice -- my advice is for the Republicans,
which I think, frankly, has become ingrained in the DNA of the Republican
Party, which is that in order to win, the Republican Party needs to
mobilize a vast army of volunteers to expand the electorate by emphasizing
an agenda that is prospective in nature, that looks to the future and says,
this is what we intend to do for America, and is bold and clear, but is
focused on saying to people, we know you're not enthusiastic about
politics, but if you love your country, if you care about the future,
here's a message that hopefully will attract you to coming out and
registering and voting.

That's why President Bush in 2004 got 25 percent more votes than he got in
2000 and became the first presidential candidate since 1988 to get a
majority of the popular vote. He won 81 percent of the counties in America;
he increased his share of the vote in 87 percent of the counties in
America. He got a record or historic number numbers among Latinos, Jews,
Catholics, women -- erased the gender gap. And it was because -- not
because he played to the base but because he played with a broad and bold
message that was able to attract -- think about it, one-quarter more people
voted for him in 2004 than voted for him in 2000, and he did that in the
midst of an unpopular war, with a united Democrat Party, and being outspent
by $148 million, which is, if you add up what the DNC, the Democratic 527s
who carried Edwards raised and spent, compared to Republican 527s, RNC and
Bush-Cheney, we were outspent by $148 million.

Q What accounts for his unpopularity right now?

MR. ROVE: We're in the midst of an unpopular war, and he's been hammered by
the Democrats. But I would point out to you, the Democrat Congress is less
popular than the President, and they got there a heck of a lot quicker.

As the war in Iraq -- as it's clear to the American people that the surge
is working, the President's popularity will rise.

Q Karl, your legacy, in terms of the Latino vote, you raised the
percentages from 2000, 2004. Are you worried about that legacy for the
party that you built in the current climate, and do you have a message for
your fellow Republicans on immigration?

MR. ROVE: I am worried about it, and you cannot ignore the aspirations of
the fastest-growing minority in America. We did that once before, and
that's why we were able to increase our vote among African Americans by 40
percent between 2000 and 2004, going from an incredibly anemic 9 percent to
a virtually anemic 13 percent. And we better not put ourselves in the place
with a vital part of the electorate that fundamentally shares our values
and views.

Q What do you think of this misconception there is about you among the
American public?

MR. ROVE: I'm not good at answering that, because I don't -- I really don't
naval-gaze, and I really --

Q You don't what?

MR. ROVE: I don't naval gaze.

Q Do you think the public has a misconception of you?

MR. ROVE: I'm not certain I understand what's -- other than that I'm the
evil genius, yes.

Q "Bush's brain."

MR. ROVE: Well, that is -- that's not me. That's an attack on the
President. That is the critics of the President trying to be cute. This guy
is a Yale undergraduate and history major, a Harvard MBA, and one of the
best-read, most thoughtful people I know. Now, I know he likes to play sort
of the Midland/West Texas -- but he is smart. And the "Bush's brain" was,
interestingly enough, a construct of two journalists as a way to diminish
him by suggesting that he wasn't capable of developing his philosophy or
his approach or his ability to win elections; somebody had to do it for
him, which is incredibly demeaning and really stupid. And I don't mind
saying that the two guys that coined it are stupid in their
characterization.

Q Who's winning your book-reading contest?

MR. ROVE: I am crushing him this year, second year in a row. He keeps using
this pathetic excuse that he's got the free world to run and that he's
leader of the free world, but I mean, that's cheesy, I think.

Q There was a perception in the political world that you wanted to stay on,
to maybe get the House back, and that that would kind of put the White
House on a better footing if it's a Republican. Is there any truth to that?
Were you tempted at all to --

MR. ROVE: Look, I'm a competitive guy. I'm tempted to stick around when
somebody sends a subpoena my way. I'm tempted to stick around for the next
fight. I'm tempted to stay around for the battle over the budget. I'm
tempted to stick around to see if we can get a standard health care
insurance deduction through. I'm a competitive person.

But really --

Q So she said, "I'm going to leave you if you stay"?

MR. ROVE: No. But she did say, isn't it time -- do we really have to wait
until January 2009 to begin -- let me say this off the record, I mean,
really say this off the record.

* * * * *

MS. PERINO: Let's go back on the record.

Q Is there an empty nest factor?

MR. ROVE: We want to be -- we want to be back in Texas, closer to our
family.

Q Who do you see winning the Democratic nomination, and what advice do you
have for that individual?

MR. ROVE: I have no advice for that individual.

* * * * *

MS. PERINO: Back on the record.

MR. ROVE: I think any rational observer would have to say that Hillary
Clinton is a prohibitive favorite to win the nomination.

Q And you'd include yourself as a rational observer on this particular --

MS. PERINO: Let's do one each, and then we'll finish.

Q Any few accomplishments that you single out as some of the ones you're
most proud of?

MR. ROVE: I'll think about that in September. This morning, though, at the
senior staff meeting, I was very candid with my colleagues. I said that the
true story was that I was resigning in protest over our failure to
establish equidistance as the principle in the germination of seaward
lateral boundaries in the latest version of the act overseeing offshore
drilling. I am the leading expert within the administration on this. This
actually goes back to Grotios, who was born in 1598, and he wrote this in
one of his earliest works. You're all familiar, of course, with Hugo
Grotios?

Q Do you like his position on international law? Because that surprises me,
because he's kind of pro-international law, and I don't see that coming
from your administration.

MR. ROVE: He was concerned about maritime international law and that's
where the principle of equidistance comes out in the determination of
seaward lateral boundaries between nation states. (Laughter.)

Q Don't encourage him.

MR. ROVE: And it has been upheld in two U.S. Supreme Court decisions and
two treaties which the United States signed in 1958 and in 1952.

MS. PERINO: Ben, your question.

MR. ROVE: George v. Florida and Louisiana v. Texas, if you wanted to check
it out.

Q By February we're going to know pretty much the Republican -- by next
August we'll know the Republican nominee. Are you ruling out that you'll be
working as an official advisor?

MR. ROVE: I won't fill an official role, formal role in any campaign.

Q Is a Republican majority still within the sites of -- a permanent
Republican majority?

MR. ROVE: Permanent? Nothing in politics is permanent. Things tend to be
durable. And do I think? Yes. Look, between 1896 and 1932, there were
Democrat Congresses and eight years of a Democrat President. You know, the
Democrat domination between 1952 and 1994, Democrat control of the U.S.
House of Representatives, there were Republican Senates and Republican
Presidents. In fact, during the period of Democrat dominance from 1932
until you pick the ending date of the New Deal, you have Dwight Eisenhower
and probably Richard Nixon to account for in the middle of that, if you
count the New Deal is largely dissipating by 1980. I think frankly the New
Deal coalition lasted until the '90s; I think we're seeing the break up of
the New Deal coalition in the attempt by both parties to form a new
coalition in the aftermath of it.

Q But will yours be lasting -- do you still see 2006 as a temporary
setback?

MR. ROVE: I do. But, look, I'm also realistic enough to know that it all
depends on -- the election in 2008 is important because the contest is --
the electorate is so narrowly divided, albeit I think the Republicans have
structural advantages, but I understand that it's so closely divided that
the outcome in 2008, 2010 and 2012 are going to have big impacts on the
future.

MS. PERINO: Deb, last one.

Q How did you get the math wrong in '06?

MR. ROVE: They were very close elections. There are 15 contests settled --
the closest 15 contests for the U.S. House are settled by a grand total of
85,000 votes, out of 82 million cast. That's just over 1/100th of 1 percent
difference in the 15 closest contests. One of them settled by 71 votes.

The races for the U.S. Senate control, the U.S. Senate is determined by a
difference of 3,562 votes, out of 60 million cast. So, yes -- first of all,
look, my role is to be an advocate. My job is not to be the paid
prognosticator for the Associated Press or CBS News. It's to go out there
and truthfully put as strong a case as possible. And looking at the data,
we had -- we came this close to doing something which would have been
really incredible, and that's keeping the House and the Senate. Eighty-five
thousand votes out of 85 million? And if you take a look at the 15 contests
that we lost, many of them -- I mean, look, the closest contest, Rob
Simmons, who ran in a district where the President got 38 percent of the
vote. And yet he comes within 70-some-odd votes of winning.

And if you look at a lot of the other contests, they were contests like,
you know, Foley's district in Florida, in which in order to vote for the
Republican nominee, who was a wonderful state representative, you had to
punch the lever for Mark Foley. And we came within a matter of a couple of
thousand votes of winning. And there were other contests there where the
incumbent did not take the advice of his or her colleagues at the National
Republican Congressional Committee or the Congressional Committee or the
White House, and that was to get prepared for a tough race. You know,
Hostettler in -- well, he's not one of the closest ones, but he took a seat
that was -- and Bush got two-thirds of the vote there, and he gets just
over a third of the vote by raising no money, conducting no campaign and
running one television ad that says, "I was proud to be one of the four or
five Republicans to vote against the Iraq war resolution."

So my point is, yes, I got the math wrong because it was a close call. And
it was -- maybe there were other smart people out there who were looking at
the same data saying, you know what, all those races are going to tilt
against Republicans -- good for them.

MS. PERINO: Parting thoughts? Anymore parting thoughts?

MR. ROVE: Oh, no. No. I've had a fun time. I've had a real fun -- and I'm
going to miss my colleagues a lot.

END 1:36 P.M. EDT

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