Karl Rove

"I'm rubber and you're glue!" Well Karl Rove didn't exactly say that to Joe Biden, but he did call him a "blowhard" and a "liar." Ouch!

Earlier this week the vice president recalled an encounter he had with President Bush. He said Bush told him "Well, Joe . . . I'm a leader." And Joe responded: "Mr. President, turn around and look behind you. No one is following."

Well Rove says it ain't so Joe. And he's Bush's brain, so he should know. Going on Fox News, Rove tried to set the record straight: "It didn't happen. It's his imagination. It's a made-up, fictional world. He ought to get out of it and get back to reality.” Rove also dropped the "blowhard" and "liar" labels, too.

Are you on Team Joe or Team Karl?

Karl Rove has been the Teflon presidential adviser, so far avoiding a contempt of Congress charge and dodging subpoenas by arguing that former presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify to Congress. Yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers issued another subpoena, demanding that Rove testify under oath on Feb. 2 about the firing of US attorneys in the Bush Justice Department.

Conyers says this time things are different. He argued that the "absolute immunity" position:

has been rejected by US District Judge John Bates and President Obama has previously dismissed the claim as "completely misguided". . . Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it. After two years of stonewalling, it's time for him to talk.

Do you agree that it's time for Rove to give a deposition? No matter what you think, it should be interesting to see whether or not President Obama supports Rove's executive privilege claim.

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With a ramped up convention, comes amped up comedy. The Daily Show was out in full-force yesterday, with Samantha Bee interviewing the more creatively dressed delegates. In this scene she was doing a little role-play, pretending to be Bristol Palin while the lovely delegate played Sarah. Hilarity ensued.

My favorite part of this video? The women behind me while I was filming having this conversation: "What news show is this?" "I don't know." "Oh, I think it's that Daily thing." "What? Oh, you mean that show all the kids watch?" Ha. And not 10 minutes before, in that very spot, Karl Rove strode past me — he might have escaped my camera, but he didn't escape Jon Stewart on last night's Daily Show. He had some pretty blistering things to say to Mr. Rove. To see what, read more

What's that noise coming from the Capitol's basement? Why, it's Karl Rove!

Well not exactly, but it could be soon! The House Judiciary Committee just voted along party lines to hold "Bush's Brain" in contempt of Congress, setting up a full House vote. The contempt charges stem from Karl's refusal to show up (claiming executive privileged) to a July 10 hearing on the allegedly politically motivated federal corruption charges that landed former (and popular) Democratic Alabama Governor Don Siegelman in prison.

If the entire House passes a contempt citation, the case goes to the federal attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeffery Taylor. Bush-appointed Taylor could recuse himself from the case and appoint a special prosecutor or refuse to prosecute.

If prosecution doesn't go anywhere, Congress does have its own "inherent power of contempt," which requires it to stop all other work and hold its own trial. If that happens, and Karl Rove is found guilty, he would be imprisoned in the basement of the Capitol. He could be joined by ex-White House counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolton, who are facing contempt charges, too. Do you think they'll fight over who gets the top bunk?

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Fox News's Chris Wallace may have misunderstood the point of doing PR when he snapped in front of a crowd of reporters at the Television Critics Association in LA moments ago. Our intrepid Buzz was front and center for the giant meltdown and besides sending texts saying "Rove's wearing a green tie! It's too long!" then she says things rapidly got even uglier. Joined on a panel by Howard Wolfson, John Moody, and Karl Rove, here's how the spin hit the fan:

Let's begin at the end, when the explosion happened. The Fox folks were ready to wrap up, and Wallace said basically, "no. I have something else to say."

Wallace then launched into a stern tirade that he thought there was a huge bias in the questions being asked of Karl Rove — especially regarding the controversy about him not testifying in front of Congress. He raged on why that would have any impact on his ability to work for Fox News, which is an independent news organization. Wallace then asked that he'd be curious to know if a conservative Congress had subpoenaed James Carville, if the reporters would be sitting there asking CNN whether it undermined their credibility to have him as a commentator. The general response from the reporters assembled was says Buzz, "uh, YEAH we would." Wallace fired back essentially, "oh, you would? Well, I'd be very curious to see that." The out-of-context blowup was according to Buzz, about a Richter 8 on the tension scale.

To see more questions and answers, including those leading up to the rant and the response to the NY Times photo-doctoring story, read more