David Corn on Roe v. Rove

David Corn does an analysis of the White House's attempt to deflect attention away from Rove by rushing the Supreme Court nomination. I think David's right that Bush has successfully deflected attention FOR NOW, meaning FOR TODAY, and I agree that Roberts is a nominee who isn't as clear cut a lunatic at first blush as, say, Bork. But I disagree with David about how the next couple of weeks will trend.

David suggests, I think, that the Sup Ct nomination will drown out Rove over the near-term. Here's my take:

1. The nomination drowned out Rove last night, and it should have. The president just announced a pick for the Supreme Court. That's a major deal. It deserves non-stop coverage for a few hours at least.

2. But that doesn't mean coverage will be about the Sup Ct for the next 6 weeks. I don't buy that at all (I'm not saying David is saying that, just giving my take). I think the Sup Ct will get massive coverage in the MSM over the next few days, but then it will die down in, say, three to four days because there will be nothing left to write. The liberal groups and politicians will need to spend the month of August coming up with their positions on the candidate, the approach they want to take to this nomination, etc. That will take time. In the meantime, I just don't see what news the media can cover about the nomination that it won't have covered in the first 48 hours. Short of him being outed in a video with a goat (I owe that line to another blogger).

3. That's where Rove comes in. Rove is the only story this summer that promises to keep giving and giving over the next six weeks, at least until the Sup Ct nomination hearings. I can tell you right now the blogs will be covering Rove like a cheap blanket (or something like that). And we already have gotten back to our regular coverage already. The MSM is another question. They may need some cajoling to get back to Rove, and cajole we will. But if another shoe drops in the investigation, I suspect the MSM will be all to eager to jump on it because they won't have anything else to write about - there just won't be much Supreme Court news during the August break.

Anyway, that's my take. Bush breaks the cycle of nasty Rove stories by announcing his nominee. But I don't see how that helps him once the media gets the Sup Ct out of its system in the next few days. That's when Rove gets interesting again because he's the only game in town.

Unless of course, Rove decides to save his ass and leak the video of Roberts with the goat, to make sure some OTHER scandal keeps the attention off of him. While I'm joking about Roberts, don't put it past Rove for a minute to try to manufacture some other story, outrage, or scandal to keep the attention off of him. Fellow Republicans beware (Colin Powell, that would be you).