The Lame Duck's Brain

I was first struck by this image: A magician stands on a stage while his assistant hangs in the air in front of him, supported by just three brooms. One by one, the brooms are knocked away until it becomes obvious to all that the assistant is levitating - the physical impossibility of balancing a human being on top of three brooms is forgotten, replaced by the impossibility of a human being floating in air. Then there is some fuss made with hoops and hands to prove that there are no hooks or wires keeping the assistant aloft, simply the power of magic.
This is kind of how I feel about Karl Rove leaving the White House with five hundred and twenty-five days left in the Pinhead Regime. One by one, the brooms are being knocked out from under the floating Pinhead, yet he doesn't plummet to the ground. The resignations keep piling up, and with the notable exception of Dick "Dick" Cheney, there aren't many familiar faces left to play out the string. Speaking of "Dick", I was chagrined to be reminded that the reason Rove has refused to testify before Congress about the firing of U.S. attorneys was executive privilege. At least Karl Rove seems to know what branch of the government he works for - pardon me - worked for.
"There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family," said Rove. Like rats hurrying home to leave a sinking ship, or vampires scurrying to pull the lid of their coffins over their heads before the sunrise. Maybe a more effective image for the departure of Karl Rove would be that of a hand suddenly being pulled out of a sock puppet. Now we're left with just a sock with eyes sewn into the toe as leader of the free world.