Sigh no more, ladies -- Karl Rove is available again (and good luck to you)

Darby and Karl (seen here at the second GWB inaugural,
in 2005) -- oh, where did the love go wrong?

by Ken

If you haven't heard the news, I don't know how to break it to you gently. The love story that was Darby and Karl Rove is, alas, no more, finito, kaput, just this side of what would have been their 25th anniversary, in January. Here's how the Lonelyhearts pages of Politico broke the news:

Karl Rove granted divorce in Texas

by Mike Allen
12.29/09 11:27 AM EST

Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, has been granted a divorce in Texas after 24 years of marriage, family spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

“Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week," said Perino. "The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship. There will be no further comment, and the family requests that its privacy be respected.”

The Roves were married in January 1986.

A family friend told POLITICO: “After 24 years of marriage, many of which were spent under incredible stress and strain during the White House years, the Roves came to a mutual decision that they would end the marriage. They did spend Christmas together with their son, and they plan to spend time together in the future. They maintain a strong friendship, and they both feel that that friendship is a source of comfort and inspiration for their friends and family.”

Rove’s 608-page memoir, “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight,” is due out from Simon & Schuster’s Threshold Editions on March 9.

Ed Gillespie, former counselor to President George W. Bush, whose wife Cathy has been friends with the Roves for 20 years, said: “It’s always sad to see a marriage end. These are two very good people, who came to a not-easy decision. But they care a lot about each other, and they love their son. And they’ll work through it.”

Yesterday Glenn Greenwald, bless his soul, tied himself in knots deducing lessons in logic from the illogic of this man who has devoted so much of his life and energy to imposing, well, somebody's views on the sanctity of marriage on a captive public and enforcing, well, somebody's views on the godlessness of same-sex marriage on that same punch-drunk public.

Karl Rove is an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage, citing "5,000 years of understanding the institution of marriage" as his justification. He also famously engineered multiple referenda to incorporate a ban on same-sex marriage into various states' constitutions in 2004 in order to ensure that so-called ""Christian conservatives" and "value voters" who believe in "traditional marriage laws" would turn out and help re-elect George W. Bush. Yet, like so many of his like-minded pious comrades, Rove seems far better at preaching the virtues of "traditional marriage" to others and exploiting them for political gain than he does adhering to those principles in his own life. [And so on and on.]

Glenn is absolutely right, of course, and it's good that somebody is getting all this lying hypocrisy on the record, but jeez, is there's anyone who didn't know that 99 percent of what has ever come out of Karl Rove's mouth is lying hypocrisy? (This was, as Glenn noted in an update, our Karl's second divorce.)


FOUR THEORIES ABOUT THE ROVE DIVORCE

(a) Somewhere along the line, the magic those kids once had just somehow faded. It happens.

(b) Like any relationship, the Roves' had its ups and downs, but they stayed together for the sake of the child, until Darby started fooling around with the poolboy.

(c) Like any relationship, the Roves' had its ups and downs, but they stayed together for the sake of the child, until Karl started fooling around with the poolboy.

(d) Karl reached a point in his life where he realized his right-wing buddies and clients weren't likely to whisper among themselves about his being "a bachelor," and if they did, well, screw 'em.


CONNECTION(S) BETWEEN:
(1) COUPLES (OPPOSITE- AND SAME-SEX) GRAPPLING WITH REAL-LIFE ISSUES AND (2) KARL ROVE'S LIFE AND "BELIEFS"

That's a joke, right?

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