In the LA Times, there's a piece that asks a very interesting question, how does Karl Rove fit in exactly? That he has been the brains behind the bush is an undisputed fact since anyone can remember. Without his guidance, deserter-boy might still be yet another drunken rich kid in his 50's. But as the fates have it, smirk met Rove and we're now stuck with an idiot.

I digress. The LA Times (username gorevidal/password gorevidal) piece makes an interesting point, one which should make even the most cynical person scratch their heads in wonder.

...
No, this was mostly a product of Rove's usual prescience. He looked around and saw that the economy was anemic and people were complaining about the president's inability to find Osama bin Laden. In another corner, the neoconservatives in the Cabinet were itching to launch ships and planes to the Mideast and take control of Iraq. Rove converged the dynamics of the times. He convinced the president to connect Hussein to Bin Laden, even if the CIA could not.

This misdirection worked. A Pew survey taken during the war showed 61% of Americans believe that Hussein and Bin Laden were confederates in the 9/11 attacks. (emphasis added)
...

Until this administration showed up, I thought that a "campaign" political advisor showing up at a meeting about a war was a Hollywood plot device to help you identify the bad guy. Well, maybe they had it right in Hollywood, they were just making a prequel to the horror show we are living in now.

So how much is the House of Saud paying for Rove's help in misdirection of the facts? I hope it's enough to assuage his conscience (if he has one) in later years, when he's having his Lee Atwater moment .