Which brings us to Karl Rove. Karl Rove is one of the guys who used the Republican National Committee's e-mail (which gets purged about every 30 days,) as a bypass to conduct White House business he didn't want as part of the public record... In doing this, he was probably violating the law regarding the maintaining of documents and records for the 
administration throughout a president's term of office...for posterity's sake, and now, more and more likely, to conduct criminal investigations. Karl was not alone in this. In fact, it now appears that it was a widespread, accepted practice to break the law, so much so that few people (we may now call them Rovians, which makes them seem part of a cult...which they may well be) ever questioned the appropriateness of using the RNC e-mail system. It just seemed easier. In the past few weeks, we've learned that there may be thousands upon thousands of e-mails to review. But if Karl is "a part of" the White House, there is another, separate problem. To really cover all the bases, Mr. Leahy also subpoenaed the office of the Vice President, Dick Cheney, who is specifically named in the subpoena. Senator Leahy was compelled to this level of specificity with the Vice President since the Vice President's announcement that he is not a part of the Executive Branch of government. He is also not a part of the Legislative Branch. Nor the Judicial Branch. He is a uniquely placed power unto himself, separate and apart from everything else. Or, as psychiatrists like to say, "...a "special" circumstance."
Of course, a major area of continuing concern for Mr. Leahy as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committe and for his colleague, Congressman John Conyers, who chairs the House Judiciary committee, is Alberto Gonzales. Alberto, who allowed the White House to run the Justice Department's illegal wiretaps program as well as permitting other excesses by the Executive Branch which, incidently, Mr. Cheney is not a part of. Usually, the Attorney General is in charge of the Justice Department. Separate and apart from the White House. Except, at one point in time, Mr. Gonzales was a part of the White House as General Counsel to the President.
It can be very confusing to a mere private citizen. But I can also understand Mr. Gonzales' confusion insofar as his role or lack thereof is concerned. Alberto continued to see himself as "a part of" rather than "apart from." His belief system in this regard, was re-enforced by his former colleagues (specifically, the Rovians) at the White House. But I must applaud Mr. Gonzales' determination to sift through his confusion and get it right! He recently testified before Congress yet again, and insisted he would never ever resign, but that he would stay, and fix the problems at the Justice Department, (which he created), and get to the bottom of things and make them be better...and he also wants to spend his life in helping little children...and being kinder to small animals. Seriously.
