...and that's the voice of your friend and ours, Molly Ivins. Her observations on the continuing implosion of All Things Dubya would make my day. The departure of Karl Rove from the Bush White House no doubt would have sparked some of her most pointed comments, lacerating all concerned.

Wherever you are, Molly -- and I have NO doubt it's someplace pleasant -- right now, I wish you were here to enjoy the moment!

I'm reminded of Lily Tomlin's observation that she was "worried that the guy who invented Muzak was thinking up something else."

Rove is not "gone" in any real sense. In fact, I wouldn't put it past him to pull this resignation stunt just so we'll all think we can take our eyes off him.

Karl Rove is the incarnation of evil. Everything he does has some other agenda attached, an agenda that bodes ill for America and Americans.

If Republicans come within 10 percentage points of winning even one election anywhere in America in 2008, you may count on it that Rove was up to some dirty tricks in those precincts. Either that, or someone who emulates Karl was at work.

The trouble with this administration is that they make paranoia look reasonable.

You are a fool if you think it's over....

Anyone care to bet which Presidential campaign Rove will be heading? My odds are on Rudy G.

God help us all. The Devil never dies.

Like all good turncoats and Quizlings Rove has headed for the hills in hopes of setting up a bunker against the coming nightmare which will literally destroy - and, I sincerely hope, resurrect the Republican party out of its own ashes.

Among those ashes will be the remains of Rove, Bush, Cheney, and countless others who, over the past 13 years have, in the course of their attempt to transform the United States into the Republic of Texas, utterly unhinged the Republican Party as collateral damage.

There is no doubt in my mind Rove has other ideas, but there is equally no doubt that Texas will not receive him well now that he is perceived to have failed to make Washington an annex of the Alamo.

It's over. Rove may not know it yet but he at least smells the fear and is also feeling it as it spreads like a noxious gas throughout the corridors of power which have been in enemy hands for nearly two terms.

Father, no need to forgive them; They knew exactly what they were doing. Somebody fetch a rope.

Just because everything Bush is collapsing doesn't mean these people are going away. Yes, they are the sole reason he is in office or even had a chance at politics (along with Rove, lest we forget), but just because he gave them nothing, doesn't mean they are to stop the next Bush clone to give them everything. They will simply latch onto the next bible quoter who promises to give them control of the country. These people are like meth addicts when it comes to power and they have no intention of getting treatment.

It's also important to remember that Guilliani's success is largely due to Hillary fears. These people hate Hillary more then they love Guilliani and they are willing to hold their nose for someone they don't like or convince themselves that he is what they like if it means keeping her out of power. When your chances of holding onto power have been hurt as bad as theirs has, you'll take what you can get.

It's also the reason Romeny is catching up even though he is the dreaded "M" word. Yes, these people are desperate; remember when Pat Robertson invited Romney to speak at his college? You wouldn't have seen that ten years ago. But it's also important to bear in mind that these people, even if they lose, could come back even stronger in another decade only this time with a Karl Rove who actually agrees with them.

God help us when that happens.

Corporations.

And that's the way it was supposed to be. The corporatists used the religious right to get the White House, the Congress and the Senate. And it worked. It has worked for the most part, for the past 27 years. It worked long enough so that legislation gutting environmental regulation, media regulation, federal oversight of consumer issues, business regulations, congressional oversight of the executive branch and personal liberties could be rammed through. And let's not forget tax breaks. Not just for the individual, but for companies which put a fax machine in an office in Dubai and call it their world corporate headquarters.

They've won. They've won a hell of a lot. Don't underestimate them. Those of you who are Baby Boomers about my age may remember the 1970s. Nixon had to comply with the law back then. Television has consumer reporters on all their local and national news shows who investigated corporate hijinx and pollution. When a town didn't like things which polluted the area (like plastic bags), they banned them and didn't have to worry about being sued by a giant corporation. State and federal courts were not packed with extreme rightwingers. Media was regulated so that print, radio and television outlets did not fall into the hands of a few billionaires with an agenda. The Fairness Doctrine was in existence.

Don't worry about abortion. The corporatists don't want abortion made illegal. Millions of voters go to the polls every Election Day specifically to vote for the anti-abortion candidate (usually a Republican conservative). Hundreds of millions of dollars are swept up by the GOP and conservative, pro-corporate organizations and candidates. You known what happens as soon as abortion is banned? Those funds dry up and those voters stay home and say "Mission Accomplished." The GOP and its corporate overlords don't want that.

So Rove didn't bet and lose. He won. The GOP imploding? That's what they said when Barry Goldwater lost the 1964 election by 23 percentage points. Four years later, Richard Nixon was elected and in 1972, Nixon was re-elected with the second largest plurality in American history. After Nixon, it was once again predicted that the Republican party had been destroyed. And, once again, a Republican took the White House four years later and was reelected in 1984.

Don't go calling Rove a loser yet. These guys know how to string the religious right along. It's not a new strategy; they've been doing it for years and they'll continue to do so.