President Pervez Musharraf has officially stepped down as Commander of the Pakistani Armed Forces, and will be sworn in as a civilian leader on Thursday.

During a change of command, Musharraf relinquished his post by handing over his ceremonial baton to his hand-picked successor, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani.

Musharraf’s retirement from the military has been a key opposition demand and the move may help defuse a possible boycott of parliamentary elections in January by parties opposed to his rule.

He was re-elected by parliament in October, but his confirmation was held up by the Supreme Court following complaints that a military man could not constitutionally serve as an elected head-of-state.

Musharraf reacted by proclaiming a state of emergency on Nov. 3, sacking the chief justice and other independent judges and replacing them with his appointees. The reconstituted top court then duly approved his election.

With the exception of Dick Cheney I don’t think there has been a more vilified political figure in Washington than Karl Rove. Many Democratic strategists loath him, but also want to be like him.

All the usual suspects are trying to squeeze out a few more columns about Rove, before he leaves town allegedly for good.

His status in Washington is almost mythical, with the Democrats making fresh accusations almost weekly about his supposed involvement in this thing or that.

The liberal bloggers headed up by Daily Kos are foaming at the mouth at the prospect of his sudden retirement being due to a coming indictment for something, anything.

An editorial in today’s New York Times titled Mr. Rove Gets Out of Town fantasizes about indictments in the very first paragraph.

“Karl Rove, the architect of so much that has gone so wrong with the Bush administration, announced yesterday that he is leaving the White House to spend more time with his family. What he didn’t say is that by getting out of town he is also hoping to avoid spending any time at all with Congressional investigators.”

“Congress should not oblige.”

Even in Republican circles Rove was extremely well respected, but many felt he was mostly to blame for the persistent attacks on the GOP by the Democrat controlled congress.

Bob Novak writes in his column Karl Rove’s Legacy:

“While Rove decamping back to Texas is unlikely to defang the opposition, the mere fact that it is mentioned as a possibility reveals the ambiguity of his legacy. Rove is one of the canniest and most successful managers in American political history. Yet he is viewed within his own party’s ranks, especially on Capitol Hill, as part of the problem afflicting the Grand Old Party.”

I personally don’t blame Rove for retiring. It’s one thing to weather daily political attacks, but when the opposition keeps opening fresh investigations in hopes of finding something to send you to prison that is another matter entirely.

Patrick Fitzgerald knew from the beginning that Richard Armitage was the one who leaked Valerie Plame’s name, but he was determined to send someone to the clink for something.

It was only a matter of time until the Democrats found something that Karl Rove wrote in a memo or something obscure they could use to bring an indictment against him for god only knows what.

It kind of changes the stakes in Washington a bit when the opposition isn’t satisfied with just ruining you politically, there playing for keeps and want nothing short of your life.

Written By Chris Jones
Editor-In-Chief