US Congress must pursue Rove investigation: New York Times

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A leading US newspaper called on Congress Tuesday to pursue its investigation of departing White House adviser Karl Rove, whom it accused of pursuing a ruthless brand of politics as "blood sport."

"By getting out of town he is ... hoping to avoid spending any time at all with congressional investigators," the influential New York Times wrote.

"Congress needs to use all its power to bring Mr. Rove back to Washington to testify -- in public and under oath -- about how he used his office to put politics above the interests of the American people," the Times' editors wrote.

"The American public needs to understand the full story of how this White House -- with Mr. Rove pulling many of the strings -- has spent the last six and a half years improperly and dangerously politicizing the federal government."

Rove, President George W. Bush's top strategist, architect of his two successful White House bids and a towering figure on the US political scene, announced Monday that he was resigning his White House post by the end of the month.

The Times wrote that Rove should be made to answer a congressional subpoena about the scandal surrounding the firings of several US federal prosecutors, and other efforts to politicize government in Washington.

"President Bush took a risk when he put someone so focused on politics as blood sport at the center of his White House. Once he did, he had an obligation to ensure that Mr. Rove understood that his job was to promote the interests of the American people -- not solely the Republican Party," the daily declared.

The daily trumpeted that despite Rove's plans to install a permanent Republican majority in the US government "both houses of
Congress are back in Democratic hands, Mr. Bush's approval ratings are around 30 percent and many Republican presidential candidates are running as fast as they can away from the Bush legacy."

Meanwhile, another top newspaper, the Washington Post, while also critical of Rove's legacy, was less scathing.

"He should be judged on his own terms -- as the would-be architect of a long-lasting Republican majority," the newspaper opined.

"If the manufactured polarization of the Bush-Rove years did not even serve its ostensible purpose, then what was the good of it?" the Post editors wrote.