Karl Rove Divorced - Lefty Blogs See Hypocrisy

Via Memeorandum

Politico reports Karl Rove and his wife of 24 years Darby obtained a divorce in Texas according to spokesperson Dana Perino:

“Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week," said Perino. "The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship. There will be no further comment, and the family requests that its privacy be respected.”

The Roves were married in January 1986.

Stress and strain of the White House years was cited as a reason for the divorce according to a family friend. Naturally the lefty blogs went wild with the news. Rove, after all, is one of their favorite targets. Andrew Sullivan writes "The Marriage Defender ...gets a divorce." Sullivan tries to be fair(?) of course noting Rove's opposition to gay marriage was politically driven. Rove is not a homophobe in private according to Sullivan. Sullivan links to Glenn Greenwald's dissertation on Rove's apparent hypocrisy while suggesting that Greenwald's fury is in part provoked by the fact that his own partner can not reside in the US. I think I am missing the relevance of that point and have absolutely no clue how that relates to Rove, but I digress.

To be sure, Rove has defended traditional marriage and as Greenwald argues that certainly has included the idea of permanence depending on your religious background.  Greenwald's suggests that if Rove, Rush Limbaugh and others who oppose gay marriage were forced to stay married to their wives they would change their tunes on "traditional marriage" quickly and give Greenwald and Sullivan the gay marriages they so desire.  This argument is absurd.  First, neither Rove nor Limbaugh have the power to stop the country from legalizing gay marriage.  Gay marriage was overturned in California and Maine, two very liberal states, Rove and Limbaugh had nothing to do with it.

Second, here's a newsflash for Mr. Greenwald, gays divorce too.  He best be prepared to force those in the gay community into permanent marriage once they are legally allowed to marry.   Greenwald also presumes that it is Rove, not his wife, who wanted the divorce.  Would forcing her to remain married give Greenwald some odd sense of satisfaction?  If it does, he is not a rational human being.  Blaming Rove and Limbaugh for the exile of Greenwald's partner is as irrational as demanding that anyone who believes marriage is between a man and woman be forced to stay married.  The bottom line, Rove's divorce has nothing to do with gay marriage.  Greenwald and Sullivan need better arguments.

Thanks to Dahlhalla at POWIP for linking!