Speculation's High, and So Am I (Rove Edition)

Tim Grieve over at Salon's War Room collects some more thoughts on the Rove portion of today's announcement of White House job changes:

But John Podesta, the former chief of staff for Bill Clinton and current head of the Center for American Progress, speculates that something else may be going on here. In a post at Think Progress, Podesta wonders if Rove has finally lost his security clearance -- and thus his ability to work on policy issues that pertain to national security -- as a result of his role in the outing of Valerie Plame.

[...]

So is that what's happening now? Podesta raises the question, and with it this corollary: Even if Rove's security clearance hasn't been revoked as a result of the Plame case, shouldn't it be withdrawn now? If, as Rove says, he's going to make the war on terror a central campaign issue this year, is it really appropriate for him to have a security clearance that will help him do so?

Here's another, more obvious, question to ponder: If Rove is really going to spend the next seven months concentrating on partisan politics, why, exactly, should American taxpayers be footing the bill?