Rogers, Over And Out

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is leaving Congress … for talk radio:

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, plans to retire from Congress after his current term to host a national radio show syndicated by Cumulus Media. … “I have always believed in our founders’ idea of a citizen legislature,” he said in his statement. “I had a career before politics and always planned to have one after. The genius of our institutions is they are not dependent on the individual temporary occupants privileged to serve.” … In joining Cumulus, Rogers will work for a radio network that already syndicates programs from some of the medium’s biggest draws, including Don Imus, Mark Levin, Carson Daly, Michael Savage and Mike Huckabee.

Steven Dennis observes that Rogers “rack[ed] up more Sunday show appearances than any other member of Congress each of the last two years,” making him “in some ways the face of the intelligence community on television”:

The telegenic former FBI agent repeatedly defended the National Security Agency against attacks following the avalanche of leaks by Edward Snowden, often taking a harder line than the White House. Rogers had been a hawk against leaks – at one point suggesting the death penalty should be considered for Chelsea Manning for leaking documents to Wikileaks. Inside the dome, Rogers led a narrowly successful fight against his fellow Michigan Republican, Justin Amash, to end the NSA’s blanket collection of telephone records.

Scott Shackford tells Rogers not to let the door hit him on the way out:

[He] puts pretty much every other political defender of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance tactics to shame. As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, he even manages to outdo Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) defense of NSA intrusions with his fearmongering and accusations that Edward Snowden is under the influence of the Russians. Rogers was still pushing that story last weekend, with no real evidence. He has introduced his own version of NSA “reform” that experts say is anything but. His “End Bulk Collection Act” doesn’t end bulk collection at all and could actually allow the NSA to analyze even more of our data without oversight (Trevor Timm of the Freedom of the Press Foundation explains more here).

Meanwhile, Ed Morrissey calls Rogers’ timing “problematic”:

Until now, there was little reason to think that Rogers and the GOP wouldn’t hold this seat. It’s nominally a swing district with an R+2 rating from Cook, and Mitt Romney won it by three points over Barack Obama in the 2012 election. With the sudden departure of Rogers, a hold here is less certain, especially given the lateness of the decision. It’s unlikely that any Republicans had seriously organized in the district at this point, but Democrats probably have, and the GOP will be at a disadvantage for at least a while in a close district. If this turns out to be a wave election, the timing may not matter much anyway.

Sean Sullivan reports that Dems are excited:

The decision by popular Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) to retire sparked fresh Democratic optimism Friday about competing for a seat that would otherwise have been out of their reach. But Republicans still have the upper hand there. A crowded field of candidates could scramble to run for Rogers’s seat with less than a month until the filing deadline. Democratic enthusiasm was spurred in part by the lean of the district, which tilts toward Republicans, but not by much. Mitt Romney won 51 percent of the district in the 2012 presidential election, while President Obama carried 48 percent. Obama won 52 percent in that district in 2008.

But as Ed O’Keefe notes, they probably shouldn’t get ahead of themselves:

Republicans are confident they can hold the seat, even without Rogers. They noted that Florida’s 13th district, a more favorable area to Democrats, didn’t slip into that party’s hands in a recent special election. And in a non-presidential year, it will be difficult for Democrats to ramp up turnout and spring an upset in Michigan’s 8th district.