Ironically, Bush could salvage a lot of dignity by firing Rove today and holding him accountable for anything he may have illegally or unethically done. But I'm not counting on that happening.
By most indications, certainly more than can be readily countered or refuted, it was Rove who blew the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame in order to "get even" with Plame's husband Joe Wilson for crossing the Bush cabal. Per this administration's own definitions, this should be considered a case of wartime treason. Bush himself promised dire consequences for whoever was responsible. There should be an earnestly dire attempt to get to the bottom of the matter by everyone - and I mean everyone concerned. Instead the Bush White House is either stonewalling or blank-faced denying that Rove did anything wrong while continuing to support him, no questions asked. And instead of scrutinizing their own house, they are attacking the sources of the allegations: Wilson, Plame, Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper who is supposed to be testifying this week to the grand jury looking into the matter, anyone else who's now daring to question this administration. Wilson is now being branded a "liar" while Rove's lawyer says that Rove didn't really name Plame as being undercover... meaning that "Wilson was bad so we admit attacking his wife." Yesterday Rove's lawyer accused Cooper of "burning" Rove... ummmm yeah attack the guy who is probably going to testify against you anyway before a grand jury. Like we used to say on the basketball court: "Smooth move Ex-Lax."
I don't know if this is really legit or not, but Raw Story just posted the Republican "talking points" on how to discuss the issue. And so far the Republicans are following their cues to the letter.
All of this makes me sadly shake my head. It wasn't all that long ago that something along very similar lines - but involving a lot less than wartime betrayal - was happening in Washington. And back then it was the Democrats defending Bill Clinton: committing baseless character assassinations against anyone thought to be "the opposition", disseminating "talking points", trying to rally the faithful (I can't believe that MoveOn.org is still around), etc. And it was the Republicans on the offensive. I know, I was there: I was watching Free Republic during the Clinton impeachment (back when it was still an intellectually engaging website, before it became a cage full of Bush-obsessed howler monkeys) and the Republicans were out for blood. I thought they had a very good case to press. The Democrats sounded desperate and shrill: some of them genuinely made my ears hurt after listening to them screaming against the "right-wing conspiracy" on the cable talk shows.
Well, it's seven years later and the tables have turned a full 180 degrees. The Bush administration is now as suspect as Clinton's ever was... if not more so. The offensive team is now scrambling for higher ground.
In short: what the Democrats were under Clinton, is precisely what the Republicans have become under Bush. The Republicans is literally a faction that was so obsessed with the enemy, that it became the enemy.
I should feel a bit of smug satisfaction at this turn of events: this administration is finally having its just desserts after five years of unprecedented pride and arrogance and everything evil that comes with them. Instead I feel regret at what has become of America. This is no longer a country where elected officials are the acme of common virtues. Instead those officials have become like much of the rest of America: a nation of bullies. Things like honor and truth now play second-fiddle to "smart" political maneuvering and "getting away" with it. Not one or the other of the two major parties is solely to blame: they are both at fault. Along with a lazy media that's grown soft from corporate ownership and a complacent people that would rather tune in to see if Michael Jackson is found guilty than pay attention to how it is that evil men are stealing their children's national birthright.
Am I expecting "justice" out of the Rove/Plame affair? No, of course not. I never expected justice out of the Clinton/Lewinsky thing. But that doesn't mean I'm compelled to celebrate such back-handed chicanery either.
7 comments:
"Ironically, Bush could salvage a lot of dignity by firing Rove today and holding him accountable for anything he may have illegally or unethically done. But I'm not counting on that happening."
Bush could do harm to his dignity by firing a completely innocent man. And thats what Rove is in this whole thing. Innocent. He has done nothing illegal or unethical.
"it was Rove who blew the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame"
Lie.
"in order to "get even" with Plame's husband Joe Wilson for crossing the Bush cabal."
Lie.
"Bush himself promised dire consequences for whoever was responsible.'
Yes, for people who are guilty. Not innocents.
"There should be an earnestly dire attempt to get to the bottom of the matter by everyone - and I mean everyone concerned. Instead the Bush White House is either stonewalling or blank-faced denying that Rove did anything wrong while continuing to support him, no questions asked."
There is no stonewalling.
" don't know if this is really legit or not, but Raw Story just posted the Republican "talking points" on how to discuss the issue. And so far the Republicans are following their cues to the letter."
Talking points or not, I don't see ANYONE disproving one word of it, much less the entire thing.
At the risk of coming across as a liberal (which I'm not), there is a pretty thoroughly documented response to the Republican talking points at The Left Coaster. I've seen a few others here and there in the past few days also.
Is it too much to believe that the Republicans *might* have become like yesteryear's Democrats when the subject was Clinton?
Karl Rove is evil.
"At the risk of coming across as a liberal (which I'm not), there is a pretty thoroughly documented response to the Republican talking points at The Left Coaster. I've seen a few others here and there in the past few days also."
Yes, a pretty documented response, however if one actually looks into the response, it is pretty much left wing parsing and spin.
I dont have the time to rebut each and every item, but I will show one as an example:
The left coaster takes this talking point:
TALKING POINT: Karl Rove did not reveal classified information.
And responds with this:
FACT: A CIA agent's identity is considered classified.
The left coaster provides a link to what else? Another left wing blog. Some source. But what does that other left wing blog has to say?
"Rove did not reveal classified information. Wrong. He did. The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 defines the CIA employment status of an undercover CIA officer (which Valerie Wilson was) as "classified information."
Problem with that is Valerie Wilson WAS an undercover officer, but not at the time of her "outing" as well as long before that.
One more example from the left coaster:
TALKING POINT: Valerie Plame (Joseph Wilson's wife) was not covert.
FACT: She was. (More here).
The fact is that no one does not deny that she was once a covert agent. This is a strawman. The Repub talking points you cited, does not claim that Plame was not covert, nor does anyoine else deny that. So where is the left coaster getting these? The left coaster is making up these "republican talking points" as it goes along, and then conveniently provides its own rebuttals to these made up talking points. And to top it all off, their sources are fellow opinionated left wing bloggers for the most part.
"Is it too much to believe that the Republicans *might* have become like yesteryear's Democrats when the subject was Clinton? "
Well, its not hard to believe that can happen, but in this made up "Karl Rove" scandal, its clear that this is NOT the case.
If ever there was a case study on how the media bias works, this is it. After seeing the Cooper e-mail which without a doubt shows Rove DID NOT out Plame, the media not only talks as if he did, but simply ignores the facts that show he didn't. First they ignore the significance of the conversation Rove had with Cooper to begin with. To do so harpoons the "The WH was punishing Wilson" angle. They further ignore the reports that Rove IS NOT the focus of the special prosecuter. They ignore Wilson's history of lying. They don't question Schumer and Wilson's demands that the WH pull Rove's security clearance, considering the now public evidence shows Rove DID NOT out Plame. For many of us, this is all we have expected for many years, we have had to create alternative news sources to get the truth. The jackels at the WH press conference earlier this week were disgusting. To think, the idiots participating in the liberal orgasm and the donks they represent had the audacity to complain about Jeff Gannon's questions. We will beat them at the polls, and in their pocket books. The liberal agenda can't win without buyers, and we aren't buying.
If this isn't all that serious, as is being contended in some quarters, then how come a grand jury is now looking into it? With a special prosecutor that is about as unbiased and uncorrupted as they come on the case?
There's a LOT more going on with Fitzgerald and that grand jury than is being let on. Something majorly bad happened for it to come to this level. My guess is people DID die, and it will turn out that it came about because of Plame's cover being blown and that it was political revenge against her husband. We'll know for sure when the grand jury finishes.
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