Our current presidential administration loves its false sense of entitlement to never being held accountable, never allowing any critical questioning of its credibility (and silencing those who dare to do so), and shamefully absolving themselves from taking responsibility for any wrong-doing or major screw-up, whether it’s by Dubya himself or one of its own such as Karl Rove. Reprehensible wrong-doing and screw-ups such as misleading the country about the reasons for going to war in Iraq, then refusing to acknowledge that there were no WMD’s in Iraq and Saddam had nothing to do with the tragic 9/11 attacks (oh but then it conveniently went from “finding those WMD’s and Saddam was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks” to “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and spreading democracy), failing to take precautions that could have prevented 9/11 (never mind how many warnings they received on Bin Laden planning an attack against us), and now “PlameGate“.
“PlameGate” is scandal based on one man’s, Karl Rove’s (with the help of his lackey, columnist and conservative political pundit Robert Novak), shameful and egregious attempts to defame and silence a dissenting critic of Bush’s war in Iraq, by tarnishing and ruining the career of his wife, a CIA operative. How childishly petty. Rove apparently thinks he’s still in Junior High and writing a slam-book against ‘that bitch whose man bad-mouthed his man.’ Well the chief presidential advisor, the Benedict Arnold of our time, recently testified before a Grand Jury concerning the “PlameGate” investigation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief presidential adviser Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he talked with two journalists before they divulged the identity of a CIA officer but that he originally learned about the operative from the news media and not government sources, according to a person briefed on the testimony.
The person, who works in the legal profession and spoke only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy, told The Associated Press that Rove testified last year that he remembers specifically being told by columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame, the wife of a harsh Iraq war critic, worked for the CIA.[…]
And I’m sure he (Novak) told Rove this with no intention of smearing her name or using it to further some malignant hidden agenda. Riiight.
The conversation eventually turned to Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador who was strongly criticizing the Bush administration’s use of faulty intelligence to justify the war in Iraq, the person said.
[…]Rove told the grand jury that three days later, he had a phone conversation with Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper and — in an effort to discredit some of Wilson’s allegations — informally told Cooper that he believed Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA, though he never used her name, the source said.[…]
An e-mail Cooper recently provided the grand jury shows Cooper reported to his magazine bosses that Rove had described Wilson’s wife in a confidential conversation as someone who “apparently works” at the CIA.
Robert Luskin, Rove’s attorney, said Thursday his client truthfully testified to the grand jury and expected to be exonerated.
He’ll receive a medal as well from Dubya, just as George Tenet did, despite his (Tenet) own fuck-ups with *factual* intelligence gathering and then misleadings concerning the war in Iraq.
[…] Federal law prohibits government officials from divulging the identity of an undercover intelligence officer. But in order to bring charges, prosecutors must prove the official knew the officer was covert and nonetheless knowingly outed his or her identity.
How_the_hell could a high government official such as Rove not know that a CIA employee could potentially be a covert operative? It’s the fucking CIA! That’s not exactly your everyday office space. No one is that stupid, however, people are that abusive for political gain.
Rove’s conversations with Novak and Cooper took place just days after Wilson suggested in a New York Times opinion piece that some of the intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.[…]
No hidden agenda there, right Novak (and Rove)? You would never go after Plame just to get to her husband Wilson, as some sort of despicable scheme to silence a dissenting critic of Bush’s Iraqi war? No, no–of course not.
On Thursday, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada pressed for legislation to strip Rove of his clearance for classified information, …. Instead, Reid said, the Bush administration has attacked its critics: “This is what is known as a cover-up. This is an abuse of power.”
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, said Democrats were resorting to “partisan war chants.”
Typical. Oh and there was nothing partisan when the Republicans demanded that Clinton be ousted from office for lying about screwing an intern. Lying about that apparently warranted an independent prosecution, Grand Jury testimonies, impeachment hearings, and calls for heads to roll. But when it comes to calling for an investigation into Karl Rove’s treachery in a shameful political ploy to denegrate a critic of the Bush Administraion’s Iraqi war, via ruining his wife’s career as a CIA operative, it’s “partisan politics.” Nice.
Across the Capitol, Rep. Rush Holt, D-New Jersey, introduced legislation for an investigation that would compel senior administration officials to turn over records relating to the Plame disclosure.
Pressed to explain its statements of two years ago that Rove wasn’t involved in the leak, the White House refused to do so this week.
“If I were to get into discussing this, I would be getting into discussing an investigation that continues and could be prejudging the outcome of the investigation,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Nice snub there, McClellan. You’re getting awfully good at it as of late (see here and here). The delusional sense of entitlement to teflonhood by this administration never cease to astound me. And remember the definitions for the words ‘treason’ and ‘traitor’? N.O.W. does….
Treason, noun, “The crime of betraying one’s country” (Compact Oxford English Dictionary). High treason: “Violation by a subject of his allegiance to his sovereign or to the state” (Oxford English Dictionary). Traitor: “one who betrays another’s trust or is false to an obligation or duty” (Merriam-Webster). Sound familiar?
Last week, MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O’Donnell reported that Karl Rove was the White House source who revealed the identity and thus threatened the life of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame. Rove was apparently acting at the time to discredit allegations made by Plame’s husband, Joseph C. Wilson, IV, who had publicly refuted the White House claim about Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction. In other words, Rove exposed and endangered a female CIA operative – to get to her husband. This was not only an offense against Plame, whose life and work were put in jeopardy, it was an offense against our country and our government.
There has already been a call for George W. Bush to immediately suspend Rove’s security clearances, pending the outcome of the government investigation. After all, he’s leaked highly confidential and dangerous information for political gain before, why wouldn’t he do it again? By all rights, PlameGate should be a scandal of the highest order, certainly as well-publicized as any of the minor scandals during the Clinton Administration.[…]
Bush himself said that he would “take care” of anyone who leaked vital government information and names (and by “take care” I would assume being given a medal or some other political perk)…..
“If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is,” Bush told reporters at an impromptu news conference during a fund-raising stop in Chicago, Illinois. “If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.”[…]
One more from Bush for some laughs and giggles, and irony…
[…]Even though I’m a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors.[…]
So…when is Rove’s presidential honor and award ceremony? If Bush would give a medal to George Tenet no doubt he would give one to Rove. Pardon my cynicism of Dubya’s unconvincing promise to punish those who leak government info and break the law, but oh please let Rove’s award ceremony take place in the Rose Garden (even roses can smell like shit, people)! Here’s a timeline for background info on the PlameGate/Rove scandal.
I want to put that WORDS poster on a t-shirt!