Karl Rove: Traitor?

Omnivorous writes:

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My understanding is that White House officials (or anyone else) have no legal onus to preserve intra-staff communcations unless there is official notice of an investigation.

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Thank you; welcome to EvC and yes, you're exactly right.

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If Gonzales gave an informal heads-up prior to official notification, he may have become part of a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

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Precisely, and that might well be one of the things Fitzgerald is looking into. We'll soon see.

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

RAZD writes:

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Ollie North was caught red-handed shredding Iran-Contra documents, remember?

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Which begs the question: who will be playing the role of Fawn Hall?

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

RAZD writes me:

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Condi?

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after all she has experience testifying ...

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Hmmm, maybe. But she'll have to do something with her hair.

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

From Reuters.So now we're free to speculate who might play Sam Irving and Alexander Butterfield. This is starting to be fun. The Weekly Standard has a hit piece up on Fred Johnson, the former CIA operative who's been in the media lately talking about what the leak actually means to Valerie, her family and her contacts. Note that nowhere in the entire rant do they challenge what he's said about the Plame affair, they challenge what he said pre-9/11 when he seemed to take a cavalier attitude toward the terrorist threat. But even in the Johnson column that the Standard complains about, he makes the point that the biggest threat is from bin Laden.Johnson's response to the right-wing smear campaign that's been directed at him can be found here. There's also a reprint of a remarkably prescient article Johnson wrote in January of 2003. Money quote: No wonder right-wing liars need so desperately to discredit this guy. But he's not the only one; they've certainly got their smear work cut out for them, eh?

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

In the Reuters report I linked above, I might have missed the most significant part - the last sentence: Sounds like the wingnuts are planning to go after Fitzgerald. This gets more Nixonian every day. Remember Archibald Cox and the Saturday Night Massacre?BTW, if I may add a plug for my favorite cable news show: the only show on any of these networks where you will get anything close to unbiased coverage of this scandal is MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Oddly enough, Scarborough Country has also been willing to shine a spotlight on Rove's treachery, but after pontificating about how the right-wing would be rabid over this if such treasonous behavior had come from the Clintons, Joe hasn't said much in the past couple weeks.Omnivorous writes me:

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So on a day distinguished by reports that Fitzgerald has also questioned Bush administration officials about efforts to shift blame for those infamous yellow cake assertions, Fox News reports that Varlerie Plame "donated to an anti-Bush" organization...as Valerie P. Wilson!

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Indeed! But if this is the best they can do in attempting to discredit her, their only hope is to find another smear target. Hence the investigation of the investigator: Patrick Fitzgerald.These people are disgusting. Worse than Nixon, by far.

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

Tal asks:

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Can you compare/contrast the illegal activities of Nixon to Bush?

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Neither Nixon, nor any of his aides, ever set out to deliberately ruin the career of a CIA operative. Nixon had his enemies, famously, but I don't think (and I could be wrong) that he ever sent his aides out to reveal state secrets for political purposes.

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

holmes, you (and I hope others) will most definitely be interested in reading this piece from - I kid you not - The American Conservative!It seems there might be a LOT more to the Plame leak case than even us liberals thought. If its allegations are true, this article puts several of the missing puzzle pieces into place. I've been hearing a lot about the Niger forgeries for some time now, as I'm sure you have. But until now I had not heard that they might tie into the Plame leak in the way Giraldi alleges. Apparently this story is growing legs in the Italian press. Hopefully, Fitzgerald is on it.So far I've heard only a very few liberals allege that the White House might have been intimately involved in the Niger forgeries. I've certainly never heard a conservative allege such a thing. Until now.

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"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you."-George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss.,
Sept. 20, 2005.

holmes writes me:

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I doubt that Fitzgerald will even begin to touch this subject because he appears very focused on one topic...

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I'm not so sure. Fitz is nothing if not thick-skinned. I've read, in an article I don't have immediately at hand, that he's actually been talking to NATO sources. The article speculated that the conversations were about the forgeries, but who knows?One thing's for sure, the Italian parliament is investigating. You might enjoy reading this San Francisco Chronicle piece on the subject.Here's an interesting quote from the article: I consider this a condemnation of the MSM in America. The Italian Parliament's investigation was spurred by a series of articles in the La Republicca newspaper. As part of the Italian media, that paper exists in a world that is even more Clear-Channeled than ours is, and as Professor Farrell says the Italian public is indifferent. Contrast that with American polls showing heightened interest in this country among both republicans and democrats and there's no excuse for the reluctance of our own media in covering this.

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"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you."-George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss.,
Sept. 20, 2005.