Friday, July 15, 2005

Notorious Jumping Rove of Calaveras county Signs are that White House has determined to hold fast around Karl Rove. At least as long as they can. Last week I was prepared to whip up a post on the Karl Rove affair re: Valarie Plame (to distinguish it from others) painted in various shades of indignation. Reporters Cooper and Miller were headed to jail for contempt. Robert Novak unaccountably wasn't. The principle in abstract was noble journalists protecting sources speaking to the public in contravention of the prohibitions of arrogant power. In detail it wasn't so much. Whoever they were protecting wasn't a whistleblower as much as political hatchetman. Going into last week-end it seemed things were suddenly breaking and no longer were the forces of obfuscation strangling the public interest. The Soft Parade of Marching Frogs. With two or three good stories coming out per day on this I gave up trying to even passingly integrate links into the post . Just pick the ones you haven't seen . The first one in this list is Dan Froomkins blog column in the Web Wahington Post which has provided a useful round up on this as a political beat story, sever of the other links are also his column. Josh Marshall who is clearly enjoying this, has been on this in bulldog manner, The Web log War and Piece has been a good news filter as well washingtonpost.com Getting Worried at the White House The president's selective silence washingtonpost.com Leak? What Leak? A Few Thoughts on Karl Rove - New York Times Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: July 10, 2005 - July 16, 2005 Archives War and Piece Will the Stonewall Work? Frog-Marching Time for Rove? White House: Bush Has Confidence in Rove - Yahoo! News In CIA leak case, eyes on Rove | csmonitor.com Matt Cooper's Source - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com N.Y. Times Reporter Jailed for Refusing to Reveal Sources Time Reporters testimoney Sought The Rove Factor? - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com What's come out since thing has illustrated how murky and complicated the situation really was. How Rove had signed releases that Cooper and Miller understood as not releasing them at all. Until Cooper and his attorney decided that they could interpret statements that Rove's attorney was making as giving them genuine release. My guess is that that may have caught team Bush a little off guard. I think they felt they had Cooper's notes and memos to his editors sewn up tight. As far as Judith Miller's motovations go; I have no idea. Miller, as some recall, was the New York Times reporter that moved the administrations Weapons of Mass Destruction gambit into the "mainstream media". This was the set of stories that the NY Times later disavowed in a painful front page mea culpa. Her original stories form a significant portion of the Administration continuing and fatuous "It wasn't just us everyone believed Saddam had 'em" defense. Her martyrs crown isn't fitting her that well. Who is the political cordex of the Bush adminsistrtation at the moment. As nearly as I can tell by reading the press and more tellingly reading Rove's face when pictures of him turn up - Rove still is. He is calling the shots (at Cooper, at Wilson, at Plame : bang! bang! bang!) and calling the wagons into a circle about himself. I don't believe in trial by public bum's rush. Mr. Rove's standing in terms of the law is best left to the Mr. Fitzpatrick and the grand jury convened specifically to sort this out. At the same time I believe Rove should be dismissed from the public payroll. This wouldn't prevent him from being the Presidents political advisor unless his legal situation worsens; That largely rests on whether he Novak, and others  created a cover up by trying to coordinate their stories. Regardless of legality it is malfeasant to use privileged information to engage in political vendetta's. This is a position the administration hasn't hesitated to take concerning unco-ordinated leaks, they'll have to live with it for this one too. 12:08:06 AM    comment [];trackback [];

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. 2005 Paul Bushmiller. Last update: 7/31/05; 11:12:12 PM.