The Great Eric Alterman on Rove

[LeftNYC]

Just one question about Karl Rove: Where is the conservative outrage? After all, the man outed an undercover CIA agent, blew numerous operations, cost the country millions of dollars and quite possibly endangered national security and could conceivably have cost lives. (For all we know, he did.) And he did it all for pure political advantage. There was a reason that law was passed. And it was to prevent people from doing stuff like this. Whether what Rove did was within the law strikes me as beside the point. What is the president doing keeping a man in his job who treats the national security of the nation and the lives of its dedicated public servants as pawns in his political chess-match? And what are CNN and The Washington Post doing keeping his cowardly accomplice? Isn’t that the kind of thing about which patriotic conservatives profess to care? Or are we liberals and those folks at the CIA who demanded this investigation—because it surely would have died without them--the only true patriots anymore?

[stopbush]

1. To Rs, Rove's treason is much ado about nothing

while Hillary's comparing * to Alfred E Newman is treasonous.

Go figure.

[Inland]

2. Conservatives don't mind being lied to.

They don't. They see lies as a chosen means to the better end, like fixing intel, screwing with numbers on tax cuts, floating false rumors about political opponents.

So if Rove went after a political opponent and now has to lie about it to save Bush's agenda, they are good with it. A long time ago, conservatives made that deal with evil.

[skip fox]

3. But prosecutor Fitzgerald ain't going to be bluffed

Rove will go down in Plames.

All data suggest the positive: one or more indictments for Rove and at least one more for another "high administration official," resulting to a loss of Republican credibility of being the party or morals and personal responsibility.

We know there were 6 calls because 6 contacts were made (Miller, Cooper, Novak among them). We know 3 contacts confirmed their stories with another "high administration official."

Therefore

1.) 1 man (named Rove by Cooper) made all 6 calls (which reduces the contention of "unknowingly" providing Plame's identity laughable). But he would have had to make sure that there were a few other "high administration officials" ready and willing to confirm his story, which strongly suggests coordination. Did Rove mastermind this portion before "unknowingly" releasing Plame's identity 6 times? Was this coordination "unknowing" as well? What does "knowing" mean? Repeated deliberate acts and coordinating with others for future support suggest a strong and clear intentions. It has knowledgeable design written all over it.

or,

2.) more than 1 person (Rove and at least one other) made the 6 calls. (The fact that one source released Cooper from his agreement of confidentiality but one source did not release Miller suggest at least 2 sources.) Rove would have more to coordinate! To establish guidelines like: No source should call another's contact, Pitch the information off hand, not as the main subject, Make the contact think the source is trying to do him or her a favor ("Don't go too far out on this Wilson thing, I don't want you burnt."), etc. AND Rove would have had to field a group of officials to support the sources stories.

I say Rove coordinated because it is obvious he did so since anyone in the administration in possession of the Plame-Wilson-CIA link would have gone straight to the world master of deceitful politics, and now we know Rove was at least one of the leakers.


So, in the first case we have at least 2 indictments for Rove (exposing and conspiring to expose) and (perhaps) 1 or more indictments for others (confirming and condoning the exposure while furthering it).

But in the second case we have at least 2 for Rove (same as above, but more evidence of conspiracy) and 1 or more clearcut indictments for others (both leakers and confirmers for exposure).

And then we haven't even begun to ask the question of how Rove got the information. (Doesn't leaking the information to him also constitute a crime?) Did Plame give information to officials as one report suggested? Why did Ashbery recluse himself? Did Rove have the proper clearance prior to becoming Deputy Chief of Staff to have seen the material? Or were other federal laws broken to the effect that classified information was used for political purposes? Etc.

I think the great thing we have going for us on this case is Patrick Fitzgerald. By all accounts a fine prosecutor.

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Link, please? Thanks.

Republicans and "conservatives" are ka-ka if they keep supporting Bush and Co. after this. And, AFAIAC, they're fair game for...well, let's not go there...

:kick:

[LeftNYC]

5. Link inside

Altercation. Alterman's blog should be required reading for any liberal in this country as should his book, What Liberal Media?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/

[DinahMoeHum]

6. Thanks for the link. Welcome to DU, BTW.

:kick:

[LeftNYC]

7. Thanks and no problem...nt