What We Learned This Past Weekend (great summary with links) Rove-

[rodeodance]

gate (I prefer this term vs Plamegate).


http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=100480&lftnav=progressreport

PLAMEGATE

What We Learned This Past Weekend

On Sunday, John Podesta, CEO and president of the Center for American Progress and former Clinton chief of staff, appeared on NBC's Meet the Press to debate Ken Mehlman, former White House deputy to Karl Rove. Podesta asserted that the White House's credibility "is in shreds" due to recent disclosures that prove false White House assurances in 2003 that Rove was not involved in the Valerie Plame leak. For his part, Mehlman reserved the right to smear the special prosecutor conducting the leak investigation. When asked by host Tim Russert whether he would pledge not to attack the special prosecutor if he indicts any White House officials, Mehlman, despite asserting his "tremendous confidence" in the prosecutor, said he could not "speculate" on what his reaction would be. Here's what else we learned this weekend (for an overview of the whole Plame scandal up to this point, see this article):

ROVE MAY HAVE KNOWN INFO WAS DECLASSIFIED: In an article written in this week's Time magazine entitled "What I Told the Grand Jury," Matt Cooper reviews his notes from a telephone conversation in July 2003 before Robert Novak outed Valerie Plame. Cooper writes, "The notes, and my subsequent e-mails, go on to indicate that Rove told me material was going to be declassified in the coming days that would cast doubt on Wilson's mission and his findings." Cooper then goes on to say, "When he said things would be declassified soon, was that itself impermissible? I don't know." The mere admission by Rove that he knew information was classified directly contradicts his lawyer's assertion that Rove "never knowingly disclosed classified information." We already knew, from a previous Matt Cooper e-mail, that Rove "knowingly disclosed" the identity of Plame, and it appears we now know the Rove knew it was "classified." At the end of the telephone conversation, Cooper reported that Rove cryptically ended the conversation by saying: "I've already said too much."

CHENEY'S CHIEF OF STAFF WAS A LEAKER: I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, current chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, was identified as a leaker by Matt Cooper. On Meet the Press, Cooper acknowledged that he called Libby for confirmation of the Plame story, and Libby said, "'Yeah, I've heard that too' or words to that effect." Scott McClellan said on October 10, 2003, that he had spoken with Libby and was assured by Libby that he was not involved. Either Libby lied to McClellan or McClellan isn't being truthful with the public.

PURPOSE OF CALL BETWEEN COOPER AND ROVE WAS NOT TO TALK ABOUT WELFARE REFORM: After speaking with Rove's attorney Robert Luskin, National Review Online reported, "According to Luskin, the fact that Rove did not call Cooper; that the original purpose of the call, as Cooper told Rove, was welfare reform ... 'that this was not a calculated effort by the White House to get this story out.'" Cooper upends this argument. He writes in Time that earlier that week, he "may have left a message with office asking if I could talk to him about welfare reform. But I can't find any record of talking about it with him on July 11, and I don't recall doing so."
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[skip fox]

1. Obvious prediction: Rove goes down in Plames!

The more we know, the more it seems that there will be multiple indictments for "high administration officials" in Fitzgerald's final report including at least two for Rove. (If not indictments, we'll have notifications of non-indictable wrongful activities--or some such--in the prosecutor's final report).

I say this because in learning about multiple leakers for the six reported contacts and multiple confirming sources, it becomes apparent what occurred. One administrative official discovered the Plame-Wilson-Niger relationship, took it to the White House Iraq Group, turned it over to Rove, who on the spot assigned tasks to different primary leakers/sources assuring no source called another source's contact (so as not to appear too eager), that no source's "pitch" was exactly the same but that their information was all given in an "off hand" manner (e.g., "Don't go too far out on this Wilson thing, I don't want you burnt").

Simply "doing the numbers" has told me this all along, but as new information comes out my analysis is being confirmed. We knew there were at least 6 initial leaks/contacts. Now we know that there were at least three different initial leakers (Fleicher Rove, Libby) and of the 6 reporters 4 are confirmed as Miller, Novak, Cooper, and Pincus. We also realize that there must have been a number of other confirming sources (because you cannot assure who the reporter will call for confirmation).

A master-mind would have been necessary to coordinate all these calls by different people AND would have to insure that a number of other officials were ready and willing to confirm the initial leaks.

They would have gone to Rove immediately and he, probably in an emergency of the White House Iraq Group, assigned the roles, the stories and the stances, etc.

So he not only leaked by was the mastermind of a conspiracy to leak.

We can only hope he lead a cover-up and committed perjury as well.

[rodeodance]

2. I read that Rove usually does not talk to reporters himself (leakies)--but

this one must have been important to him (shoring up support for irag invasion-as debuking Wilson/Plame).
He wanted in the juice and now he is sinking (no ropes allowed).

..... say this because in learning about multiple leakers for the six reported contacts and multiple confirming sources, it becomes apparent what occurred. One administrative official discovered the Plame-Wilson-Niger relationship, took it to the White House Iraq Group, turned it over to Rove, who on the spot assigned tasks to different primary leakers/sources assuring no source called another source's contact (so as not to appear too eager), that no source's "pitch" was exactly the same but that their information was all given in an "off hand" manner (e.g., "Don't go too far out on this Wilson thing, I don't want you burnt").