Conservative commentator: Rovegate could destroy *, Dems could "waltz in"

[Goldmund]

Things have been pretty quiet on the Valerie Plame leaker front until recently when Judith Miller of Time magazine got sent to the slammer for refusing to divulge the source of the leak.

Many in D.C. think Rove was the culprit, and that exposing her was payback for Plame's husband, Joe Wilson writing a book that was critical of W's administration. I am going to go out on a limb here and theorize that Rove did in fact out Plame. What should W. do? First off, this will kill his administration, because the Dem's will argue that if Rove knew, then so did Bush. Secondly, Rove is the White House Chief of Staff, a position with a lot of power and W. has relied on Rove for his re-election and help in crafting most of his policies and decisions. Finding someone to replace him won't be easy. And in the same way that the Monica scandal plagued Clinton, the Rove debacle won't be any easier on Bush. Nancy Pelosi and her crew are more than happy to paint W. as a dumb frat boy who needs Oz behind the curtain to make all the decisions.

Rove will certainly have to step down from his position, as W. has said that he would fire anyone who was the leaker. If Rove did it, this will be worse for Bush than the war, the economy or any other issue. The departure of Rove will allow Hillary or Kerry to waltz into the White House without a scratch-any Republican who ever shook Bush's hand will immediately be labled a co-conspirator.

If Rove did in fact leak Valerie's name, it will cause irreparable damage to W's administration and could tilt the nation towards the Democrats if they are able to turn this into an event as big as Watergate.

http://www.hotchicken.com/

[katmondoo]

1. WOW It can't get better than this

[Clark2008]

2. I think it's bigger than Watergate, personally.

Outting a CIA agent during a time of war (or near war) is much worse than breaking into a party's headquarters to steal election information.
So, yeah, hot chicken better be scared - damn scared. This is what happens when you elect Republicans. Granted, there are some shady Dems, too, but most of the dirty tricks and illegal events happen under Republicans.

[kster]

7. Afganistan.?

[Clark2008]

15. As in Reagan and Bush's CIA training bin Laden? eom

[kster]

22. Weren't we at war with

Afganistan when they outed Plame?

[FreedomAngel82]

12. Exactly

This is national security! Of course it's more serious! The democratic breakin was like a college prank.

[AX10]

3. I hope so!

[ck4829]

4. "If Rove knew, then so did Bush"

Yes.

[kansasblue]

5. you're missing the point....

I think the Righty is saying we much defend Rove at all cost, else the crazy libs will destory the country. It's sort of " be prepared to accept that Rove did something wrong and we need to look the otherway on this one". I don't like that tone.

[Goldmund]

6. Of course

If they thought any other way, they would have long ago abandoned Bush.

[thebigidea]

8. pretty funny that a Republican doesn't even know Rove's job title

[gratuitous]

9. I think Rove is currently the Chief of Staff

Back when he was trying to destroy Joseph Wilson's credibility, he had another position/job title.

[Zen Democrat]

13. Andy Card is the Chief of Staff. Karl Rove is an Advisor to the President

[FreedomAngel82]

17. Yes

Shortly after last November Rove got promoted. I thought that was so strange because all he is (or supposed to be) is a political advisor to Bush. He was NOT any type of elected official, so why should he get promoted over someone who was an elected official? We all know damn well that Bush knew they were doing that. Why else was Rove promoted? It doesn't make sense to me. What was his last job??

[thebigidea]

18. nope. Deputy under Card.

also has the nebulous "Chief Political Adviser" role. Considering listing "Political Necromancer" on his business card.

[gratuitous]

20. Is that like the Mouth of Sauron?

I suppose his actual title is less than relevant; he's really what the book called him, "Bush's Brain." If he has to be removed from the White House, Bush is in big trouble.

[Booster]

24. Where is Card anyway? Seems to have fallen off the face of the

earth. I can't help but think that all the MIHOP & LIHOP threads that we have had since 9/11 have had to have some effect on some of the people who may have voted for Bush, but have since had second thoughts. I think they may be saying to themselves "if he allowed a CIA agent to be outed, maybe he did have something to do with 9/11". Of course, Michael Moore's movie had a lot to do with it too.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Lovely!

[FreedomAngel82]

11. Haha

This is great. They deserve it. As they say "karma's a bitch".

[warrens]

14. Dude needs a fact-checker

Rove is deputy chief of staff, unless Andrew Card has been fired lately. And Judy works for the NY Times, not Time. There is no question that Rove leaked Plame's identity, although it appears he did not actually say "Valerie Plame." His constant denials since the outing mean that he knew he fucked up and just hoped to stonewall the case. And the fact that it took Fitzgerald two years to get this far indicates that he was almost successful. If he had held out two more months or so, the grand jury would have dissolved and the case would have ended.

[Skidmore]

16. Well, conservatives have been so power hungry that

they are willing to hand political hitmen policymaking jobs and to recycle old Nixon politicos. They didn't learn a damned thing in the last thirty years, nor did they get any smarter about being crooked.

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. The waltz was great in its time, but I was hoping for a little hip-hop.

[KelleyKramer]

21. Couple corrections

Wilson wrote the book later, it was a newspaper op-ed that said he had proof that Bush lied us into a war.

Rove is not WH chief of staff, that is Andy Card.. Rove is his top political advisor, official title (I think) is Deputy chief of staff.

But good point, if Rove knew then surely Bush knew too.

[kestrel91316]

23. Destroy Bush??

Well, actually, that WOULD be the plan.

Time for popcorn.