NYT: "President Bush changed his stance today..."

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON, July 18 - President Bush changed his stance today on his close adviser Karl Rove, stopping well short of promising that anyone in his administration who helped to unmask a C.I.A. officer would be fired.

"If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration," Mr. Bush said in response to a question, after declaring, "I don't know all the facts; I want to know all the facts."

For months, Mr. Bush and his spokesmen have said that anyone involved in the disclosure of the C.I.A. officer's identity would be dismissed. The president's apparent raising of the bar for dismissal today, to specific criminal conduct, comes amid mounting evidence that, at the very least, Mr. Rove provided backhanded confirmation of the C.I.A. officer's identity.

In the months after the name of the officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, was made public in July 2003, the White House said repeatedly that no one working for the administration was part of the disclosure.

http://nytimes.com/2005/07/18/politics/18cnd-rove.html?ei=5094&en=2663df379f95d150&hp=&ex=1121745600&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1121705828-QgkM3lE8A56NV5Nmgq/53Q

[wtmusic]

1. NYT again pins the tail on the elephant

They thought they could just slide that one by...

[MichiganVote]

2. Sounds to me like he has all the "facts" he thinks he needs

[Montauk6]

3. Tomorrow's quote: A Prediction

"Look, I made it clear. If anyone is arrested, indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced for a crime, then we will accept their resignation if they choose to submit it in writing.

[leveymg]

6. After all appeals have been exhausted. Sometime in 2008.

[tanyev]

4. He's a flip-flopper!!!

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. So did Bu$h just do a flip flop?

In the meantime, he has just raised his status to unindicted co-conspirator. Let's see if we can up it to indicted soon.

[spindoctor]

7. They must feel confident about the criminal part of the allegation.

And of course he can't fire people for merely being unethical, or he would be left with an empty Cabinet and a vacancy in the Oval Office.

[Inland]

8. Soon to be "if someone is CONVICTED of a crime and exhausted his appeals"

eom

[gatorboy]

15. Heh!!!!

Nice! :)

[DemsUnited]

9. What should the standard be? That's how Dems should frame argument

this week. And clearly, it should be a lot higher than "who cares about the responsibilities associated with a security clearance, as long as no one in my administration is outright breaking the letter of the law, it's all fair game."

[FreedomAngel82]

10. Can we all say it?

Flipflopper!!!

[MsTryska]

11. hmmm....i think we need to do a massive

protest - maybe we could make a gian pile of flip-flops out in front of the WhiteHouse.


then we can do that beloved chant en mass with the hand movements and everything....


Flip!
Flop!
Flip!
Flop!

[mondo joe]

12. THis is desperate even on the part of a pig like Rove.

Honestly - he's usually more slick than this.

[Montauk6]

13. Tomorrow's address to the nation: Another prediction (long)

Ladies and gentleman-men...

I done come to a decision which I was advised I should tell you and all of my fellow American citizens, as soon as it was certain in the minds of my attorneys and in my own conscience that it is the right thing to do.

I learnt already in this office that the difficult decisions always come to this desk. I gotta say that many of them do not look at all the same as the hyperhetical questions that I have answered freely and perhaps too fast on previous occasions but not under oath.

I been told to try and get all the facts and to consider the opinions of my base and to take counsel with my most valued lawyers. And, while these seldom agree, in the end, the decision is given to me. To percastinate, to agonize, and to wait for a more favorable turning events that may never come or more compelling external pressures that may as well be wrong as right, is itself a decision of sorts and a weak and potentially dangerous course for a President to follow.

In a way, I have promised to uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God has chosen me personally to see the right, and to do the very best that I can for American interests.

Now, therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Karl Rove for all offenses against the United States which he, Karl Rove, has committed or may have committed or taken part in or plan to or will commit during the period from January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2008.

[Just Me]

14. This administration is the only body that DOES know all the facts.

So, he's lying, again,...and he's shifting positions.