as originally posted by DUer Marnieworld
Talking Points = confession of guilt
The recently released RNC statement
http://rnc.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=5620 and the uncovered "talking points" about Rove releasing Valerie Plame's name to the media stipulate that Rove committed a crime. A felony. The Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House is a felon but the president has "complete confidence" in him.
The only question is whether Rove told a reporter that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. This was classified information that he released to the media IN RESPONSE to Joe Wilson's Op-ed in the NYT. The piece was July 11, 2003 and the Matt Cooper email about Rove's leak was after this piece but before Novak's article on July 14th. They have conceded the crime and it's only because there is proof that has been revealed. Any other detail connected to this is irrelevant, deliberate spin and they know it. We should not let them get away with it.
It is meaningless who sent Wilson to Niger to investigate the now proven fraudulent documents. It is irrelevant if Dick Cheney asked the CIA to investigate it and then they sent Wilson as he believed and has stated or the CIA was conducting its own investigation. It is irrelevant whether Valerie Plame suggested to co-workers that her husband happens to be an expert and should be asked to help. It was irrelevant when Karl Rove was whispering to reporters about it and it's irrelevant now.
The understood and agreed upon facts of the case are that there were these documents that an expert needed to investigate. The CIA had an expert investigate them. They were determined in 2002 to be crude forgeries, but though this was understood by the intelligence community the forgeries were used by the administration to justify war. This "evidence" was removed from a speech in October of 2002 so it was clearly understood to be false at the highest levels of the administration when used in the SOTU speech. Wilson, a whistleblower that previously was apolitical working for both parties in his career, exposed this because a country shouldn't go to war based on lies. A country shouldn't "fix facts and intelligence to justify policy." When an administration lies to go to war they try and maintain the lie at all costs. Rove went after the credibility of Wilson in a vicious retaliatory way meant to serve as a warning to all whistleblowers. Knowing that they lied to go to war they would work to continue this lie. There is no other explanation.
If Rove was simply "discouraging a reporter from writing a false story based on a false premise" then why didn't he give this peachy explanation 2 years ago and not after documented proof of this was published recently? What is the "false story" and "false premise" that he was correcting anyway? It's administative details of who sent Wilson and whether his wife mentioned his name. The story was that it was clear that the Niger documents were forgeries and that the administration knew this and presented it as evidence anyway. That story has never been proven false which is why they went after Wilson's wife.
Fact: It is a crime for a government official to reveal an undercover CIA operative- classified information. There is nothing in the law that states that you could have a reason to justify it, certainly not to retaliate against a whistleblower's wife. It is about revealing an identity not their complete legal name. Wilson's wife and Valerie Plame are synonymous and it is spin to suggest otherwise.
Fact: Rove has lied in the past about his involvement and now admits to this crime.
It is treason to reveal this information. Plame was not just an undercover operative but she was a major operative in the fight against WMD proliferation. Outing her did more damage to the country, to the so-called "War on Terror", in addition to jeopardizing her life as well as destroying a CIA operation and endangering the lives of all involved. Rove is a traitor and should be tried and convicted to the fullest extent of the law.
The talking points reveal the complete hypocrisy and total shamelessness of the Republican party. To defend such treasonous actions of one of their own by arguing who sent him to Niger and why makes clear that there is no defense. To excuse destroying a mission designed to protect us all while proclaiming to be the party strong on security would be laughable if it wasn't so frightening that they are the ones in control of our security.
I beg the leaders of our party to fight for the truth and not let this complete disregard for the nation's security to go unpunished. The truth is clear. Let the truth be known to everyone. Do not surrender to this shameless spin. The soldiers abroad and their families deserve no less.