THE PHANTOM HORROR

NOW THAT THE HORROR STORY OF KARL ROVE AND VALERIE PLAME IS KNOWN, HOW IT GETS KNOWN IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER.  The facts say Rove revealed Plame’s identity. How that is interpreted will now determine whether America buys tickets to this show.  The best and the worst thing about the Rove and Plame affair is that it ties into everything else the Bush administration does.  While Rove’s roots run deep and poison the soil of politics and leave a noxious smell in the air, the battle of control for what the story means has now begun in earnest. Whether the story tellers relent and let Rove direct his own demise will have impact too.  For if people concentrate on Rove too much, they will not have time to closely look at the more treasonous run up to the war in Iraq. And then there are those Supreme Court nomination(s).  If Rove could manipulate terror, he most certainly will now manipulate this horror of his own making.

The playout will take time. PLAME and husband WILSON can now expect to be branded as the true TRAITORS against the MISSION in Iraq, the holy war now known as unholy hell. Legal nuance will be used to defend gross misconduct.  These guys will expect the attention to at some point relent. And oh, yeah, JUDY MARTYR MILLER is toast.  She’s Rove’s source, but he can’t remember.  Echoes of Nixon will continue to reverb off Bush. Most people don’t expect an “I am not a crook” moment from the Boy President.

But haven’t we all heard plenty of “I am not an idiot” moments from Bush already?  Expect the Bush inability to  grasp reality to be played as a strength by the White House. Expect Bush to drape the flag all over himself in public in the coming days even as Rove and his tactics have unraveled all that is honorable in public service.  The Rove Phantom show is a horror that all will see more and more of, but who we buy tickets from will determine how and how long it plays out.

White House senior adviser Karl Rove indirectly confirmed the CIA affiliation of an administration critic's wife for Robert D. Novak the week before the columnist named her and revealed her position, a lawyer involved in the case said last night.
The operative, Valerie Plame, is the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador who had publicly disputed the White House's contention that Saddam Hussein had sought to buy uranium from Niger for possible use in a nuclear weapon.
The lawyer, who has knowledge of the conversations between Rove and prosecutors, said President Bush's deputy chief of staff has told investigators that he first learned about the operative from a journalist and that he later learned her name from Novak.
Rove has said he does not recall who the journalist was who first told him that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, or when the conversation occurred, the lawyer said.
[WASHINGTON POST]

UPDATE: ROVE MAY HAVE LIED TO FED AGENTS.
[INFORMTION CLEARING HOUSE] Looks like Karl Rove did break the law, the same federal law that got Martha Stewart sentenced to six months in prison.
It now appears that Rove, President Bush’s chief of staff, may have lied to the FBI in October 2003—a federal crime—when he was questioned by federal agents investigating who was responsible for leaking information about a covert CIA operative to the media.
During questioning by the FBI about his role in the Plame affair, Rove told federal agents that he only started sharing information about Plame with reporters and White House officials for the first time after conservative columnist Robert Novak identified her covert CIA status in his column on July 14, 2003, according to a report in the American Prospect about Rove’s testimony in March 2004, a copy of which can be found HERE   HAT TIP: [DONKEY OD]

RELATED HERETIK POSTS
[TWO TICKETS TO PARADISE] [WHEN THE FAT MAN SINGS] [ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN’T] [CASABLANCA 2005][GEORGETOWN] [ACTUAL REPORTERS SIGHTED AT WHITE HOUSE] [ANIMAL WHITE HOUSE]  [ANIMAL WHITE HOUSE TWO] [WHITE HOUSE CON]


IF YOU CAN STOMACH IT: Short Story is Wilson and Plame are real traitors
[WSJ OPINION] [JOHN GIBSON]

WHAT THE BLOGS/ONLINE MAGS ARE SAYING
[TATTERED COAT] [MAHA]  [BILLMON]
[BLOGENLUST] Assuming I'm not reading too much into this article, it seems to me
that if Rove got the information from a journalist, it would have to be
Miller, who's clearly protecting the original source. [THE HERETIK: Scooter Libby!]
[AGITPROP] Conservatives are fighting back at the liberal assault on Karl Rove. They argue that Rove is not a traitor but in fact a hero, a true patriot. Rove is a herocrazy peacenik who was trying to discredit our war president and stop an illegal war. because he defended the regime. . . .
[MAHA AGAIN] I've been saying nearly since 9/11 that if Bush had to answer to public hearings, ;he'd be bounced out of office in nanoseconds. I know... dream on.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Comments

[Kate]

The graphic is priceless. Oooo, he's creepy!

[handdrummer]

Sweet. Well done, my friend. This one I save for my 'collection'.

[Matt]

Jesus...another day, another brilliant graphic, and a great post to go with it. You rule!

[Aaron]

I know it's highly unlikely that anyone in the Bush administration will ever be prosecuted in this case. But boy would I'd love to see Rove go to prison and have some of those hard-core pipe hitting brothers make him squeal like Ned Beatty in Deliverance. Here piggy piggy piggy. That would be justice.

And Robert Novak down on his knees tossing salads as well.

I can dream can't I