Demagogue

The Plamegate news trickle continues...

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.

So if Robert "Douchebag of Liberty" Novak says that Karl "Turdblossom" Rove comfirmed what he already knew about Valerie Plame, who told the Douchebag of Liberty? Does this new information exonerate Rove from any wrongdoing? We know he talked to at least one other reporter, Matt Cooper, about Plame and claims that he didn't know she was undercover. But does it seem likely that he thought that a CIA agent who works in the WMD unit wasn't a covert operative? I'm not saying it's not possible, but it seems rather naive for someone as experienced as Rove. The bottom line is why did the White House let this story get so out of control if Rove did nothing wrong? Why not explain this, oh, I don't know, a year or more ago?

It's only going to drag on with new details like this, "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." Does not recall. Really? This controversy has been going on for 2 years, yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of the Douchebag's catalytic column outing Plame. But Rove doesn't remember who told him first? That's pretty convenient.

Just waiting patiently for more carefully controlled drips...which seems particularly appropriate for a story about a leak.