Karl Rove, Master Hypocrite

Karl Rove, Fox News contributor and McCain adviser has been busy in his new roles, but that old one is still gnawing at him like a mosquito with the West Nile virus. He knows that there are plenty of people who believe that he was responsible (because its true) for helping to out Valerie Plame and break the law. With his massive ego though, he conveniently forgets about all that to criticize the NY Times for outing a different CIA agent.

From ThinkProgress:

Yesterday, on The O’Reilly Factor, Karl Rove slammed the New York Times for supposedly leaking the name of a CIA agent. “[T]hey’ve got a very callous view about our nation’s security and interests,” Rove charged:

ROVE: Well, I read their explanation. And basically, it sounded to me like they were saying we put his name out there because we decided we could. And I mean, they didn’t have a good explanation for it.

How ironic that Karl Rove says that the country is put “at risk” when a CIA agent’s name is exposed. A quick recap of Rove’s role in leaking undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity for political retribution:

– Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper said, “Karl Rove told me about Valerie Plame’s identity on July 11, 2003. I called him because Ambassador Wilson [Plame’s husband] was in the news that week. I didn’t know Ambassador Wilson even had a wife until I talked to Karl Rove.”

– A week prior to publishing his column which outed Plame, Robert Novak spoke with Rove. Novak brought up Plame’s role at the CIA, and Rove confirmed that Plame worked at the CIA: “I heard that too,” said Rove.

In an addendum to the article, the Times explained its rationale: “Mr. Martinez had never worked under cover and…others involved in the campaign against Al Qaeda have been named in news stories and books.”

Karl truly does have selective reading habits, easily reading what he wants to in an article by ignoring the rest of the facts (that don't suit him). Talking about an agent who has already been mentioned in the press is far different from putting an agent in the press when the were covert, for purely petty political reasons, such as the agent's spouse having spoken badly about the White House a few days beforehand.

Karl, Karl, Karl.....I hope one day you get to sit in jail for a long, long time for you to think about all the crap you've pulled....or at least be prevented from spewing more crap into our lives.

McClellan Testifies About The Plame Saga This Morning

This morning Scott McClellan went before the House Judiciary Committee to tell his tale of what he knew about the Valerie Plame case. His book is currently making millions about his time in the Bush Administration, but at least he came to Congress to talk about what he knows, free of charge. His introduction statement is a bit lengthy, but the end of it is key.

From The House Judiciary Cmte:

My book reflects the only idea of loyalty that I believe is appropriate in democratic government, and that is loyalty to the ideals of candor, transparency and integrity, and indeed to the constitutional system itself. Too often in Washington, people mistakenly think that loyalty to an individual officeholder should override loyalty to basic ideals. This false loyalty is not only mistaken, but can exercise a corrupt influence on government.

I am here because in my heart I am a public servant who, like many Americans, wants to improve the way Washington governs and does not want to see future administrations repeat the mistakes this White House made.

I do not know whether a crime was committed by any of the Administration officials who revealed Valerie Plame’s identity to reporters. Nor do I know if there was an attempt by any person or persons to engage in a cover-up during the investigation. I do know that it was wrong to reveal her identity, because it compromised the effectiveness of a covert official for political reasons. I regret that I played a role, however unintentionally, in relaying false information to the public about it. I’ll do my best to answer any questions on this matter that members of the committee may wish to ask.

Scott, first of all, it is great that you now realize a public servant's loyalty should be to the public and not the tyrant dictator current President. Secondly, unless you were just born yesterday, someone of your position knows that it is illegal and traitorous to reveal the identity of a covert agent, for political reasons or otherwise. The fact that you know it is wrong goes a long way to admitting it is criminal, so perhaps you are just trying to be sly about it.

Have fun in Congress today Scott, watch for Republicans to go at you with avengeance for turning your back on the supreme leader and your party.

Olbermann Talks With Valerie Plame

With a new book on what really happened between her and the Bush Administration, Valerie sits down with the one, the only, Keith Olbermann:

Judith Miller Shows Her True Colors

Not that this news is too shocking for people that paid attention to the whole Valerie Plame mess but it confirms a lot about the "reporter" we all came to abhor. She of course was the *cough* journalist *cough* that was used by used information from Scooter Libby to write on the Plame saga, allowing the Bush Administration to leak information on a covert CIA agent. When she denied the justice system pertinent information on the episode, they threw her in jail for 85 days. Well now the conservative demigods have bestowed a nice cushy job for their useful tool of a woman.

From New York Magazine:

Judith Miller, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times correspondent that pushed all the Bush administration spin about the (so-far non-existent) existence of WMD in Iraq, has finally come home. She's taken a job with the friends of "greater economic choice and individual responsibility" at the Manhattan Institute. She’s written for their City Journal quarterly before, so look for more stories from her on the cop beat. “The Manhattan Institute is doing pioneering work in policing and counter-terrorism,” Miller said in a release today. “As an adjunct fellow, I hope to continue writing about how best to enhance national security and public safety without sacrificing our freedom and civil liberties.” Or sacrificing her journo ethics — Neo-Con propaganda goes down much better when it's properly labeled. —Geoffrey Gray

I agree with Gray, she is definitely in the right place for the crap that she writes. Working at the New York Times helped bring down their journalistic status a few notches. At the Manhattan Institute the acquisition of Judy will keep them at the same spot in the cesspool of neo-con thought.

Bush Admits White House Leaked Plame's Name, Then Ignores The Bombshell

President Bush is quite the extraordinary man (boy). At a press conference today he pretty much let out what we already know, one (or two or whatever) of his men leaked Valerie Plame's name, committing treason and then covered it up. The admission came after he was asked about Scooter's commutation, but Bush didn't want to talk about it, so he passed over certain reporters for follow up and went to a Fox News reporter.

From RawStory:

Abramowitz stated, "You spoke very soberly and seriously in your statement about how you weighed different legal questions in coming to your decision on that commutation. But one issue that you did not address was the issue of the morality of your most senior advisers leaking the name of a confidential intelligence operator. Now that the case is over ... can you say whether you were at all disappointed in the behavior of those senior advisers, and have you communicated that disappointment to them in any way?"

"First of all," responded Bush, "the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision. Secondly, I haven't spent a lot of time talking about the testimony that people throughout my administration were forced to give as a result of the special prosecutor. I didn't ask them during that time, I haven't asked them since. I am aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person, and, you know, I've often thought about what would have happened had that person come forth and said, 'I did it.' Would we have had this -- endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter? But it's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House and it's run its course and now we're going to move on. Wendell..."

Bush neither gave Abramowitz the chance for a follow-up question nor apparently remembered that he had already promised to call after Abramowitz on a different reporter, who interjected an objection to being passed over. Instead, Bush called on Wendell Goler of Fox News, who stated, "Thank you, sir. You have spoken passionately about the consequences of failure in Iraq. Your critics say you failed to send enough troops there at the start, failed to keep al Qaeda from stepping into the void created by the collapse of Saddam's army, failed to put enough pressure on Iraq's government to make the political reconciliation necessary to keep the sectarian violence the country is suffering from now from occurring. So why should the American people feel you have the vision for victory in Iraq, sir?"

Michael Abramowitz's question and the subsequent answer left the press corp and the American people feeling more violated than inmate who dropped the soap in the shower every two minutes from shaky hands. Bush mentions the news in a very nonchalant and apathetic way, just as he did about how he doesn't spend much time anymore on Osama bin Laden.

What makes the story more disturbing, yet not surprisingly is how he ignores the history of his own actions. When the focus was on the White House initially to come clean about who leaked what to whom, he said he would fire whoever leaked the information. Now that it is obvious that Scooter was helping his boss Dick Cheney to exact revenge on Joe Wilson and his covert wife, he conveniently forgets his own words.

This is just another reason out of many to impeach the President and Cheney, there are so many to count, but the Congress fails to act. Where's the action? The strength? The courage? Someone needs to stand up for our democracy before there is no democracy left.

Sunday Funnies

Bill Maher Defines Patriots And Traitors

The definition is right on in this week's installment of 'New Rules':

Valerie Plame Will Testify In Front Of Congress

Now that Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff is a convicted felon, Congress is finally looking into the details of Plamegate and the treasonous activites that the White House (allegedly) committed in order to silence their critics about the war. Of course Fitzgerald did not charge anyone in the Bush Adminstration with a crime in regards to outing covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame, but lying under oath about the matter is still a serious offense. Serious enough that now Libby is looking at up to 25 years in federal prison.

Henry Waxman (D-CA) is beginning hearings to investigate the matter and pull the facts out that have seemed pretty damn visible to the public for quite sometime. As the Chairman for the Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, Waxman is ready to get to the bottom of the matter. That tenacity Waxman is known for in the past 30 years will come out in the following weeks.

From Rawstory:

Rep. Henry Waxman will lead a hearing of the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform on "whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson," according to a statement at the committee's website. Plame Wilson will be one of the witnesses.

The notice also states that other expert witnesses will be joining the former CIA officer and discussing "the disclosure and internal White House security procedures for protecting her identity from disclosure and responding to the leak after it occurred."

Waxman's office also posted a letter in which he praised Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who successfully prosecuted top White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and asked him to appear before the committee.

"Congress has a responsibility to examine the policy and accountability questions that your investigation has raised. As a result of your investigation, you have a singular understanding of the facts and their implications that bear directly on the issues before Congress," Waxman wrote.

Waxman also intends to question Patrick Fitzgerald on what he learned about the matter while prosecuting Libby. In a very diplomatic tone, the Special Prosecutor said this about testifying in front of Congress, "We will do what's appropriate." What is appropriate is the American people see justice about the matter, just as Scooter got his.

Colbert Breaks Down The Libby Verdict

Who knows how to evaluate a trial about a conservative other than another fellow conservative:

Fox Noise Channel On Libby Verdict

The always intrepid Fox News Noise Channel was on the scene today in Washington D.C. covering the Libby trial. As usual they stuck to the facts, adhering to their mantra of "We Report, You Decide" unless of course, they aren't......as usual.

Marcy Wheeler Wraps Up The Libby Verdict

From the author that wrote the book on the case and liveblogger that covered the trial, here is Marcy Wheeler on PoliticsTV:

The Libby Verdict: GUILTY!

Scooter I Libby was found guilty on four out of five counts against him. Except for the false statement count, he was found guilty for obstruction of justice and perjuring himself. These are serious crimes and he is about to pay the price for being a shill of the Bush Adminstration. The full five counts would have warranted 30 years, but these four provided the bulk of that time.

Now the question is, will he make a deal for the higher-ups, or simply be the fall guy and wait for Bush to pardon him in early 2009?