if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803
Here To Stay
by Lee
Oh my God, how I love being right. In the comments to this post I speculated on what Bush was doing regarding Rove. I wrote:
Another option: Rove told [Bush] he was the leak, and Bush had [A.G. Alberto] Gonzales check to see if what Rove did was illegal. Bush might be supporting Rove knowing that, in the end, nothing he has done will be shown to be illegal. Unethical, probably, but not illegal. It’s a technicality that Bush can legitimately use to protect and defend his longtime friend and ally.
So here’s what Bush had to say today.
President Bush reiterated Monday that if someone in his administration broke the law by talking to reporters about Joseph Wilson’s wife, then they would lose their jobs.
“If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration,” Bush told reporters during a brief news conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. … Although Bush would not comment directly about Rove, he lamented that the case was “being played out in the press” as he said that it was “best that the investigation is complete before we jump to conclusions.”
And here’s what Bush said way back when the whole leak issue was first brought to light.
Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There’s leaks at the executive branch; there’s leaks in the legislative branch. There’s just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of. … Listen, I know of nobody—I don’t know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I’d like to know it, and we’ll take the appropriate action. And this investigation is a good thing.
Why is this important? Because, like I said, I think that before Bush ever got up in public anywhere he knew that Rove had not done anything illegal. Unethical, maybe, but not illegal. Bush has specifically stated, as shown by the quotes above, that if anyone does anything “illegal” that they will be dealt with. Well, it seems, at least to this point, that Rove and the gang are free and clear as far as illegality goes.
And this distinction is important, considering the rhetoric coming from Bush’s opponents. The loonies at MoveOn wrote, “Last year, President Bush promised that anyone at the White House involved in the leak would be fired. We believe: President Bush should stick to his promise to fire anyone involved with leaking Valerie Plame’s name, and fire Karl Rove.” The problem is that that isn’t an accurate paraphrase of what Bush said, as the quotes above illustrate. Not to be outdone, John Kerry has a petition form on his website where he quotes Scott McClellan.
All I’m asking is that you remain true to your word. When the scandal first broke, your spokesman, Scott McClellan, said “If anyone in this Administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this Administration.” (9/29/03, White House press briefing). What you do now, in light of Karl Rove’s involvement will speak volumes.
The morons at Air America have their own petition using the same McClellan quote. Despite all this, Bush’s word has been pretty clear, as his words show. McClellan can very reasonably claim he misspoke and take the heat for Bush, saying “If you check the president’s words on this issue, you will see he’s been very clear about the conditions in which someone in this administration would be fired.” So spare the effort, lefties, Rove isn’t going anywhere.
Comments
It really is remarkable. Rove & co. played the left like a fiddle.
The genius of this flap is the controversy is over such an inconsequential member of the staff as Rove. The Dems are trying to gain popularity and votes by attacking someone nearly no voter knows about. This is totally a DC insidery thing. They’ve got this false hope that once they destroy the White House puppeteer, the whole administration will collapse from lack of direction. The delusion is laughable.
Insofar as voters are concerned, the outrage is over Joe Wilson using his marriage to gain leverage over the government. Wilson claimed his report was commissioned by the VP, but for anyone to dispute that they would have to say it was really his secret Jaguar-driving wife Valerie Plame Wilson, who worked at the CIA. And this is at the same time Wilson (the husband) has his new book out you can purchase at amazon.com.
Naturally, some media want to make the story seem more seedy than it is with headlines like this.
Grasping at straws..
I suspect this will become richer with age like a great wine.
Miller is not in jail protecting Rove or Libbey. She’s had waivers from them for 18 months.
So who is she protecting? I suspect that she was the press source that both Libbey and Rove have reportedly testified about. My money is on Plame herself being Miller’s source from her prior work with Miller on WMD reporting…
What Fun!
The Dems are trying to gain popularity and votes by attacking someone nearly no voter knows about.
I agree completely. The more I watch the political happenings in DC, the more I realize that these people have spent so much time inside the haze of the beltway that they have really lost touch with the outside world. While both parties are guilty of this, the Dems are at a distinct disadvantage as their forays out of DC usually are done in the form of cocktail parties in Manhattan, Malibu, and Marin county; hardly a reflection of mainstream America. How silly did J Kerry look whenever he tried to fit in as a “regular guy”?
Part of the reason that Bush & Co. have had so much success at the polls in the past five years is that, for the most part, they are not career DC insiders; which gives them a better understanding of how to reach your typical American voter.
Dems constantly throw tantrums on issues when the public is clearly not on their sides. Take the Gitmo non-scandal. Dems were lining up to blast the place even though 70+% of Americans felt that there was nothing wring with the place. Or the upcoming SC appointee battle that they have already promised, even though nearly 60% of the public expects a reasonably conservative nominee and an up down vote.
This Rove issue is the same thing. Most Americans probably don’t know much about Rove, and those who are familiar with the facts of this case do not seem to feel that Rove has done much of anything wrong.
This just shows how inbred and detached politics inside DC have become.
Also, does anyone else wonder why we are not seeing any public opinion polls regarding this issue? This tells me that this issue is so insignificant that most people do not really care.
I am thinking Joe Wilson is Miller’s source. I suspect Miller asked him to describe what was up with his wife. Why can’t these TV-News hosts ask Joe Wilson: “Will you give a waiver to Miller right now for any conversation you might have had with her in the past?” I swear Chris Matthews, Tim Russert and Wolf Blitzer are the most retarded interviewers ever.
If Plame and Wilson were on his show, Tim Russert would hound them into answering if they were planning on running for President, or if they have absolutely 100% ruled out running for President. Then he would ask the same question in 3 more ways. Something like, “So Plame, is your husband qualified to be President?” Then Tim would laugh, because asking that question is so funny. What a dick.
Plame may well be the source for Miller but it could also be Hillery through one of her minions say Blumenthal or some other shill. If is was at CIA I would have the bitch (Plame) on the box and find out if she had talked to reporters or it she has disclosed any secret info to anyone wheather she had blown them or not.
Lee: So, it comes down to “what the definition of “is” is?” :-)
Those of you that claim that they administration is “playing the lefties” are smoking more dope than me… what good can come of reminding us that Bush ran into this war, justifying it with things like yellowcake from Niger that have been proven to be untrue, and aluminum tubes that have been shown to be unrelated to WMD.
It’s getting pretty obvious what happened… Joe Wilson came out to debunk the admin’s case for war and Cheney/Rove fought back with a smear campaign, something that is 2nd nature for Rove. This smear included the fact that he was married to someone in the CIA who recommended him for the job, a fact that helped contain the damage of Wilson’s editorial in the NYT.
If the investigation shows this to be a crime, Rove is fucked. If not, then the administration still takes a big hit as the public is reminded of the pre-war intellegence failures, and a concrete example of how this administration has a habit of saying one thing and doing something completely different. ("We are going to help seniors with prescription drugs” vs. “We are going to bankrupt the nation with handouts to the pharma industry”, etc.)
Lest you forget, this is the same administration that pissed of the UK by outing intellegence assets involved in a active Al Qeida investigation in order to give themselves some political points. And anyone who says this issue is bunk because Plume wasn’t undercover also doesn’t know WTF they are talking about… the CIA has lots of undercover desk-workers. Plume was someone who went to energy industry conventions to collect information on WMD issues, if it was known that she was a CIA agent she wouldn’t have been able to do her job as effectively. Read up on the facts before you start spouting Republican talking points.
If you’ve followed this story even peripherally you know that Bush has been constantly changing the rules in this game… first he was going to fire “anyone involved” with a leak. Then it was anyone who actually leaked info, now it’s anyone that commits a crime.
Plume was someone who went to energy industry conventions to collect information on WMD issues, if it was known that she was a CIA agent she wouldn’t have been able to do her job as effectively. Read up on the facts before you start spouting Republican talking points.
So present us with a legit source (link) so that we can read up on these facts, please. Where would some of these conventions take place? When was the last time she attended one?
Dude, her husband said about 2 days ago that Plame WAS NOT a covert operative at the time Novak blew her cover. Does this shitstorm make sense given those comments? Not really. However, Joe Wilson did say that.
And anyone who says this issue is bunk because Plume wasn’t undercover also doesn’t know WTF they are talking about…
first he was going to fire “anyone involved” with a leak.
When did he say this? Got a link? Interesting that you don’t have the word fire inside your quotes.
hazehead - If you are going to nitpick Bush’s words, you have to get them right. First Bush said,
“anyone involved with the leak will be dealt with”
A reporter asked him, “Are you still going to fire anyone involved?” Bush answered “yes”.
Now Bush says, “Anyone convicted of leaking will be fired.”
To claim that this Rove episode will get the Democrats more than 4 votes than they lost by neglecting the future of Medical Costs, Social Security, Welfare, Budget Deficit, Unemployment, Environment, Global Warming, Border Security, Medical Costs, Medical Costs, Medical Costs, or Assault Weapons, is just, well, wrong.
Lee - this is the dumbest shit I’ve read in a long time. Bush changed it from leak to crime. All the long-winded posts in the world won’t change that.
Bush changed it from leak to crime. All the long-winded posts in the world won’t change that.
Please note the Sept. 2003 date on this quote
And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.
The media changed it from crime to leak. Bush is saying the same thing he said 2 years ago.
Bush is saying the same thing he said 2 years ago.
Yup.
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I’m sure that they knew all along that Plame had been “outed” like 8-10 years ago, so the administration just sat back and watched another Dem tantrum take shape.
http://nationalreview.com/mccarthy/mccarthy200507180801.asp