UPDATE: Bob Novak’s potty mouth is, according to Bob Novak, "poisoning America". (But then again, so is mine).
Novak Blows A Gasket
Mmmmmm. He must be under some pressure. The video is here, but this is the official transcript: HENRY: And the "Strategy Session" continues on INSIDE POLITICS. Still here: James Carville and Robert Novak. Katherine Harris made a name for her self during the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential race. She was then Florida’s secretary of state. She went on … Read More
The Slippery Slope of Wingnuttery
Let’s see. Where are we in the Republican defense of Rove? Meme roll call: First: “The White House had nothing to do with the leak of classified information.” Second: “Okay, maybe the White House did have something to do with the leak, but nobody identified Valerie Plame by her actual name.” Second and a half: “By the way, Plame had … Read More
Bush Pulls Access To Classified Info
Not pulled from Rove, but from certain members of Congress. The date was 10/5/01, and here’s the executive order in which he does it. What prompted such an action? Well, apparently, some lawmakers had told the Washington Post that they had been informed that more terrorist attacks were likely, a conjecture derived from intelligence documents. Bush couldn’t have things like … Read More
The 12 Hour Gap
People are asking good questions: What did White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card learn from Alberto Gonzales and when did he learn it…and what did he do with that knowledge? . . . Alberto Gonzales admitted that he called Andrew Card right after he was notified that the Justice Department had opened its investigation of the Plame leak…even though … Read More
Former CIA Officers Blast GOP Talking Points
In case you missed it, Josh Marshall has the letter (PDF format) in which eleven former intelligence officers reduce the GOP Plame talking points (e.g., “she wasn’t covert because she had a desk job") to mincemeat.
Heh Photo
This photo was taken in 2003. Rove and Novak. Rove’s button says—I’m not making this up—“I’m a source, not a target”. “O, Arturo, prince of irony . . .”
For The Last Time, Plame Was Covert
A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked “(S)” for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials. *** The paragraph identifying her as the wife of … Read More
Rove Being Investigated . . . For Lying To The FBI?
Inside sources are saying so: White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove did not disclose that he had ever discussed CIA officer Valerie Plame with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper during Rove’s first interview with the FBI, according to legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the matter. The omission by Rove created doubt for federal investigators, almost from the … Read More
Timing Is Everything
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Bush is close to a decision on his first nominee to the Supreme Court and could make his announcement as early as Tuesday, Republican sources said. Wow. Okay. "The time is now,” said a Republican strategist close to the White House of Bush’s announcement. Why is the time “now”, Mr. Republican-Strategist-Close-To-The-White-House? Sources said the timing of … Read More
Executive Order No. 12958
Criminal laws aside, Executive Order No. 12958 would require that the White House, independent of any criminal investigation, take affirmative action to determine if there was a leak, and punish the leaker accordingly. Under the executive order, “officers and employees of the United States Government . . . shall be subject to appropriate sanctions if they knowingly, willingly, or negligently … Read More
Rude Pundit’s Take
The Rude Pundit, the only blogger to have turned his rants into a critically-acclaimed off-off-Broadway show (seriously!) explains why the general public disbelieves the Bush Administration on the whole Plame thing, even if we (the public) don’t all necessarily understand the minutae of the law. Quote: The American public, having been fed years of propagandistic books, films, and television shows, … Read More
Flip-Flop
President Bush was against leaks of classified information before he was for tolerated them: Bush, appearing in the Rose Garden with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, gave Congress a stern lecture. “I understand there may be some heartburn on Capitol Hill,” he said. “But I suggest if they want to relieve that heartburn, that they take their positions very seriously and … Read More
“Highest Standards of Conduct” Defined
"The president has set high standards, the highest of standards, for people in his administration. He’s made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct." – Scott McClellan, Press Briefing, September 29, 2003 "If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration." – George … Read More
Best Comment Today On Plamegate
From Corrente, on the revelation that Novak’s second source “high administration official” (besides Rove) was Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney’s chief of staff: You know, this whole thing reminds of that great old Agatha Christie novel, Murder on the Orient Express. The whodunnit is totally confusing, clues pointing every which way and cancelling each other out, until Hercule Poirot figures out … Read More