Tim Grieve, Salon August 13, 2007
We could spend days reminiscing about the role Karl Rove has played in our politics over the past decade or so — the whisper campaigns against Ann Richards in Texas and John McCain in South Carolina, the fight over Florida in 2000, the demonization of John Kerry in 2004, the “thumpin’” Rove and his boss and their party took in 2006 — and we’ll be looking forward to what Rove himself has to say about all of it when he sits down to write his book after leaving the White House this month.
In the meantime, here are a few memories that spring right to mind:
The Outing of Valerie Plame:
Rove leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame to Robert Novak and to Matthew Cooper in the summer of 2003. For as long as it could — or as long as it needed to — the White House adamantly denied that Rove was involved in Plame’s outing. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in September 2003 that “the president knows” that Rove wasn’t involved and that it was “ridiculous” to suggest that he was. In October 2003, McClellan said he had spoken with Rove and Scooter Libby and that they had “assured” him that they were “not involved in this.” Rove himself was cagey: “I didn’t know her name. I didn’t leak her name,” he told ABC early on, a formulation he repeated for Larry King at the Republican National Convention in August 2004. Only after Bush was reelected in 2004 did we learn the truth: Rove had, in fact, been “involved.” And while he may not have leaked Plame’s “name,” he confirmed for both Novak and Cooper that ambassador Joseph Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA. Asked about the revelation that Rove had, in fact, been involved, Bush said in June 2006: “I trust Karl Rove.”
Karl Rove and Patrick Fitzgerald:
When Rove first sat down with FBI agents investigating Plame’s outing, he somehow forgot to mention that he had revealed Plame’s identity to Matthew Cooper. He somehow forgot to mention it a second time when he first testified before Patrick Fitzgerald’s grand jury. Four visits to the grand jury room later, Rove somehow managed to avoid the perjury, false statement and obstruction of justice charges Scooter Libby ultimately faced. In his opening statement at Libby’s trial, Libby defense attorney Ted Wells argued that the White House had tried to make Libby take the fall for outing Plame because Rove “had to be protected.” After Libby was convicted, a puzzled juror asked, “What are we doing with this guy here? Where’s Rove?”
Now the real danger begins because he’s still on the BFEE payroll. They now have total deniability along with claims of executive privlege. And never forget that blanket pardon in Rove’s pocket. (Think of the bill-signing scene in Blazing Saddles)
Comment by greyhawk — August 13, 2007 @ 10:24 am