Rove Rips NYT For Outing CIA Agent’s Identity And ‘Putting Our Country At Risk’
Anyone paying even scant attention to public affairs over the past couple years should be aware that Karl Rove was implicated in the outing of former CIA agent Valerie Plame, as well as the campaign against her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson. While "Scooter" Libby took the fall, and Vice President Cheney's handwriting was on a memo that seemed to start the ball rolling, there was enough testimony in court to show that Rove was hip-deep in that particular horrid piece of business.
For Rove to turn around now and bash The New York Times for discussing the role of the CIA in the torture of prisoners in American custody is evidence that he has contempt, at some basic level, for the American people. For those who pay attention, obviously, we will ignore his comments. For those who pay less attention, or for whatever reason are still attached to the Bush Administration, or the Republican Party, the conflict here, or rank hypocrisy (to be far more honest) is something they can always explain away (they always do). This also sucks a certain amount of oxygen from the discussion of other issues. Rove manages to make himself the issue, even though it dredges up memories of Bush Administration crimes (in this case, with a conviction to make the word "crime" applicable). He becomes, once again, the dutiful soldier, taking fire for those above him.
Or maybe he is just cynical enough to believe that even those of us who pay attention will have forgotten the testimony that put him in the eye of the Plame storm. That he is currently not wearing federal pajamas at some minimum security lockdown is a travesty of justice. One would hope that some future President (like, next year) would have the decency to ensure that Karl Rove spends at least a few months at a federally operated punch press, or hoeing cabbages and peas at some federally-run farm with barbed wire around it.
Maybe, if God is truly good, he'll keep poking George Bush in the beck with the handle of his garden rake.
