Did Rove Out Plame?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bad Decisions, General Politics, WarI’m going to say right off the bat that I have always thought that Rove did this. His politics are particularly dirty and his track record shows this. Some say that Dems are just jealous, but dirty politics are dirty politics. And although I thought documentaries like Bush’s Brain are pretty melodramatic, Rove’s hands are certainly not clean. I think we can all agree on that.
However, I’m more than willing to believe that somebody else did it, given evidence to show as much. But now Lawrence O’Donnell, MSNBC analyst, is saying that my first instincts on this case were dead on:
“I revealed in yesterday’s taping of the McLaughlin Group that Time magazine’s e-mails will reveal that Karl Rove was Matt Cooper’s source. I have known this for months but didn’t want to say it at a time that would risk me getting dragged into the grand jury.“McLaughlin is seen in some markets on Friday night, so some websites have picked it up, including Drudge, but I don’t expect it to have much impact because McLaughlin is not considered a news show and it will be pre-empted in the big markets on Sunday because of tennis.
“Since I revealed the big scoop, I have had it reconfirmed by yet another highly authoritative source. Too many people know this. It should break wide open this week. I know Newsweek is working on an ‘It’s Rove!’ story and will probably break it tomorrow.”
Here’s what I anticipate is going to happen on this. The left is going to cheer. The right is going to try and defend, but it will ultimately prove futile because Rove did a pretty awful thing. Even if it was on accident (which nobody is going to believe anyway) it’s still awful.
However, I think this has the potential be a time where we can find some common ground and agree that people should NEVER out a CIA agent, regardless of the motive. It puts our very liberty at risk and that’s simply wrong, no matter what side of the fence you’re on.
UPDATE: 6:50 p.m.
Here’s the Plame/Rove Newsweek article that O’Donnell mentioned. They’re very cautious, but it seems that Karl is headed for some serious problems.
Now the story may be about to take another turn. The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper’s sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House. Cooper and a Time spokeswoman declined to comment. But in an interview with NEWSWEEK, Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove had been interviewed by Cooper for the article. It is unclear, however, what passed between Cooper and Rove.
Will the mighty fall?
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