Senate rejects bid to restrict Rove access

[Judi Lynn]

Senate rejects bid to restrict Rove access
Democrats foiled on documents



Protesters held signs during a rally against presidential adviser Karl Rove in front of the White House yesterday. The rally was organized by MoveOn.org Political Action.

By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | July 15, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The Senate yesterday turned back a Democratic-led attempt to deny White House aide Karl Rove access to classified documents, as the dispute over the revelation that President Bush's top political adviser spread information about a covert CIA agent reached a new level of bitter partisan sniping.

The Democratic bill aimed at revoking Rove's security clearance was part of the party's growing campaign to highlight the disclosure that Rove gave information about the covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson to Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper. Wilson's husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, came to the Capitol yesterday at the invitation of Democrats to call on Bush to fire Rove. ''Karl Rove made his bones doing political dirty tricks," Wilson said, noting that his wife now must work in a different capacity at the CIA because her cover has been blown.

Rove, the architect of George W. Bush's rise to the presidency, exercises virtually unprecedented control over Republican Party politics, and his fall from power would leave an enormous void in the GOP. The White House and Republicans in Congress are trying to ride out the furor.

After Democrats introduced their bill seeking to revoke Rove's credentials, GOP leaders countered with a bill to bar Senate minority leader Harry Reid from security clearance because he once mentioned a classified FBI report on the Senate floor.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/07/15/senate_rejects_bid_to_restrict_rove_access/

[Guckert]

1. I am shocked that the party of fake Patriots would vote this bill down.

:sarcasm:
I guess they forgot that Reid did not out the FBI agent. it had been out for years. but we all know facts mean nothing to the GOP bottom feeders.

[ooglymoogly]

2. more fuel for the 06 fire...nt

[Mari333]

3. The more they circle the wagons

the more they look like they are hiding something...let the frogmarching begin soon, please God.

[madaboutharry]

4. Cowards

n/t

[shantipriya]

5. No surprise!

This is a one party Gov't. What did you expect?Repugs never vote against their party.Even if Rove was caught with a prostitute or involved in death or destruction he would never be harmed by this administration!

[Raiden]

6. Use this against 'em in '06

"This man voted to compromise the US intelligence!" Use their tactics against them!

[gratuitous]

7. You got it

Timing and nuance doesn't seem to be a priority in our nation's political campaigns, and while there might be a reasoned, principled argument to be made for not revoking Rove's security clearance, it should be child's play to paint every last Republican senator running for re-election in 2006 as soft on security because of this vote.

Get 'em, Dems!

[Drifter]

8. Good !!!

The more people that latch on to this traitor, the more people will be damaged when he is frog marched out of the WH.

The rats appear to be boarding this sinking ship. I just hope that there are no Dems stupid enough to support this disgrace.

Cheers
Drifter

[jmowreader]

9. I'm against this bill too

Remember all the bitching we did about Terri's Law? How it was a bill of attainder--a law that applied to only one person?

This is also a bill of attainder, and it's unconstitutional.

If a bill of attainder was bad for Terri, it's equally bad for Karl.

Besides, how in HELL would we get it passed? There's not enough Democrats to override a veto, which you know we'd get.

Also consider: if the information security officer at the White House has a patriotic bone in his or her body, Rove's access is history anyway. You don't need a bill. All you need is one form; revocation of access is purely an admin function, and it takes about 20 minutes to fill this form out and sign it.

Pulling someone's clearance basically takes an act of God to accomplish, and it's not really necessary except as a symbolic gesture. Pulling his access will get us to the same place without a ton of paperwork.