Democrats to hold Rove hearing

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Fri, Jul. 22, 2005

Democrats to hold Rove hearing

GOP: Move to detract from court nominee

By Scott Shepard
Cox News Service

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats will conduct an unofficial hearing today that may return public attention to White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and any role he had in disclosing the identity of a covert intelligence officer whose husband criticized pre-war intelligence President Bush used to justify the war in Iraq.

Congressional Republicans complained Democrats arranged the hearing because the president's nomination of John Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court this week has distracted much of Washington from developments in a federal investigation White House leaks resulting in the public identification of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Democrats "will do everything they can ... to keep Karl Rove on the front page," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the former chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, which develops the legislative agenda of the GOP leadership. "This issue deserves to be vetted, but it has been vetted for three years," he told Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill.

Amid the attention to the Supreme Court nomination this week, there have been several news accounts about a classified State Department memorandum central to the federal investigation of the White House leaks, a three-page document that reportedly contains information about Plame, identifying her as a CIA operative and the wife of administration critic Joseph Wilson in a paragraph marked "(S)" for secret.
(snip/...)

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/12194735.htm



Larry Craig.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. "move to detract from court nominee"?

Huh? The 'court nominee' will get his hearing in september. Meanwhile there is the small matter of a conspiracy to commit treason within the executive branch of the white house.

Hopefully the Democratic hearings will not have subpoena power so that they do not, once again, get bamboozled into compromising the real investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators, as they did with the Iran-contra hearings.

[rodeodance]

2. Democrats "will do everything they can ... to keep Karl Rove on the front

page"------lets hope so!

[oneold1-4u]

8. End your subscription!

For the newspapers of choice that don't keep Rove, Libby, and the White House denials, and non-answers, on the front page!
The other one is Gannon and it is time to find out how much of this CIA agent disclosure he was/is aware of. He was very close to both of these men! I'm just surprised they haven't made him the goat, or maybe he is long gone back to a closet!

[blondeatlast]

10. Not e the glaring tone of entitlement in that phrase.

Um, Senator, excuse me, but, THAT'S THEIR JOB!

They honestly believe there should be no dissent. It's as if they are hurt when it happens.

[WhiteTara]

24. true patriots will do everything they can

to keep KKKarl's name front and center on every paper in the land. Good for the ex-spooks letter.

Now to get the Zogby impeachment poll in every paper every day.

[Imagevision]

16. I recommend to keep this story going

[wishlist]

3. Rep Senator Craig says unnecessary because already "vetted for 3 yrs"

"Democrats "will do everything they can ... to keep Karl Rove on the front page," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the former chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, which develops the legislative agenda of the GOP leadership. "This issue deserves to be vetted, but it has been vetted for three years," he told Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill."

Who is he kidding? Since the leak occurred all we have heard is that Bush was doing his best to find out the leaker's identity but doubted we would ever find out, and assured everyone that Rove & Co had nothing to do with the leak and that he would fire anyone involved. Revelations about WMD seem to vindicate Wilson and revelations about Rove and Libby et al contradict Bush and Rove. But Repubs still continue to ignore or minimize the significance of the leak such as McCain's statement that the leak was understandable because of Wilson's "lies".

The Republican version of "vetting" makes a mockery of Congressional oversight.

[truthisfreedom]

4. republikan "vetting" is done as well as checks for mad cow disease here.

as in "cover it up."

[Justice]

5. Note to Myrtle Beach: Public Attention Never Left

"may return public attention to White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and any role he had in disclosing the identity"

Ahh, public attention is at like 50% - never left.

[Mountainman]

6. Repukes will do anything to keep Rove off the front pages.

[strizi64]

7. exactly! n/t

[Demeter]

27. Even Send The Bush BFEE Out on Road to Push SS Destruction

Talk about flogging a dead horse!

[MurrayDelph]

9. Of course it has been "vetted"

and we have seen the way Republicans treat the Vets.

[redqueen]

11. What's this about a letter from former CIA officials?

"The RNC action inspired a group of former CIA officers to send letters to Congress this week demanding that it "stop the campaign of disparagement and innuendo" against Plame."

Were those open letters? It'd be nice to see those...

[Barrett808]

12. Here ya go:

Josh Marshall has it covered
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_07_17.php#006139

Letter:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/intel.officers.letter.pdf

[redqueen]

13. Thank you!

DUers are the best. :hi:

[Barrett808]

14. My pleasure

It's fun watching the cabal rip itself apart.

[Lioness]

18. Redqueen, I listened to the hearings, and the testimony

today was that of ex-CIA personnel explaining why this outing was so treacherous and dangerous. They detailed the residual effects of an outing, and why so many people and so many years of activity were put in jeopardy by such behavior.

[redqueen]

21. That's great!

Doubt the lowing masses of repukes will care, though, since they'll only hear Loofah O'Reilly, Assboil Rush & Sicko Savage's take on the matter.

[Imagevision]

15. I agree, lets do keep Rove,libby on the front page where it belongs

[Catfight]

17. Republicians will say anything to distract away from the REAL issues. nt

[cascadiance]

19. Is it being held in the basement on CSPAN3 again?

[darkism]

26. Beat me to it :X n/t

[skip fox]

20. When they start lining up the ducks, they'll find

That Rove orchestrated the KNOWING and DELIBERATE leak of a covert CIA official, one whose identity the agency was actively concealing, as we found out in the past two days and that a number of other "high" administrative officials will face multiple indictments in the leak of Plame's identity. Rove will receive probably more than one. It's staring us all in the face:

1. The inanity and hysteria of the RNC's (and others') spinning has been noted by reporters across the nation as indicative a party which "off its game." Expecting a terrible outcome, they had been stalling for time, hoping the Supreme Court Nominee would bump the story off the front pages. (For a day it did . . . until Walter Pincus's story yesterday about classifications on the State Department memo sent to Air Force One.) Now they're just stalling. Al Franken told us yesterday (7/21) that after some difficulty he was able to demonstrate to the RNC staff that the story on their web-site which states Wilson claimed the Vice President sent him to Niger was simply false, a lie (showing the context for Wilson's quote yet again). What was the RNC's reaction? "We're standing by it." Simple as that. My point is, when they are willing to be so consciously and blatantly dishonestin public (which can be used against them) they are very distressed about the future.

2. We know there were at least 6 initial reporters contacted (including Novak, Miller, Cooper, and Pincus) and that 3 of those contacted called at least one secondary source the confirm the story (Cooper implies he had more than single confirming source named as Scooter Libby). We know that Cooper's initial source (Rove) specifically released him, but that Miller's would not do so for her. Since we already know Novak's initial source is Libby, there would be no reason for him not to release Miller if he were her source (unless the crime was more obvious). Therefore we know that there were two (Libby and Rove) initial sources and probably at least another. Already we are deeply into the terrain of collaboration. But when we realize that to have 3 confirming sources available, since the "conspiracy" (it becomes the unavoidable word) could not insure who the reporters would call to confirm their stories, they had to have several primed (ready and willing to confirm). (Of course a confirming source for one reporter could be a primary course for another.)

Impossible to accomplish these 9 (or 9+) calls by at least 2, probably 3 or more initial callers, with others ready to confirm, without coordination. Designing a plan for leaks wouldn't be rocket science for Rove's Machiavellian machine he calls a mind, but it certainly would be mastery of Rove of all people in the administration (probably composed of the White House Iraq Group) that would assign him a leadership role. Rove, then, would direct (mastermind) the entire, making sure no two officials attempted to act as an initial source for a single reporter (that would appear too eager), that the story be believable (pitched nonchalantly, briefly), that the story is given in slightly different forms, and that the confirming sources were in place and with the story somewhat different in non-substantive matters (so it doesn't sound like story leaked by rote.) Therefore it was deliberately leaked.

3. We know Rove has had multiple visits by the FBI and to the grand jury. The implication is as loud as it gets.


4. The State Department memo, said to be at least one origin of the information concerning the Plame-Wilson-Niger connection and reputedly of high interest to the grand jury, was reported by Wlater Pincus yesterday to me clearly marked "S" for "Secret." Today's reports in fact indicate it was marked "TS," "Top Secret." Therefore the official who disseminated the identity from this source was highly aware that the CIA was actively trying to conceal Plame's identity. Therefore it was knowingly leaked.

Therefore, RNC's spin, the numbers of callers, the deliberate and repetitive acts, Rove's visits with FBI and grand jury, and the knowing intent behind the leak = Rove will go down in Plames. Likely he is guilty of leaking (with knowledge), leading a conspiracy to leak, and perjury.

There's no way out of this for Rove. The best he can hope for is the softest landing t5hat does the least damage for other officials and the Republican Party. (On a hot summer afternoon?)

[lies and propaganda]

22. How great is this line?

"complained Democrats arranged the hearing because the president's nomination of John Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court this week has distracted much of Washington from developments in a federal investigation White House leaks resulting in the public identification of CIA agent Valerie Plame."

They couldnt be any clearer with their agenda.

We are now Assholes for trying to pursue claims of fucking treason, how dare we?

[Catrina]

25. Yes, how dare we

not go along with Bush moving up the nomination from the end of August to now to try to help him in getting Memogate off the front pages!! They became so accustomed to being able to manipulate the news, they really are in shock that it isn't working anymore!!

[WhiteTara]

23. great pic of their 3 part harmony

Who can find the real story about Craig. I am sure he is just as dirty as the rest of those creatures.