Why I believe they KNOW they're going down

[Stinky The Clown]

All this Rove shit is pure, unmitigated distraction.

Rove may or may not be guilty of anything. But that's a side show.

They KNOW they're in deep shit. They're pulling more of their usual disinformation, obfuscation and distraction by talking about Rove. We all know goddam well and good that if it were only about Rove, they wouldn't be saying jack fucking shit about it.

Nope, this is all a distraction.

The issue before the grand jury is bigger than Rove.

But, as usual, the 'media' .... and yes .... the Dems are all looking at the wrong thing.

Only the Repubs are on script.

[emulatorloo]

1. Frank Rich Editorial NYT 7-17: "Follow The Uranium"

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/opinion/17rich.html?ei=5070&en=65a8cd4de94296df&ex=1122264000&pagewanted=print

<snip>

WELL, of course, Karl Rove did it. He may not have violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, with its high threshold of criminality for outing a covert agent, but there's no doubt he trashed Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame. We know this not only because of Matt Cooper's e-mail, but also because of Mr. Rove's own history. Trashing is in his nature, and bad things happen, usually through under-the-radar whispers, to decent people (and their wives) who get in his way. In the 2000 South Carolina primary, John McCain's wife, Cindy, was rumored to be a drug addict (and Senator McCain was rumored to be mentally unstable). In the 1994 Texas governor's race, Ann Richards found herself rumored to be a lesbian. The implication that Mr. Wilson was a John Kerry-ish girlie man beholden to his wife for his meal ticket is of a thematic piece with previous mud splattered on Rove political adversaries. The difference is that this time Mr. Rove got caught.

Even so, we shouldn't get hung up on him - or on most of the other supposed leading figures in this scandal thus far. Not Matt Cooper or Judy Miller or the Wilsons or the bad guy everyone loves to hate, the former CNN star Robert Novak. This scandal is not about them in the end, any more than Watergate was about Dwight Chapin and Donald Segretti or Woodward and Bernstein. It is about the president of the United States. It is about a plot that was hatched at the top of the administration and in which everyone else, Mr. Rove included, are at most secondary players.

<snip>

This case is about Iraq, not Niger. The real victims are the American people, not the Wilsons. The real culprit - the big enchilada, to borrow a 1973 John Ehrlichman phrase from the Nixon tapes - is not Mr. Rove but the gang that sent American sons and daughters to war on trumped-up grounds and in so doing diverted finite resources, human and otherwise, from fighting the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. That's why the stakes are so high: this scandal is about the unmasking of an ill-conceived war, not the unmasking of a C.I.A. operative who posed for Vanity Fair.

<snip>

[shance]

4. The real victims ARE indeed the Wilsons, the Iraqis, and the Americans.

the Afghanis, the Sudanese, the Haitians, need I go on?

It's difficult for me to read Rich articles because he consistently is very black and white with his absolutisms.

He would be more effective and convincing if he was more thoughtful, and cogniscent of all those who have suffered, not just good ole Americans.

In many ways we have suffered the least, minus those who have been sent to Iraq and their loved ones.

[GoneOffShore]

25. Have to disagree with you

Because Rich doesn't go 'off message' and try to go all big tent, and because he does go in for black and white, he is more effective.
In order to convince Americans about the perfidy of this misAdministration, he has to focus on the harm that Americans have suffered. Otherwise there are people out there who will read what he is saying and discount it.
Let's be very clear here: The Bushies are criminal, they caused Americans to be put in harms way, they caused American deaths. Most Americans, unfortunately, really don't care about the Afghanis, the Sudanese or the Haitians. They care about their own.

[Dan]

16. This is it!

This should be required reading..... and this is the prize!

[tridim]

2. I hate to defend Tweety's show

but the entire panel agreed (and pushed the fact) that the real story isn't Rove, but the BS reasons for the Iraq war.

[bklyncowgirl]

3. Yeah that was surprising.

The panel was pretty good--none of the usual Bush apologists dominating the show.

[JHBowden]

5. I have a hunch Cheney is involved.

Given Bush is in his second term, you'd think they would have found a way to have his smear-master advisor quietly retire. Why keep the useless POS unless there are more important individuals to protect?

[dajoki]

9. of course he's involved

his senior aide libby is one of the sources. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2005-07-17T144407Z_01_N17556266_RTRIDST_0_POLITICS-BUSH-LEAK-DC.XML

[Al-CIAda]

6. Who forged the uranium documents and how it relates to the DSM's.

[KoKo]

7. John Podesta did a nice job this morning by linking it to the Iraq

Invasion point out that Wilson was "mostly right in his findings" and that's what the issue is about.

[rumpel]

21. Totaly agree.

[peacetalksforall]

26. John Podesta was great! Thank you Dems for a good one, He doesn't

miss a beat. Very original in his approach.

[zalinda]

8. Of course they know, why do you think charges

against Saddam have just been revealed.

zalinda

[sundancekid]

10. classic bushevik misdirection - follow the pinocchio Iraq War trail

where the yellowcake road is a mere 3rd rate burglary ... it will go up to the chimpster himself because this will become the classic case of when "an irresistable force (neocon worldview) meets an immovable object (chimp's firm decision to vanquish iraq to stab/conquer his daddy) ...
both freud and macchiavelli would be proud

[katusha]

11. anecdotal proof or just coincidence?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-10-15-rove_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, testified Friday before a federal grand jury trying to determine if an administration official leaked the name of an undercover CIA officer.
-------------------

rove testifies in front of fitz's grand jury then three days later this happens:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=176743

McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. Oct 18, 2004 — Karl Rove laid himself on the line Monday for his boss, the president of the United States.

That is, he laid himself under the wheels of Air Force One. Reason: Unclear, but it seems to have been an inside joke between Rove and President Bush.

Returning to the aircraft after Bush's foreign policy speech, the two men traded words. As Bush climbed the stairs, his top political adviser set his briefcase down in front of the tires and stretched out on the ground with his back to the wheels.
-------------------

are these two events related? is rove symbolically 'taking one for the team'?

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I'd say both

Will/is Rove take/taking one for the team? Maybe so. And if he does, he'll be well rewarded.

This is much bigger than Rove.

[bunny planet]

15. Yes, I remember him doing this, and at the time no one could really figure

out what it was all about. There could be a connection. I don't suppose we'll ever know that for certain however. Too bad.

[Zen Democrat]

13. The Dems don't have to do anything here but sit back and watch.

Your killing me with this "only the Repubs are on script" thing. The Republicans are marching lock-step off the cliff here. In unison, on message, off the cliff. Just watch.

[Zen Democrat]

14. First, I disagree with your premise.

Who framed this current frenzy about Rove? No one. It happened because of Cooper and Miller, and especially when Cooper said he had been released by his source and the Rove name surfaced all over town.

I don't think this is orchestrated. I think things are happening beyond the control of Karl Rove or the Democrats or the media.

I remember hearing the same stuff during Watergate. Nixon wasn't involved. The Republicans had set this elaborate trap to finish off the Democrats. Woodward was Republican and was really working for the White House. There are conspiracies, and there is paranoia. Don't confuse the two.

[Stinky The Clown]

17. If you disagree with me, then I said it inartfully .......

'cuz what you said is what I'm thinking.

[Zen Democrat]

18. If they didn't know it before, they know it today after Cooper talked.

Because Cooper saying that Rove told him the story would be declassified soon certainly indicates that Rove had guilty knowledge he was giving out classified information.

I'm getting very optimistic about this.

[Totally Committed]

19. DSM, Lies that Led to War, Dead Americans/Dead Iraqis for Oil =

T H E

I M P E A C H M E N T

O F

G E O R G E

W .

B U S H

This is what they are trying to distract from. Rove may be taking a dive to save this adminstration. And, this administration may be letting him.

Am I on the right track?

TC

[laugle]

20. Does anyone know where Cheney fit in to all

of this? I'm sure Cheney and Bush knew all about this. Even if they didn't know at the time, surely, they had 2 years to cover it up.

[rumpel]

22. Here is another interesting analysis by John Dean why Bush retained a

criminal lawyer:

June 2004

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20031010.html

On this subject, I spoke with an experienced former federal prosecutor who works in Washington, specializing in white collar criminal defense (but who does not know Sharp). That attorney told me that he is baffled by Bush's move - unless Bush has knowledge of the leak. "It would not seem that the President needs to consult personal counsel, thereby preserving the attorney-client privilege, if he has no knowledge about the leak," he told me.

What advice might Bush get from a private defense counsel? The lawyer I consulted opined that, "If he does have knowledge about the leak and does not plan to disclose it, the only good legaladvice would be to take the Fifth, rather than lie. The political fallout is a separate issue."

snip

Suffice it to say that whatever the meaning of Bush's decision to talk with private counsel about the Valerie Plame leak, the matter has taken a more ominous turn with Bush's action. It has only become more portentous because now Dick Cheney has also hired a lawyer for himself, suggesting both men may have known more than they let on. Clearly, the investigation is heading toward a culmination of some sort. And it should be interesting.

more interesting facts

[sellitman]

23. Make this a separate post on it's own!

Very interesting!

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Would that be delicious or what?

George Bush to Congress or the Court: "I respectfully decline to answer the question based on the advice of counsel and based on my constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination."


Dick Cheney to Congress or the Court: "Go fuck yourself."