Playing into Rove's hands.... again???

[RareLubbockDem]

I may offend some with this. If so, I'm sorry. But the more I see of this Rove thing, the more I think he's once again throwing his rubbing his hands together, throwing his head back, and laughing like a maniac.

Let's think about this for a minute.... If he had this innocence that they are now saying is slowly coming out, why wasn't this all taken care of months ago? My theory is that Rove knew he could get the dems whipped up in a frenzy, and it worked. As much as I'd like to see him go, I think the Dems up there calling for revocation of security clearance are eventually going to look foolish.

So Rove wins this game again. Let's face it, he's damn good at it. I feel pretty certain he was behind the national guard story. You have to admit it worked. Not only did it hurt Kerry, it completely destroyed Dan Rather and made even more people believe the myth of the "liberal media." Not a bad move.

Now, why would Rove do all this now? I know, the prosecutor has a lot of control on the timeline, but doesn't it seem odd that the whole firestorm erupts just as the DSM story was getting legs?

Does anybody agree with me on this?

[Beaver Tail]

1. This is a concern of mine as well

WHY is did he release Cooper from this obligation? What is this weeble up too?

[RareLubbockDem]

2. Maybe i'm not tin foil hatted

I hope I'm not, but this all just smells a little fishy to me.

[formernaderite]

4. Apparently he issued a blanket release over a year ago....

weird..

[chapel hill dem]

11. Rove signed a blanket release that covered everybody a year

or so ago, according to one of the many articles that have whizzed by me over the past few days. Cooper's lawyer called Rove's lawyer and asked if that release was still good and if it covered Cooper. Rove's lawyer said yes to both questions and then Cooper/Time released his files. At least that is what I remember. I could probably dig up a link after work today if someone needs it.

I am not too surprised by yesterday's news since I could not fathom Miller going to jail to protect Rove...

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. Why did he take so LONG to release Cooper?

Obstructing justice, maybe?

[enough already]

23. Cooper was apparently "released" over a year ago.

This whole thing smells like a setup.

[Norquist Nemesis]

25. Are you suggesting Cooper's in on it too or that he's a patsy?

What was the point of all of the drama the day before Cooper was to go to jail?

[fob]

28. The way I understand it is rove gave a blanket release as stated

but Cooper felt as if that was not enough. That it was so broad as to be near worthless, kinda like it was issued not as a good faith thing for the reporters but as a "see, karl released these people already and no one's said anything" CkrA thing.

So with that in mind Cooper fought the release of his info until recently when he prepared himself to go to jail. Going so far as to "kiss his son goodbye" as reported in the papers. Well then rove's attorney Luskin starts flapping his gums confident that both Cooper and Miller are gonna go to jail until the GJ ends in October and deny Fitzgerald the corroboration he needs to pin rove down. So luskin says to the press, "I don't know what Cooper is hiding, but it's got nothing to do with rove" or something very close to that. Cooper's lawyer sees this and says, "Ill be damned that fucker just gave us SPECIFIC clearance!" and calls Cooper to say they should call luskin and ask him if his very PUBLIC statement stands. They do. And luskin has no choice but to say yes. And just like that luskin snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

Cooper makes the also very PUBLIC statement that he just received a specific clearance from his source (the phone call, NOT a letter as suspected and reported) and will now testify.

Luskin shits pants.

rove shits pants.

RNC shits pants.

Luskin kicks into smear, CYA mode.

rove shifts into smear, CYA mode.

RNC shits pants, shifts into smear, lie, CkrA mode, turns up "Shrill" volume to 11.

[bribri16]

37. Release? Why worry. Rove knows they are above the law.

It has to be up to the intelligence community to fight this and give Rove his justice.

[fob]

38. Exactly. I suppose it would have been more appropriate to have

written "release" in quotes as it was intended to be a marketing device and not an actual release.

[LibertyorDeath]

40. No...They only think they are above the Law.

Whether Probing a Leak or Trying Terrorists, Patrick Fitzgerald Is Relentless


By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 2, 2005; Page C01

CHICAGO

If Osama bin Laden ever stands trial, there's a prosecutor in Chicago waiting to face him down. As a driven young lawyer in the 1990s, Patrick J. Fitzgerald built the first criminal indictment against the man who would become the world's most hunted terrorist. Both men have moved on, you might say, but Fitzgerald still imagines that fantasy date before a judge.

"If you're a prosecutor, you'd be insane if you didn't want to go do that," Fitzgerald says in the well-appointed conference room of the U.S. attorney's office here. "If there was a courtroom and they said someone has to stand up and try him, would I hesitate to volunteer? No. I'm not saying I'd be the best person to try him at that point, but I'd be lying if I told you I wouldn't be interested."
If you're not zealous, you shouldn't have the job," says U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, whose subpoenas of reporters have prompted complaints.

A solidly built former rugby player who enjoyed getting muddy and bloody well into his twenties, Fitzgerald is nothing but confident in his own skin. Just as he does not fear bin Laden, he seems to fret little that he is now tangling simultaneously with the Bush White House and the New York Times, two of the nation's most powerful and privileged institutions.

He sees his task as getting to the bottom of things in ways as creative as the law allows. The law doesn't say you can't question a sitting president about his contacts or an investigative reporter about confidential sources. So Fitzgerald has done both, including quizzing Bush for more than an hour in the White House last June. His assiduous demands for answers from journalists alarms critics who believe he has created the greatest confrontation between the government and the press in a generation.

More
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A55560-2005Feb...

This is the part I love !!!!!

Fitzgerald's subpoenas to the four reporters in the CIA leak probe did not have to be approved by the Justice Department because, in that matter, he is acting in his capacity as a special counsel.


Deputy Attorney General James Comey appointed Fitzgerald to take over the investigation last December to avoid any appearance of or actual conflict of interest in having the administration investigate itself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9890-200...

[formernaderite]

3. No flames....I thought this as soon as Rove clammed up...

and let the dems start screaming without defending himself. He's a dangerous character, and knows which buttons to push on the dems.

[emulatorloo]

10. not defending himself? Rove is orchestrating the whole GOP/Mehlman

Talking Point thing.

[NYCGirl]

5. So you think that having a 2 year Grand Jury investigation has all been

a ploy to get the Democrats?

[RareLubbockDem]

7. no, and i know that's what it seems I'm saying

But what I mean is that I think he'll get away with no punishment whatsoever, and this could have probably been all taken care of some time ago. But instead it's being used to divert and confuse.

[NYCGirl]

9. Well, I'm neither diverted nor confused, and I expect many Democrats —

both rank-and-file and elected ones — aren't either. This Rove stuff is part of a larger matter; lying to get into a pre-emptive war is the real case.

[Walt Starr]

16. Then what you are sugggesting is that Fitzgerald is a complete moron

:eyes:

[lancdem]

22. Investigations take time

Remember, we've been waiting for months to get the Cooper and Miller situation resolved because they kept appealing.

[Catrina]

29. Maybe he will

Unless he lied to the Grand Jury. But I think the prosecutor is just using Rove. I don't think he's the target at all.

As far as him giving permission a year ago for reporters to talk about his conversations with them about Valerie Plame? He didn't. If you read what he said carefully, he gave them permission to talk about his conversations with them about Joe Wilson!!

Here's the statement from the RNC talking points, and it doesn't mention Valerie Plame:

Karl Rove has fully complied with this investigation for more than a year and has permitted any reporter he spoke with about Joe Wilson to discuss the conversations.

That's probably what Time and Cooper meant when they said it was too broad and they needed it to be more specific.

This started with a leaked CIA memo which dealt with Valerie Plame's small role in her husband being suggested for the trip to Niger. Remember Jeff Gannon mentioning the memo to Joe Wilson in an interview and being called in by the prosecutor? He said he told the prosecutor that he had not actually seen it (although that was the impression he gave) but had read about it a Washington Post article.

Who leaked the CIA memo is really the question? And then who passed the info, first to the rightwing press, then to the media?

Cheney was visiting the CIA regularly before the war. I think Cheney and Scooter Libby are the real targets of the investigation. Rove didn't have the info unless they gave it to him to use, through the circuitous route of the press.

So, I can imagine that Rove thinks we are all on the wrong track ~ because he knows he's not the target (which he already said, btw). But that, imo, makes it even worse, because the real target has to be someone higher up, who would have had security clearance. I don't know who is on that list, but Tenet would be one of them, I think.

[zanne]

8. So what's the alternative?

When a scandal comes along, are we supposed to just keep quiet about it because it might be a trick?

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Walt Starr]

12. What you suggest is a steaming pile of bullshit if you ask me.

If anything, that's what Rove HOPES we'll believe after this leak.

He's in deep shit, and he knows it.

[okieinpain]

33. i don't know, I find the story interesting. but here at DU all of the rock

are looked under. outside of here, we're never sure how things are going to play. you have to admit, rove is getting some wiggle room, with the word play that is going on.

[Atman]

13. I offered this two days ago

and got not responses (actually, maybe two). I believe Rove served himself up as a martyr, and this has been part of a longer-range plan. As you say, if he was "innocent," this could have all been taken care of long ago. Quietly.

However, if he knows he's covered his tracks well, which I am sure he does, then by offering himself up as a martyr, we lose the DSM from the front page, we lose the crumbling Iraq from the front page, we lose oil prices, all sorts of serious troubles for BushCo go away. At least, off the front page, which is all the "away" BushCo needs. In the meantime, Congressmen are being pressured for Social Security deform support, they're being reminded of their loyalty oaths, they're being cajoled and strongarmed to stay on message, lest they incur the wrath of the BushCo.

Rove has no friends. His entire personna is built upon the FACT that he is a manipulative liar. How many people do you think feel comfortable getting close to this man? Very few, I'd guess. What we have here is the picked-on high schooler who could never get a date. "I don't need no friends! Fuck 'em all! All I need is this lamp. And this chair!" His anger is internal. He has wealth, fame (or is that infamy?), power, but nothing else. Somewhere along the way he made a Faustian bargain, and now he just doesn't care. He'll take one for the team. He always has.

And he'll make sure anyone who crosses him on it gets the message loud and clear..."don't fuck with me, because will always win."

[Zen Democrat]

32. When has Rove ever "taken one for the team"? If so, I sure missed it.

If there someone here willing to take one for the team, seems it would be someone in the "Ari Fleischer" category.

[The Night Owl]

14. Rove is not 10 feet tall. He is merely ruthless and unscrupulous.

Rove will fall just like those CEOs who thought they were smart enough to get away with anything.

[Call me Deacon Blues]

15. Occam's Razor, people!

In its simplest form, Occam's Razor states that one should make no more assumptions than needed. Put into everyday language, it says The simplest explanation is the best. When multiple explanations are available for a phenomenon, the simplest version is preferred. For example, a charred tree on the ground could be caused by a landing alien ship or a lightning strike. According to Occam's Razor, the lightning strike is the preferred explanation as it requires the fewest assumptions.

Is Karl Rove some kind of Machiavellian genius? In this bunch of screw-ups? Nope. He got too big for his britches. He continued the same crap he's done for years, but this time he crossed a line -- a LEGAL line. The Fat Bastard is toast -- depend on it. I just hope they have to drag him out kicking and screaming, because he'll tar the rest of the scum still in the White House.

[flpoljunkie]

18. Great analysis, Diogenes17! "Rove got too big for his britches."

[Uncle Joe]

30. I agree

if the man cannot remember the name of the journalist that told him that the wife of one the main critics of his own boss worked for the CIA, he has to be one stupid shit aka (Bush's Brain) . Or in best case scenario a semi-smart man that made a mega stupid decision to commit treason and is now trying to cover his tracks.

[hippiegranny]

31. this is what I think too

The White House Scum Factory has gotten away with so much they think they're invincible. This is what happens to people like that, they eventually go too far.

[okieinpain]

34. quite possible.

[charlyvi]

42. Agreed. He tried to fit a "don't mess with Texas"

attitude into the britches of the world stage, and it came up wanting. What goes in the provincial politics of Texas (or any individual state, for that matter) isn't going to succeeed on the world stage--it just looks cheap, tawdry and selfish. Rove thinks way too small--reducing everything to politics. Many administrations before this one have said that once you reach the presidency, the importance of the office transcends politics; Rove never saw this. And the bush administration will pay for it.

[flpoljunkie]

17. Rove did not control the timing of this story. Supreme Court did--when

they refused to take up the case. This investigation had been delayed over 8 months by the refusal of Judy Miller and Matt Coooper to testify. You give Rove credit not due.

Fitzgerald is trying to wrap up his investigation of the outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative--in her case, a NOC--non-official cover. The CIA asked the Justice Department to investigate this outing, and in December, 2003, Ashcroft turned the investigation over to the special prosecutor, Fitzgerald--who Joe Wilson trusts will do a good job, by the way.

[Peace Patriot]

19. I do think there may be a second, far worse story behind the

apparent story, that Rove may have agreed to take the fall, if necessary--that's how bad it is--and that it all points to Cheney and weapons profiteering, and illicit Bush Cartel weapons movements around the globe, and perhaps to a plot to plant WMDs in Iraq (for political gain--after the invasion; and in other places, like Syria, now).

See "Plame...the tip of the iceberg..." (Plame maybe investigating Cheney arms deals when they busted her CIA weapons op)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2178477#2180220

What is the thing that both Bush and Blair most needed in summer '03? A find of WMDs in Iraq. Were these guys capable of conceiving and implementing a plan to plant them there? I think the answer is, of course they were! (I kept wondering that summer why they hadn't!) And who would be in a prime position to detect such a plot?--Valerie Plame and her 20 year CIA covert eyes and ears WMD network.

I think it's possible that Rovian revenge against Wilson is a cover story, and that disabling Plame and her WMD network was the primary goal.

I am also struck by the coincidence of dates between two apparently unrelated events: the outing of Valerie Plame by Novak on July 14, 2003, and the death of Brit WMD expert, Dr. David Kelly, three days later on July 17, 2003, under highly suspicious circumstances. (Kelly was whistleblowing on the Blair gov't WMD exaggerations.) Strangely, the common figure in these two events is Judith Miller.

See "More about Judith Miller" (Miller/Plame/David Kelly)
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/7/3/17138/30618

As for Rove, I don't know if he can be indicted (apparently Judith Miller is protecting him), but I would say this, about the news monopolies: wherever they are pointing, look the other way, or behind them, or to the side. (In this case, look for the master misdirectionist, Cheney.) The news monopolies have been SO BAD on this war and on the Bush Cartel that they CANNOT BE TRUSTED, even now, as some of them suddenly seem to be doing the job for which we have given them the use of our public airwaves.

You are RIGHT to distrust this story, and to look for misdirection! But I think that what's being hidden from view is far, far worse than a plot of embarrass Democrats.

------

Re: Kerry. I don't think the National Guard story hurt Kerry. I think it infused passion and determination into anti-Bush voters, some of whom stood for ten hours in line to vote, and tens of thousands of whom went out of their way to get all their non-voting family members, co-workers and friends to register and vote THIS TIME. (The Dems blew the Repubs away in new voter registration in 2004, nearly 60/40.) And I think the failure of that story to hurt Kerry was what prompted Rove to implement his backup plan (Plan B) for stealing the election (overt vote suppression in Ohio). Plan A was Bushite companies owning and controlling the secret, proprietary vote tabulation software, and controlling and preprogamming the paperless electronic voting machines (one third of the country). Plan C was a phony "terrorist alert" to shut down the vote on the west coast (well prepped prior to the election with many phony "terrorist alerts" planted in the news; and with Cheney taking off for Hawaii two days before the election possibly being an element of Plan C). Plans A and B were sufficient to overcome Kerry's 10% margin of victory, and Plan C wasn't needed (except in Warren County, Ohio, where a phony "terrorist alert" was used to evict all observers from the vote count).

But I suppose it's possible that the National Guard B.S. (and a couple of other things, like Kerry's support for the Iraq war) could have cost Kerry some of the 15% to 20% margin of victory that he needed to overcome election fraud Plans A and B. (My husband believes this, that Kerry needed a 20% margin of victory to win, and could have gotten it if he'd been more antiwar and more populist; but I think if he'd won that big, they would have gone to Plan C.) (No way they were going to give up the White House--they are much, much too dirty, the lot of them.)

----------

The answer to the stink in Washington DC is restoring our right to vote, by throwing Bushite electronic voting machine companies--Diebold, ES&S and brethren--out of the election business NOW--or, at the least, achieving some measure of election transparency with paper ballot backups, no secret programming code and strict auditing. The only place where we can get that done is in state/local jurisdictions, where the authority over election systems still resides, and where ordinary people still have some say. See the DU Forum "2004 Election Results and Discussion" for information and action ideas:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203

[Zen Democrat]

20. This erupted when the Supremes refused to hear the Miller/Cooper case

This mandated that they had to testify or go to jail. That's when the dam broke.

[lancdem]

21. It doesn't seem odd

It came out now because that's when Time decided to turn over its notes to the prosecutor. This is not a PR campaign; there's a very able prosecutor invesitgating this, and all indications are there will be indictments.

[Pryderi]

24. Maybe Rove is protecting Cheney?

:shrug: :shrug:

[leftynyc]

41. That's who Judith Miller is protecting

Cheney or Libby.

[DrFunkenstein]

26. Bringing Up Political Revenge For Questioning WMD Truth?

I'd say that the Bush administration would prefer to choke the whole thing down the memory hole ASAF'NP.

[Renew Deal]

27. It came up now because the Supreme Court said the reporters can be jailed

Did you forget that? As soon as that decision came, this whole case blew up.

[rocktivity]

36. DSM dovetails into Rovegate perfectly

because it's another example of how the Bush White House fixes facts to fit their policies. He's followed up his insistence that he's the victim and that Wilson not being credible with the assertion that the media leaked Plame to HIM (if that's what happened, why didn't he say so two years ago?) I'm sure he's trying to mastermind the whole thing, but he doesn't seem to realize that this isn't another of his undercover operations--he's in the center of it, and he's cracking under the scrutiny.

:headbang:
rocknation

[leesa]

39. But if Rove didn't out her, someone else did...Cheney?...Bush?

I'd love it to be Rove but I'll settle for one of the other criminals.

[DoYouEverWonder]

43. The meme for this week is

that Rove will get away with this. That no crime has been committed, bla, bla, bla.

Hey, guess what? A Pulitzer prize winning 'journalist' is sitting in jail right now. You don't get a bench of judges to agree with something like this unless you've got a rock solid case. Now please turn off FAUX and quit promoting their bs.