Rove, indictments, and security clearances
By Steve Benen Monday Jul 02, 2007 7:01amJust how close did Karl Rove come to being indicted by Patrick Fitzgerald? Surprisingly close.
The AP reported that several interesting documents related to the Plame leak investigation were unsealed late on Friday, and among the revelations are insights on Fitzgerald targeting Rove. As one judge wrote, “Regarding [Time reporter Matthew] Cooper, the special counsel has demonstrated that his testimony is essential to charging decisions regarding White House adviser Karl Rove.” (Jeralyn Merritt notes that the unredacted materials highlight just how close Rove was to a criminal charge.)
And yet, while we were learning about Rove just barely skating by on an indictment, we were also learning that Rove’s security clearance at the White House has been renewed.
Remember when Bush vowed to fire anyone in his White House involved with leaking classified information? In Rove’s case, the president not only broke his word and kept Rove in his powerful role, but the White House didn’t even revoke Rove’s security clearance.
Raise your hand if you’re surprised.
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It's Micheal Moore's fault
That Government of the 1%, by the 1%, and for the 1%, are very well represented indeed!
I have lost my ability to be surprised. A surprise is something you never thought was about to happen. In the world we live in now, nothing seems impossible, especially if it's illegal and criminal. When you ignore the law, all things are possible.
Saying this administration lies is like saying shit stinks.....everyone already knows it.
Close, but no cigar and no BJ . . .
The only time I'm surprised anymore, is when I find myself feeling surprised about something.
If I hear one more time today, "but Clinton" I'm going to scream really loud. Yeah, President Clinton pardoned some people, but he didn't pardon or commute the sentence of THIS PERSON. It's not about then, it's about now and Scooter Libby. As for Rove, sure as hell he's ass deep in this too, but if anyone thinks bush or cheney is going to do anything about it, they just haven't been paying attention to anything that has been happening for the past six and a half years.
Karl has to have a stained suit in closet. We need dna testing...A BJ is the only impeachable offense..
so rove came awfully close to being pardoned/having sentence commuted as well? wow.
Patricia....
When they throw that at you....show them the score card...
http://www.time.com/time/2007/presidential_pardons/
I do not think it is a question of surprise. Ever since Rove's famous quote concerning the "reality based community" it should come as no surprise to anyone that rules, truth, legal norms simply have no place in the NeoCon administrative universe. They will do whatever they want to do and present falsehoods to the public if necessary. This is a given. I have looked at the arguments for debunking conspiracy theories long and hard and I honestly find them ineffective and unpersuasive.
Two questions that are important to me.
1. How far will they go and are there any limits? I wonder about this everyday and I have concluded that there are none. The historical record is long. U.S. Administration's have long conducted false flag terrorism at home and abroad, and knowingly sacrificed citizens for policy aims, civil and military.
2. What can the opposition do to curb these abuses? Almost nothing. A new President, Senate or Congress will change very little. Justice is not found in laws but in the hearts of people willing to uphold laws. Our elites are not taught to have any values or concerns beyond themselves. Any politician that attempts to change course and has the power to do so gets shot.
Hey look Bush commutes sentence of Known felon to cover up Cheney and His own involvement in a crime. The MSM? Strangely absent. The fix is in folks.
Thanks, right wing hater, that's a great site. But see, it's all full of facts and we both know that facts are the last thing the right will acknowledge.
Surprised? By these bastards? There's no bottom to the depths they'll go to.
The time is right for Impeachment. Let the proceedings begin. Cheney, Bush and Gonzalas, all three simutaneously. Don’t forget, Libby can be subpeonaed to testify before Congress. If he lies before Congress he can still be charged again. It won’t be a get out of jail free if Bush and Cheney are under impeachment.
I have rewritten an updated version of our Declaration of Independence for 2007. Ihope you all will take a few minutes to read it and pass it on to friends and relatives. We have to Declare our Independence again.
http://myfightfordemocracy.blo…..-2007.html
Raise your finger if not.
Joe and Valerie Wilson's civil suit may be the only way forward on this. Pelosi and Reid seem disinclined to lead.
I am absolutely amazed when any thinking American would believe this Administration of Death would do the right thing when it comes to things like revoking Karl Rove's security clearance. Better take this to the street because these guys will understand nothing but mass protests day after day after day.
[Pick one name and stick with it, Marc, David, UKBob, Greg, DavidR-whatever. You have many to choose from-Sitemonitor]
In the NYT this morning, on the front page, above the fold, in a box, is what W said on 9/30/2003 about security leaks.
Now we know what he meant by taking care.
Yah, but now we know, everything W says is a lie. He hasn't followed through on one thing he has promised the American people. he just lies through his teeth and anyone who is still listening to him is a dolt.
pissed off patricia: lost the ability to be surprised: yes, and that is exactly why Pelosi's plan won't work. She thinks if the Dems just keep revealing the administration's corruption and crimes, they'll be destroyed by '08. The trouble is, people are so used to seeing a scandal come out everyday, we've nearly become immune to it. I imagine conservatives don't even pay attention because nothing ever happens to these crooks anyway, which suggests to conservatives that they really didn't do anything wrong. It's just the "liberal media."
No, I didn't already say it. There's something wrong with your system.
bush's CIA: Corruption - Incompetence - Arrogance
It's all Clinton's fault.
Back in my bad old military days, I had some pretty up-there clearances. It was continually impressed upon me the terrible responsibility of possessing one. In some instances, if I were to meet someone in a foreign country who I knew, but who didn't know who I worked for, I had to make as if I didn't know them; this was for their safety as much as for mine. It was a damned stressful and lonely life, but you bore it it because that clearance was a sign of enormous trust in you as a person.
What Rove evidently did amounts to taking that piece of paper we all had to sign, wiping himself with it, and then rubbing the mess in the face of every person who ever signed one. All those swine need to see the inside of Leavenworth, where my superiors promised to send all traitors to that agreement.
Im surprised we havent killed ourselves by hiring people we barely know to manage the country. They are so carefully packaged that its just dangerous. One day we really will get a closet-lunatic.
This is the way Top Secret clearances are made. You are investigated by all Federal agencies that are affected by the clearance you are seeking. But it does not matter what what they find in the checks, if the President wants you to have a clearance you get your clearance.
Thirty years ago, Cooper would have given truthful testimony that would have locked Rove up. But today, we have a corporately-owned, GOP-infiltrated media (remember when Dubya's cousin over at Fox declared Dubya the winner in Florida in 2000?)
Cooper knows where it's at. If he had given Fitzgerald the damning truth, he (Cooper) would be kicked out of his plummy DC slot and out of "journalism" for good. The man who gets "double super secret background" phone calls from the top advisor to the president of the United States and who attends the Christmas and cocktail parties of the powerful Washington elite would writing a blog about "How I spent my summer vacation - which has lasted ever since my testimony to Fitzgerald and will probably go on forever."
Some of boosh's blond appointees look like they got security clearances almost before their complexions cleared.
In the news we have a classic example of the stark contrast of favoritism bestowed upon those connected to the higher realms of power. Note how Libby, the warmonger and best friend of war profiteers, has been treated. Now read this and weep:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/014980.php
Lady Justice carries a sword. To the best of my knowledge, it's a double-edged sword, and I hope one day she'll use it against this rotten-to-the-core bush administration and all its blind followers.
So Rove's getting off depended on Cooper's testimony? That's interesting because yesterday the HuffPo carried a post by Cooper which on first impression seemed to be not in favor of Libby and his commutation. But the more carefully the commentators on the thread looked at the post, the more critical they became of Cooper and his post. There was kind of an undercurrent of sympathy in it.
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
o/
If ever there was a time for impeachment it is now. The failure of this country to hold it's chief executive responsible will be the downfall of our once great republic. Does anyone remember what Nixon did? Nixon was a saint compared to GWB. Media, media, why hast thou forsaken us? Even the republicans should care, do they want a democratic president to step right into vast unchecked power Bush has endowed the presidency? What if Hillary stepped in and said, you know what? This eavesdropping thing without a warrant is pretty cool, lets bug the RNC headquarters and intercept all their communication? I mean after all the RNC would most likely be trying to undermine President H. Clinton any ways, and thats treason isn't it? I could come up with a reasonsto treat the far right as terrorists, OK City bombing anyone? They need to sit back and imagine Hillary as Bush and then see how they feel. Oh wait, that requires thought and objectivity, along with education and intelligence, so that would only apply to the elite of the Republican base and they know full well what they are doing. Trying to take over the World, but hey, who doesn't want to rule the world?
I am a die hard republican and ultra-conservative. Michael Savage and Ann Coulter are too liberal for me. I also hold a Top Secret clearance. And know what? I think this mess with Rove and Libby is so wrong. I do not care how many pardons Clinton did, two wrongs do not make a right. AND THIS IS WRONG. I can't say it enough. If folks like me who are the President's core of the core support think this way, who is left?
the whitehouse is full of fucking fascist criminals.
impeach impeach impeach
thank you for the frankness
33Robert Says:
i am a die hard democrat, but i have to say, the dems in congress now
are so whimmpy and bought by the corporate lobbyist, that i am
inclinded to not vote in 2008. elected representatives who do not vote
their constitutents majority are worthless and do not deserve to remain
in office.
Well, as with NIEs that cast a negative light on the administration's "war," all this administration has to do is disagree with the suggestion that Rove was involved in the leak and thus all is well. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Just to pick a nit, didn't Pres Bush de-classify Plame's status before the release? Hence, no one "really" leaked classified information. This, I imagine, is the justification for Rove's continued clearance.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/08/AR200604...
(It doesn't explicitly say that Plame's status was declassified, it says that parts of the NIE were declassified and the leak followed, which kind implies that the leak was "legal")
From a Canadian perspective, the debate now ongoing in the United States over this and all issues related to political manipulation and deception, as well as foreign military involvement is both refreshing and heartening. On a smaller scale we are experiencing similar challenges.
one question though...and perhaps this is just my own ignorance of the U.S. political system...I would like someone to give me a clear answer to the following question. How would the revelation of Valerie Plame's CIA employment, discredit her husband?
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