Flogging a Dead Frog

There will be broken bleeding hearts all over the Huffington Post, when the realization comes that no matter how much they flog Karl Rove, there will be no Rove frog-marching. It is not a crime to say that someone works at CIA, even if it is true. And, just how "covert" or "under-cover" an agent could Ms. Plame have been, if everybody in Washington knew she worked for the CIA? Not very. Think about it. According to Michael Isikoff in Newsweek, there is nothing in the Cooper e-mail suggesting that Rove used Plame's name or knew she was a covert operative.

Think about the time-line of supposed "outing" of Jane Bond, as the CIA spy is affectionately known by her husband. The first time that Valerie Plame's name appeared connected to the CIA (nothing about covert or undercover) was on July 14th, 2003, in a syndicated column by Robert Novak. But actually that column had to have been written before July 11th, 2003 because that is the date it was distributed over the AP wire. Karl Rove spoke to Matthew Cooper on the morning of July 11th. Sounds like Karl Rove may have discovered the CIA connection from Robert Novak, if he had access to pre-publication e-mails.

CK Rairden is reporting on this story at The National Ledger, July 10, 2005, Karl Rove and the Valerie Plame Leak

"Novak was chasing the story as early as July 7 according to the transcript of 'CNN WOLF BLITZER REPORTS'

"ROBERT NOVAK, CO-HOST, 'CROSSFIRE: Former Ambassador Wilson broke the secrecy that a retired diplomat, unknown, had gone to Niger in the year 2002 to investigate whether the Iraqis tried to buy yellow cake, uranium from Niger.

"BLITZER: You mean when he wrote that op-ed page article in 'The New York Times'?

"NOVAK: 'New York Times.' That was on a Sunday morning. On Monday, [July 7] I began to report on something that I thought was very curious. Why was it that Ambassador Wilson, who had no particular experience in weapons of mass destruction, and was a sharp critic of the Iraqi policy of President Bush and, also, had been a high-ranking official in the Clinton White House, who had contributed politically to Democrats -- some Republicans, but mostly Democrats -- why was he being selected? I asked this question to a senior Bush administration official, and he said that he believed that the assignment was suggested by an employee at the CIA in the Counterproliferation Office who happened to be ambassador Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame. I then called another senior official of the Bush administration, and he said, Oh, you know about that? And he confirmed that that was an accurate story."

None of these revelations disturb the mad tin foil hatters at KOS. Quoting authorities such as John Dean, Lawrence O'Donnell and two circuit court judges, they are writing that the Rove/Plame kerfuffle is much more serious than a "he said/he said." Their headline is "Fitzgerald preparing indictments under the Espionage Act?" Oh Glory! Won't that be fun!

Linked to 'Another Sunday, Another Rove/Plame Story From Newsweek' from Wizbang, Let the Spin Begin at In Search of Utopia, American Princess, basil's blog Brunch: 7/10/2005, and Outside the Beltway.