I’m as sick of this as I am of the canard that if you don’t support the recent invasion of Iraq you must be a liberal.
I am a Republican. Just because I’m a Republican, does not mean that I march in lock step w/ the current Admin. Despite the bumperstickers, there really isn’t a lobotomy as part of the initiation into the party. My posting record speaks for itself.
Here’s a lovely little intro to neo-conservatism vs conservatism by the Godfather of Neo-Conservatism, Irving Kristol.
So this story comes out on, what, July 15th? The crime is revealed, in public, by a columnist with a national audience. The President does squat. Nada. El zippo.
Months go by. Due primarily to relentless blogging, the story finally hits the front pages. And the President is energized. Taking the whole thing very, very seriously. He said so, right there on the the TV. Very, very seriously. Gonna get to the bottom of this, yessiree!
I’d contend primarily due to DCI Tenet’s recent direct involvement. No offense to the bloggers, but he carries a lot more weight with the Admin, the public, national newspapers and the DoJ. W/o him this’d just be another of the near weekly investigations of a similar nature.
Please explain? I can only assume that you are being sarcastic because the whitehouse has known about this since July. Presumably if they took it seriously they would like, have gone after the person responsible?
I don’t think Evil Captor meant this as a blanket statement involving all republicans. However, aside from McCain, the republicans in congress (not to mention the Pubbie Pundits (my band name! Hands off!)) have been acting conspicuously unconcerned with this -ahem- Federal Crime. The party line has been pretty much unanimous: “We get hundreds of leaks every week, this is just being inflated by partisan politics. Wilson is just mad because he’s a democrat. Besides, she’s just an analyst, who cares?”
Sorry pubbies, that dog won’t hunt, he’s too busy humping Karl Rove’s leg. Like they say, sometimes you screw the pooch (Blair?), and sometimes the pooch screws you. Either way, the end result is the same: embarrassment when caught.
The tenor of the Bush Administration on this issue has changed, very grudgingly, due to the horrific poll numbers on this issue.
I guess only Tom Delay and Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie are still on the old"nobody cares but Democrats" page.
But the support Scylla’s post, not all Pubbies are as out of touch as Delay and Gillespie:
After his comments on the Iraq WMD disaster and now this Hagel has shown himself to be a man of independent conviction. Along with John McCain he has shown integrity on these issues, hopefully they will be rewarded, not punished by the Adminstration- but I doubt it.
Although, despite claims to the contrary, Bush does not want to dig too deep.
When 70% of Americans want something you may want to listen there George. Even if it does cost you Rove or other high officials.
Well, there’s still Limbaugh and the ditto-heads. I heard him go on yesterday about how this whole affair is the result of the Dems. I wonder if he’ll be on the same track today.
I hope I get a chance to hear him today as well. Of course, he has his own other problems to deal with, drugs and resignation.
But the bigger question, whose stupid ass idea was this? What did they hope to accomplish? Are they so out of touch that attacking someone’s wife is a good idea. Maybe after Hillary Clinton someone lost all perspective (but even then, she availed herself of the political spotlight in some repects).
Here is an interesting analysis piece on the “what were they thinking aspect” which is baffling Washington insiders both left and right.
No one actually believes she’s “just an analyst” do they? Would Tenet write a letter to the Justice Department if she were “just an analyst?”
Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:
If has recently come to my attention that one of our custodial staff has been identified in the Washington Post. I would appreciate it if you and your fine crew of sleuths would find out who committed this egregious act of waste management espionage.
My biggest question so far has been “What the hell were they hoping to accomplish with this leak?” I’m glad to see from that Post article that others are as baffled by the strategy as I was. This administration has used bad strategy in the past (striking Iraq to weaken Al Qaeda is like striking Argentina to weaken the FARC), but not in the domestic political sphere.
One can dream. More likely, assuming he even gets fingered (and the investigations don’t just wither off and die once the media finds something new 'n shiny to look at), Rove would end up in a minimum-security “country club” prison, where he can spend his days working on his golf game while yakking it up with his contacts via cell phone.
Thanks to Corbomite for given me a heads-up that I was quoted on this thread. I still stand by what I said earlier, namely:
And it should be beyond the realm of politics.
Of course, we’re talking about Washington, though …
So I’d like to quote Robert Novak in his most recent column, which deals with the controversy. Novak is, of course, at the center of the controvery because of his earlier column, in which he noted that retired diplomat Joseph Wilson had been sent to Niger in part because his wife, a CIA employee, urged it.
The version that puts these incidents in the harshest light portray it as a case of two operatives calling up everyone and giving out the identity of Wilson’s wife. Novak says the mention slipped out during a discussion of Wilson’s trip to Nigeria. Significantly, he does not say two operatives called him to divulge the secret. Rather, Novak called a second person and took the remark – “Oh, you know about it” – as confirmation. In other words, the second confirmation was not a blatant, up-front declaration that “Wilson’s wife is a spook!” It was the type of acknowledgement you’d have to interpret in context.
Novak also says:
The first point is self-serving. The second and third are worth noting. If CIA officials didn’t say there was a danger in disclosure, and if her identity was well-known around Washington that any capable outside party could pick up on it, then it’s not a very big stick to be swinging at Wilson.
Novak again:
My tendency at this stage is to view it as a blunder rather than as a malicious act. If it was a malicious and intentional act, I hope it’s dealt with severely.
Well, Andy, your point about Novak would carry a lot more weight if Novak’s story was at all consistent. In fact he’s doing a lot of something that looks a lot like lying lately, per this article:
Frex, Novak is now saying the Plame leak was an offhand remark in the context of an interview on another topic. But here’s a quote about that from the article cited above:
Novak’s lying, lying, lying. Don’t get caught up in helping him spread his lies.
Could be something as simple as intimidation of anyone who dares to oppose them, or even raise questions about them. By exposing Plame to personal danger, perhaps Rove (or whoever) was trying to show Wilson and anyone else with the goods that there are costs to failing to adore the Emperor. Could be, anyway.
Remember at least 6 journalist were called with the same outing attempts- as reported in the Time Magazine aricle. SO Novak’s desperate revisionist attempts do not make much sense. Especially seeing he write and published information to the contrary. Yeesh. Why is Novak panicing? Might be because of the sentiment of his peers like this:
Ouch. I guess getting revealed to be a shill for the Administration has not been a pleasant experience for ol Bob.
But wait, there’s more!
Well it can’t be that hard, can it? Its not like they were calling just anyone- you needed your official “I love George Bush” stick pin to get those smear calls. Hard to imagine a call or two didn’t go to Fox News or the Wall Street Journal.
But the article explains that Novak is an isolationist type conservative- like Pat Buchanon, and on the surface doesn’t seem like the most likely mouthpiece. But given his well known history as the “bulletin board” and the fact the admistration leakers hedged by going to six other journalist too, it does make sense to me.
Another great article on the what’s really behind alot of this.
It’s a bit of a must read no matter side of the isle you’re on:
The Neocon vs CIA, and Tenet connection to Bush Sr. and Jr., and the long struggle for Cheney to “get” Saddam are discussed. It’s very interesting. (maybe we need a nerd smilie).
On the particular issue is question, the article notes: