# Did Karl Rove out the CIA Agent? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 2, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791 "2005-07-02T03:04:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/61 "2005-07-03T17:15:35Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > So what if the president issues an “executive order” allowing himself to be declared Dictator For Life? Congress can override an Executive Order. > [@](#): > > If Congress does not like what the executive branch is doing, it has two main options. First, it may rewrite or amend a previous law, or spell it out in greater detail how the Executive Branch must act. Of course, the President has the right to veto the bill if he disagrees with it, so, in practice, a 2/3 majority if often required to override an Executive Order. > **[What is an Executive Order? - This Nation](https://www.thisnation.com/government/learn/what-is-an-executive-order/)** > > Executive Orders (EOs) are legally binding orders given by the President, acting as the head of the Executive Branch, to Federal Administrative Agencies. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Highwayman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Highwayman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Highwayman)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/62 "2005-07-03T18:17:09Z")
Anyone else smell a shit storm brewing? I want to see them slither out of this the slimy fucks. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/63 "2005-07-03T18:46:26Z")
> [@The Highwayman](#): > > Anyone else smell a shit storm brewing? > > I want to see them slither out of this the slimy fucks. I’ve seen enough of that already. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/64 "2005-07-03T19:18:01Z")
Nothing to it. “Karl who?” ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/65 "2005-07-03T19:20:07Z")
> [@The Highwayman](#): > > Anyone else smell a shit storm brewing? > > I want to see them slither out of this the slimy fucks. I do NOT want to see them slither out of this. I would prefer they be first found guilty and then held accountable, exposed to public ridicule, tarred and feathered, disbarred, disenfranchised, excommunicated, incarcerated, stripped of their pensions, and forever be barred from any governmental service of any kind, including consultancies. A few hundred lashes on their bare backs wouldn’t be out of line, either. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/66 "2005-07-03T19:31:19Z")
So…a Presidential pardon is _right out!_ ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/67 "2005-07-03T20:48:06Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > So…a Presidential pardon is _right out!_ I’d find that more amusing than most anything else I can think of at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/68 "2005-07-03T21:51:52Z")
They’ll readily let Karl out of the administration – he can function there as well as anywhere else, and there are PLENTY of wealthy Pubbies who’ll keep him on a VERY generous stipend while he continues being a scumbucket and slimeball for the Administration, which seems to need many such people. But they really DO need Rove, whom Bush called “The Architect of the 2004 campaign,” in one of the very few true words ever to pass from his lips. So they’ll fight jail with everything they have, including a Presidential pardon. Except it’s going to be REALLY HARD for Bush to explain why he gave a Presidential pardon to Rove for doing something HIS OWN FATHER described as “treason” when he was President. Couldn’t happen to more deserving people. Still, I think Bush would do it. Rove knows were ALL of Bush’s skeletons lie buried. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/69 "2005-07-03T22:08:58Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Except it’s going to be REALLY HARD for Bush to explain why he gave a Presidential pardon… I’d be more interested in hearing Bush explain how he managed to be so clueless as to not know that Rove was acting beyond the law in the president’s behalf; accepting of course that the scenario plays out as it seems to be this weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/70 "2005-07-03T22:21:33Z")
Does anyone here really believe anything at all is going to happen to Rove? Wanna buy a bridge? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/71 "2005-07-03T22:31:19Z")
Rove may not be responsible for the leak, but it seems he does know who he was, It remains that someone in this administration outed Plame, that was a crime. The Supreme Court, in rejecting the appeal of TIME and TNYT, seemed to notice that protecting sources should not be a priority when national security is at stake. It is possible that the leak was cleverly setup to trip the mainstream media into going to the “protect the source” mode at all costs, IIRC by the time Novak blew the Plame cover virtually all mainstream reporters were approached with that “confidential” information. There is one disturbing trend I see the mainstream media doing: Report this only in the context of the legal trouble Time and the New York Times are into by protecting their [del]sources[/del] leakers. Talk about your conflict of interest! Here is now in the open the lie that the media is liberal: it is not a whistle-blower what they are protecting, they are now protecting this administration! And a system that allows the current administration to unethically target their opposition, both political and in the intelligence community. Right now this whole thing stinks, the media by hook or by crook is in bed with this administration, we can not trust them now to be able to report on what this administration is doing. Alternative media and blogs do look better and better now. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/72 "2005-07-03T22:42:09Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Does anyone here really believe anything at all is going to happen to Rove? With the media literally on a leash, it is likely, but never underestimate the capacity of this administration for getting into a larger problem by ignoring good advice. > [@](#): > > Wanna buy a bridge? Hey, a guy over here got rich by getting the London bridge to Arizona! Anything is possible, but the most realistic thing is to expect many moderates to think more critically of this administration. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/73 "2005-07-03T22:47:36Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > I’d be more interested in hearing Bush explain how he managed to be so clueless as to not know that Rove was acting beyond the law in the president’s behalf; accepting of course that the scenario plays out as it seems to be this weekend. Why should he have to explain anything? Overzealous associates and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/74 "2005-07-03T23:01:02Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Does anyone here really believe anything at all is going to happen to Rove? > > Wanna buy a bridge? I always thought Rove was behind it, in October I posted this and even mentioned that we should look into who gets Presidential pardons in the event of an investigation. [Here’s the link.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5396447&highlight=Plame+Rove#post5396447) I’m not claiming to be a clairvoyant – it had Rove’s fingerprints all over it even then. It’s just the sort of crap he pulls on behalf of his Pubbie masters. The surprise for me is that Rove has even been fingered. I thought swords would be fallen on before his name got named. But as I wrote, “treason is a serious charge.” It might be that these scum might face prosecution even though Bush won. However, I doubt if the Justice Department under “The Weasel” Alvarez will be in any great hurry to see anything resembling justice. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/75 "2005-07-03T23:16:09Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > . However, I doubt if the Justice Department under “The Weasel” Alvarez will be in any great hurry to see anything resembling justice. Hey! Nice way to talk about a probable Supreme Court Justice. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/76 "2005-07-03T23:39:41Z")
If we’re lucky. Word on the street has conservatives bitching about him as a possible choice because he’s not conservative _enough_, apparently refusing to accept the obvious truth that Calvin Coolidge was too liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/77 "2005-07-03T23:41:11Z")
Anything on Fox News yet? > **[Google News](https://news.google.com/topstories?as_q=rove&svnum=10&as_scoring=r&hl=en-US&hs=KEY&lr&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tab=wn&ie=ISO-8859-1&btnG=Google%2BSearch&as_epq&as_oq&as_eq&as_nsrc=fox%2Bnews&as_nloc&as_occt=any&as_drrb=q&as_qdr&as_mind=3&as_minm=6&as_maxd=3&as_maxm=7&gl=US&ceid=US:en)** > > Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, aggregated from sources all over the world by Google News. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/78 "2005-07-03T23:42:37Z")
Why not just give Scalia an extra vote, then there’s no real need to add anyone? 'Course, the liberals will probably make a big fuss about that as well. There’s just no pleasing people who are determined to thwart God’s Will. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/79 "2005-07-03T23:48:18Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > If we’re lucky. Word on the street has conservatives bitching about him as a possible choice because he’s not conservative _enough_, apparently refusing to accept the obvious truth that Calvin Coolidge was too liberal. That’s the other Hispanic guy-- Gonzales. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791/80 "2005-07-04T00:28:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Does anyone here really believe anything at all is going to happen to Rove? No, but I’m a little anxious to hear what dodges the apologists come up with for this one. We’re already hearing the “let’s wait until we have all the facts” dodge, which will continue well past the point at which the facts become obvious to reasonable people; once it becomes undeniable, it will turn into an attack on the media source that uncovers the worst of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-karl-rove-out-the-cia-agent/310791.md?page=5)