How To Talk To A Conservative About Karl Rove (If You Must), & other details

[Guest guest]

Here is an action about Rove:

 

http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/rove_must_go

 

 

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Let's send a bipartisan message to the White House to come clean about the

CIA leak -- sign the petition now:

 

http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/clean/kfqgm

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/politics/15rove.html?th & emc=th

Rove Reportedly Held Phone Talk on C.I.A. Officer - New York Times

By DAVID JOHNSTON and RICHARD W. STEVENSON

Karl Rove spoke with the columnist Robert D. Novak as he was preparing an

article that identified an undercover C.I.A. officer.

 

Mr. Rove has told investigators that he learned from that he learned from the

columnist the name of the C.I.A. officer, who was referred to by her maiden

name, Valerie Plame, and the circumstances in which her husband, former

Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, traveled to Africa to investigate possible

uranium

sales to Iraq, the person said.

After hearing Mr. Novak's account, the person who has been briefed on the

matter said, Mr. Rove told the columnist: " I heard that, too. "

 

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http://thinkprogress.org/2005/07/14/rove-primer/

How To Talk To A Conservative About Karl Rove (If You Must)

Everything you need to fight back against the right-wing misinformation

campaign.

CLAIM: White House Can’t Comment While Investigation Is Ongoing

McClellan: “While that investigation is ongoing, the White House is not going

to comment on it.â€

FACT: White House Has Repeatedly Commented During the Ongoing Investigation

McClellan had previously cited that same investigation and then gone on to

answer the questions as they pertained to Rove. For example, on October 1, 2003,

he said, “There’s an investigation going on … you brought up Karl’s

name.

Let’s be very clear. I thought — I said it was a ridiculous suggestion, I

said

it’s simply not true that he was involved in leaking classified information,

and — nor, did he condone that kind of activity.†Similarly, on October 10,

2003, McClellan said, “I think it’s important to keep in mind that this is

an

ongoing investigation.†But he then added with regard to a question about

Rove’

s involvement, “I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those

individuals assured me they were not involved in this.â€

CLAIM: Rove Didn’t Leak The Name So He’s Not Guilty

Rove: “I didn’t know her name and didn’t leak her name.†Rove attorney

Robert Luskin said “he did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for

the

CIA.â€

FACT: National Security Law Says Identifying Covert Agent Is Illegal

Rove at the very least identified Plame as “Wilson’s wife.†Under section

421 of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the disclosure of “any

information identifying [a] covert agent†is illegal.

CLAIM: White House Didn’t Push The Story

Rove’s lawyer Robert Luskin claims Cooper manipulated what Rove said to him

“

in a pretty ugly fashion to make it seem like people in the White House were

affirmatively reaching out to reporters to try to get them to report negative

information about Plame.â€

FACT: There Was An Organized Campaign To Push Leak Info

First, Robert Novak admitted: “I didn’t dig it out [Plame’s identity], it

was given to me…. They [the White House] thought it was significant, they gave

me the name and I used it.†Second, Rove told Chris Matthews that Plame’s

identity was “fair game.†Third, Time magazine reported the orchestrated

campaign

against Wilson in October 2003: “In the days after Wilson’s essay appeared,

government officials began to steer reporters away from Wilson’s

conclusions.â€

 

CLAIM: Conversation Was About Welfare Reform, So Rove Didn’t Do Anything Wrong

National Review’s Byron York: “According to Luskin, the fact that Rove did

not call Cooper; that the original purpose of the call, as Cooper told Rove,

was welfare reform.â€

FACT: What They Spoke About Was Irrelevant

The original purpose of the conversation between Rove and Cooper is

irrelevant. It has no bearing on the fact that Rove did identify a covert agent

during

that conversation.

CLAIM: Plame Wasn’t An Undercover Agent

Ed Rogers, former official under Reagan/Bush: “I think it is now a matter of

established fact that Mrs. Plame was not a protected covert agent, and I don’t

think there’s any meaningful investigation about that.â€

FACT: Former CIA Officer Who Worked With Plame Verified She Was Undercover

Larry Johnson, former CIA officer: “Valerie Plame was a classmate of mine

from the day she started with the CIA. I entered on duty at the CIA in September

1985. All of my classmates were undercover–in other words, we told our family

and friends that we were working for other overt U.S. Government agencies. We

had official cover.â€

CLAIM: Rove Was Trying To Correct A False Story

Rove attorney Luskin added, “What Karl was trying to do … was to warn Time

away from publishing things that were going to be established as false.â€

FACT: Wilson Was Right, Bush Was Wrong

Bloomberg recently reported, “Two-year old assertions by former ambassador

Joseph Wilson regarding Iraq and uranium, which lie at the heart of the

controversy over who at the White House identified a covert U.S. operative, have

held

up in the face of attacks by supporters of presidential adviser Karl Rove.â€

CLAIM: Wilson Lied About His Trip To Niger

Former Rove deputy Ken Mehlman: “What Joe Wilson alleged was that the vice

president, then he said the CIA director sent him to Niger.†[CNN, 7/12/05]

FACT: Wilson Never Said Cheney Personally Sent Him To Niger

Bloomberg reported, “Wilson never said that Cheney sent him, only that the

vice president’s office had questions about an intelligence report that

referred

to the sale of uranium yellowcake to Iraq from Niger. Wilson, in his New York

Times article, said CIA officials were informed of Cheney’s questions. ‘The

agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so

they could provide a response to the vice president’s office,’ Wilson

wrote.â€

 

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http://www.buzzflash.com/tellafriend.php

Today's Top 5 Headlines on BuzzFlash.com L

Karl Rove Has Now Given Us An Astounding Insight Into PlameGate! According to

Karl, Bushevik Journalists Leaked Classified Information to Him! Holy,

Batbrain, Karl Was the Last to Know! Wonders Never Cease.

Of Course, It's All a Crock of Hooey from the Turd Blossom. At a time When

Scott McClellan Keeps Repeating that Bush Doesn't Want Anyone in the White

House to Comment on an Ongoing Investigation, Rove is Orchestrating a Major PR

Offensive that is Offensive to Common Sense. Is This Hypocritical? Hey, is a

Mob Boss a Thug?

Meanwhile, Novak, who Rove was Fired by Poppy Bush for Leaking to in 1992,

Disproves Turd Blossoms Entire Excuse: Novak, in an early PlameGate Interview

Defended Himself: " " I didn't dig it out, it was given to me, " he said. " They

thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it. "

And Then There's the Latest Hypothesis: Rove Read a State Department Document

on Air Force One that Identified Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA Deep Cover

Operative Specializing in Tracking WMD. Rove Called Judith Miller -- a Drama

Queen, Who Likes to be a Player INSIDE the Administration -- and Told Miller of

Plame's Cover and Sort of Indicated that it Was a " Useful Piece of Information "

for Reporters to Know. Then Novak and Cooper Called Him, Among Other

Reporters, Already Knowing About Valerie Wilson Plame's Cover Because Karl Had

Used

Miller as a Virus to Spread It Around. That Way Karl Had What is Known as

" Plausible Deniability. " So He Could Then Claim that He Found Out About Plame's

Undercover Status from Journalists, Even Though He was the Original Leaker.

Mind You, Rove Still Committed a Crime and Breach of National Security in

Confirming to Reporters Plame's Status, But His " Alibi " Obscures that Point by

Blaming Journalists for Outing a CIA Operative Who Specialized in Tracking WMD,

the Very Reason Bush Claimed We Urgently Needed to Attack Iraq. Rove Also

Exposed Wilson-Plame's Front Company.

Does Anyone Know if Rove is On Al-Qaeda's Payroll. Because Osama bin Laden

Would Die to Do This Much Damage to Our National Security.

And remember, Novak claims a second senior administration source confirmed

Valerie Plame was a CIA operative. Who might that be?

Tom DeLay's Moral Relativism and GOP Army of Ethical Corruption, for

BuzzFlash by Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility

and

Ethics in Washington

The Real Problems with Plamegate, For BuzzFlash

State Department memo circulated at the White House could be original source

that exposed Plame. Powell was seen with the memo on Air Force One - explains

why Fitzgerald has been so hot to get plane phone logs. 7/16

Rove Outed as Liar by Novak: Novak, in an interview, said his sources had

come to him with the information. " I didn't dig it out, it was given to me, " he

said. " They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it. "

7/16

 

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Steve Lazarus slazarus Plamegate: Debunking Rove's Spin

The American Progress http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071305F.shtml

Wednesday 13 July 2005 In our continuing series of reports examining

Karl Rove's involvement in leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent, we'll

focus today on the spin coming from right-wing operatives trying to defend

Rove's

unethical behavior. The White House's strategy in defending him - a strategy

devised by " Rove loyalists outside of the White House, " according to the

Washington Post - is to try to undermine opponents calling for Rove's dismissal,

play down Rove's role and wait for President Bush to name a Supreme Court

nominee to drown out the controversy. What is important to note is that while

the

White House officially refuses to answer any questions on the growing scandal,

Rove himself is clearly pushing out spin from behind the scenes. Terry Moran,

ABC's White House correspondent, noted at the press

briefing yesterday that Fox News has been able to report that Rove's

conversations with Matt Cooper lasted for two minutes and focused on welfare

reform.

" They're getting that information from here, from Karl Rove, " said Moran. All

this spin detracts from one central fact: Rove leaked classified information

that disclosed a covert CIA agent's identity. Rove talking point - Never

leaked agent's name: Even before a recently uncovered e-mail disclosed Rove's

role in the leak, Rove has maintained, " I didn't know her name and didn't leak

her name. " Ken Mehlman, former political director at the White House under Rove,

has reiterated, " He did not, according to what we learned this past weekend,

reveal the name of anybody. " Fact - Rove identified the agent and knew

that what he was doing was wrong: A number of factors weigh against Rove's

assertion. First, Rove identified Valerie Plame as " Wilson's wife. " Under

section

421 of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act the

disclosure of " any information identifying [a] covert agent " is illegal.

Second, Rove's lawyer is undermining the distinction between naming and

identifying Plame as too legalistic and a minor detail. Third, Rove insisted on

speaking

to Cooper only on " double super secret background. " As Andrew Sullivan notes,

" Why would Rove have insisted on such a super-tight confidentiality standard

if he was not aware that he was divulging something he truly shouldn't

divulge? " Fourth, as Joe Wilson himself has indicated, his wife goes by Mrs.

Wilson,

so it would have been clear who Rove was talking about (and Rove attended the

same church as the Wilson family, indicating he may know more about Plame than

he's letting on) Rove talking point - Rove was not affirmatively pushing

the Plame story: In a National Review article posted online yesterday, Rove's

lawyer Robert Luskin claims Cooper manipulated what Rove said to him " in a

pretty ugly fashion to make it seem like people in the

White House were affirmatively reaching out to reporters to try to get them

to report negative information about Plame. " Luskin added that the purpose of

the call between Cooper and Rove was to discuss welfare reform. Fact -

White House orchestrated campaign against Wilson: What Cooper may or may not

have

done is irrelevant to the central point that Rove leaked classified

information. The White House did act in an organized way to push Plame's

identity as a

way to discredit Wilson. First, Robert Novak admitted: " I didn't dig it out

[Plame's identity], it was given to me.... They [the White House] thought it was

significant, they gave me the name and I used it. " Second, Rove told Chris

Matthews that Plame's identity was " fair game. " Third, NBC reporter Andrea

Mitchell noted in 2003 that she " heard in the White House that people were

touting

the Novak column and that that was the real story. " Fourth, Time magazine

reported the orchestrated campaign against Wilson in October

2003: " In the days after Wilson's essay appeared, government officials began

to steer reporters away from Wilson's conclusions. " Fifth, an administration

official admitted the leak " was meant purely and simply for revenge. " Sixth, it

is irrelevant what the purpose of the call may have been. The crucial

question is whether Rove intended to disclose Plame's identity. Rove talking

point - Attack Joe Wilson: Mehlman has asserted, " [Rove] tried to discourage a

reporter from writing a story that was false. " Rove attorney Luskin added, " What

Karl was trying to do ... was to warn Time away from publishing things that

were going to be established as false. " A Wall Street Journal editorial said

Rove " deserves a prize " for being a " whistleblower. " Fact - Bush

administration admitted it should not have cited yellowcake evidence: The

accuracy of

Wilson's claims have no bearing on the central point that Rove leaked classified

information. Wilson was reporting that Iraq was not

acquiring yellowcake from Niger. As the White House attempts to play up the

idea that Rove was simply trying to correct a reporter's story, it should be

noted that the White House later agreed with Wilson that Bush should not have

said in his 2003 State of the Union: " The British government has learned that

Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. "

First, the CIA asked Bush not to cite that claim before the speech. Second, the

White House admitted it should not have cited that intelligence. Former Press

Secretary Ari Fleischer said, " This information should not have risen to the

level of a presidential speech. " Condoleezza Rice said, " it was information

that was mistaken. " CIA Director George Tenet said the famous sixteen words

" should never have been included in the text written for the President. "

-------(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is

distributed

without profit to those who have expressed a prior

interest in receiving the included information for research and educational

purposes. t r u t h o u t has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of

this article nor is t r u t h o u t endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

 

....................................

Rove:

 

Education: Attended the University of Utah but didn't graduate

 

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http://www.buzzflash.com/tellafriend.php

Today's Top 5 Headlines on BuzzFlash.com L

Later today, we will be posting an interview with Karl Rove expert, James

Moore, so watch for it. Here's an excerpt:

" Moore: Nothing that is presently occurring will be happening without Karl’s

imprimatur. He is the message maker for the party and the White House. He

probably had Mehlman and a few others offer input, but Karl will not trust his

argument or his positioning to anyone other than himself. In fact, when his

attorney, Robert Luskin said Karl did not 'knowingly' out a CIA agent that was

clearly Karl’s parsing of language. He thought that it would protect him from

conviction on the treason act and it reflected a strategic step by Karl from

back

in 1991 when he was testifying before a Texas Senate committee. He was asked

if he knew FBI agent Greg Rampton, who had conducted the spurious

investigations of Democrats, and Rove asked the senator what he meant by

'knew.'â€

......................

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article & contentId=A40012-200

3Oct3 & notFound=true

The leak of a CIA operative's name has also exposed the identity of a CIA

front company, potentially expanding the damage caused by the original

disclosure, Bush administration officials said yesterday. (continued at site

above)

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http://www.buzzflash.com/premiums/04/07/pre04029.html

" BUSH'S BRAIN " is a haunting, chilling DVD that details the immoral,

unethical, scurrilous " win at all costs " tactics of Karl Rove, AKA Bush's Brain.

Based on the best-selling book by journalists James Moore and Wayne Slater, the

documentary captures the essential evil of the man who packaged and strategized

Bush's march to the White House.

Rove is like a piranha. His existence appears driven only by a desire to eat

the opposition alive. It is not clear he has any core ideology, other than

bullying, lying, and using any means necessary to win. The man who wrapped

Bush in " compassionate conservatism " is neither compassionate nor conservative.

He is just treacherous, unethical, duplicitous, and manipulative. CONT'D >>>

....................................

White House allies weighed in, with expressions of support for Rove from

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Senate Judiciary Committee

Chairman

Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

 

................................................

It¹s Confirmed: Karl Rove Exposed a CIA Operative White House Credibility Gap

Captured on Video

 

 

Watch this White House news briefing where reporters seek the truth and the

President's spokesman refuses to be honest with the American people.

(Windows Media file)

 

 

 

Speak out against these deceptions. Click here to take action.

 

 

From Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan (USN, ret)

 

Dear Gordon,

 

I saw combat in three wars and know that national security depends on people

who are trusted with confidential information never using it for their

personal agendas.

 

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove recently acknowledged that he

revealed the identity of a CIA operative [1], proving that he can¹t be trusted

with classified information. For the sake of national security and to protect

America¹s defenders in the line of fire, President Bush needs to revoke his

security clearance and get him out of the White House before he leaks another

secret.

 

Congressmembers are calling on the President to strip Rove of his security

clearance and fire him. To send a prepared message or one you edit to your

legislators asking them to join in asking for this prudent step,

 

http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/rove_must_go

 

Then please forward this email to anyone else you think might be concerned

about our national security.

 

Thanks for helping,

 

Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan (USN, ret.) Military Advisor to TrueMajority.org

 

 

Here¹s what we know:

 

An ongoing investigation into this scandal eventually will conclude whether

Rove should go to prison or was just inept. In the meantime, the

Commander-in-Chief has an obligation to protect our nation and our troops by

making sure

Rove doesn¹t get another chance to leak something that, next time, may cost

someone more than their career.

 

In his State of the Union message in 2003, George Bush said that Saddam

Hussein was trying to get uranium from Niger. In the following weeks, former

Ambassador Joseph Wilson disclosed that he was sent to Niger by the CIA to look

into this and had reported to top administration officials months before the

speech that there was no Niger-Iraq uranium connection. In a discussion with a

reporter at Time magazine about Wilson¹s disclosure, Rove said that Wilson's

wife

was the CIA operative who sent him to Niger. Three days later columnist

Robert Novak published the fact that Plame was a CIA operative thus ending her

career, possibly endangering her life and ending an important operation.

 

Rove may have been punishing Wilson for embarrassing the President. If Rove

exposed Wilson¹s wife, a covert member of the CIA¹s weapons of mass

destruction

team, it would be an act of treason. Rove¹s lawyer counters that he didn¹t

know she was a covert operative and didn¹t mean any harm. Either way his

disclosure was dangerous and President Bush needs to pull his security clearance

and

get him out of the White House right now.

 

[1] For Newsweek's confirmation of Rove¹s disclosure, see:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8525978/site/newsweek [2] See the AP¹s analysis of

this breaking

scandal, ³Newsview: CIA Leak Probe Focuses on Rove², July 13, 2005. Click

here:

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/politics-5/11212596

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