Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Spinning Rove?

Pubcrawler states a highly plausible explanation for why, if he really did, Karl Rove mentioned Valerie Plame's name: to prevent misinformation, not to out her.

posted by Perry Eidelbus at 2:49 AM  

2 Comments:

Blogger TKC said...

There is also these two interesting pieces of information from the National Review.
http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200507121626.asp
First, Rove wasn't trying to 'out' anyone.
Nor, says Luskin, was Rove trying to "out" a covert CIA agent or "smear" her husband. "What Karl was trying to do, in a very short conversation initiated by Cooper on another subject, was to warn Time away from publishing things that were going to be established as false." Luskin points out that on the evening of July 11, 2003, just hours after the Rove-Cooper conversation, then-CIA Director George Tenet released a statement that undermined some of Wilson's public assertions about his report. "Karl knew that that [Tenet] statement was in gestation," says Luskin. "I think a fair reading of the e-mail was that he was trying to warn Cooper off from going out on a limb on [Wilson's] allegations."
The second has to do with confideniality:
Luskin also shed light on the waiver that Rove signed releasing Cooper from any confidentiality agreement about the conversation. Luskin says Rove originally signed a waiver in December 2003 or in January 2004 (Luskin did not remember the exact date). The waiver, Luskin continues, was written by the office of special prosecutor Fitzgerald, and Rove signed it without making any changes — with the understanding that it applied to anyone with whom he had discussed the Wilson/Plame matter. "It was everyone's expectation that the waiver would be as broad as it could be," Luskin says.

Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller have expressed concerns that such waivers (top Cheney aide Lewis Libby also signed one) might have been coerced and thus might not have represented Rove's true feelings. Yet from the end of 2003 or beginning of 2004, until last Wednesday, Luskin says, Rove had no idea that there might be any problem with the waiver.

It was not until that Wednesday, the day Cooper was to appear in court, that that changed. "Cooper's lawyer called us and said, "Can you confirm that the waiver encompasses Cooper?" Luskin recalls. "I was amazed. He's a lawyer. It's not rocket science. [The waiver] says 'any person.' It's that broad. So I said, 'Look, I understand that you want reassurances. If Fitzgerald would like Karl to provide you with some other assurances, we will.'" Luskin says he got in touch with the prosecutor — "Rule number one is cooperate with Fitzgerald, and there is no rule number two," Luskin says — and asked what to do. According to Luskin, Fitzgerald said to go ahead, and Luskin called Cooper's lawyer back. "I said that I can reaffirm that the waiver that Karl signed applied to any conversations that Karl and Cooper had," Luskin says. After that — which represented no change from the situation that had existed for 18 months — Cooper made a dramatic public announcement and agreed to testify.

A curious bit of drama.
Also, a friend of mine points out, that if Time Magazine and the NY Times had such damning information about the administration then they would have said so before the election. So obviously, they didn't think much of what Rove had to say. Nevermind that it turned Rove was right and Wilson was lying. If they burned Rove they would have had to come clean about the far left myth making courtesy of Wilson's misinformation. Not reporting that Wilson was being dishonest let the 'scandal' about the yellow cake brew. Even today the far left still thinks Wilson is credible when clearly he is not.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005 7:10:00 PM  
Blogger Perry Eidelbus said...

Yes! And it turns out that Valerie Plame may have lied herself. She said, at least once, that she had nothing to do with getting her husband recommended for the trip. In fact, she did.

John Podhoretz had a great editorial today where he deservedly toots his horn: his prediction about how Plame's name came up was extraordinarily close to the real thing.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005 10:10:00 PM  

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