Why is Rove Still in The White House?

When George W. Bush ran for president in 2000, one of the major pieces of imagery his team managed to successfully create was that of Bush as a man of his word who "says what he means and means what he says." Of course, we have found that with Bush and his entire crew in the White House, making a commitment and keeping it -- such as their ongoing homage to the Religious Right -- is easy work compared to simply telling the truth on a daily basis.

In June 2004 Bush said that he would fire anyone in his administration involved in leaking sensitive information about CIA operative Valerie Plame. And, while his right-hand man, Karl Rove, appears to have at least temporarily escaped from Patrick Fitzgerald's net in the CIA-leak investigation, the entire world knows, as a matter of fact, that Rove was indeed one of the people who spilled Plame's identity to the media.

This is a fact. We know it because it is a part of the record of the grand jury investigation into the Plame case, in which Time Magazine reporter Matthew Cooper cited Rove as the person from whom he received the news that Plame was a CIA agent in 2003.

"I, obviously, along with others in the White House, took a sigh of relief when he made the decision he made. And now we're going to move forward. And I trust Karl Rove, and he's an integral part of my team," said Bush yesterday of Fitzgerald's decision, adding that he could not comment further because there's an "ongoing trial."

So now it appears that Bush has traded in the tired mantra of not commenting due to an "ongoing investigation" to ignoring the truth because of an "ongoing trial." This has about as much credibility as former White House Spokesman Scott McClellan's repeated assertions that Rove had no involvement whatsoever in the Plame case.

Out of all the political nuance Americans have to parse today to get at the truth, this one seems remarkably easy: Bush lied again. He said that he would fire anyone in his administration who leaked information about Plame. It is a fact that Karl Rove leaked information about Plame. Bush has not fired Karl Rove.

That's so easy even a Republican can understand it and, despite Bush's attempts later in 2004 to amend his statement to only taking action if a crime was committed -- "If the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of," he said -- wrong is wrong and we in the progressive media need to lean on this issue right up until election day in November.

In the craven minds of the fake-patriots who inhabit the right-wing of American politics, Bill Clinton was the personification of evil in our country for lying about having sex outside of his marriage. But somehow, allowing a guy who knowingly exposed a covert CIA agent, to remain in a sensitive position in the upper-most corridor of power in our executive branch of government is just another day at the office.

Whether or not Patrick Fitzgerald ultimately decides to indict Rove for some aspect of his treasonous behavior, and the technical reasons behind all of that, is not within anyone's control outside of the Special Counsel's orbit. But Bush needs to do the right thing, keep his word and fire Rove for exposing one of our nation's critical intelligence assets in a time of war.

And we cannot let him forget that.

You can reach Bob Geiger at geiger.bob@gmail.com and read more from him at Democrats.com.

KKKarl Rove will be at bu$h's side until they drag their dead bodies from the ashes of the the bu$h regime.

he keeps winning elections.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2679732&mesg_id=2679732

expense. Don't ya know?

He can't function without him. And I wouldn't be surprised if Rove has a man-crush on him.