Beyond the Spin
Beyond the spin, the yammering pundits, blatant lies, and everything else that disgusts me so much about party politics, there is one apparently undeniable truth. Rove apparently leaked Plame’s identity to Novak. He lied about doing so for two years. His lie has potentially put her life in jeopardy, and at the bare minimum has hurt her career potential, and all for political ends.
Now, those word games Clinton played so well are being played by the very people who claim to be of superior moral fiber, and it is my belief that in doing so, they are proving a point which I have long believed… the idea of a moral political party is at its face a joke.
I am not going to get into either the issue of releasing Plame’s identity being a crime, because that is for another post, or the issue of Wilson’s apparent lies, because while it is a good discussion, it isn’t salient to the issue at hand.
These are the defenses for Roves actions I have heard spewed by those on the right, from political pundits to the conservative on the street, and I would like to address them one by one.
First: Wilson opened Plame’s identity up when he challenged the administration.
This is of course at its face stupid, as it sets the precedent that any government employee who blows the whistle on any level of the US Government can be punished by any means necessary, including smear tactics and releasing confidential information of themselves or their family.
Second: Wilson lied about the Niger Uranium information, and it was required to release Plame’s information to clarify the record.
While it may be so that it was easiest to release her name to create a more inflammatory backlash (though in the end, it clearly failed), it was by no reason required.
Beyond the fact that using confidential employment information of a Government agency to seek revenge is in this bloggers opinion, immoral, I think it is entirely possible that Rove could have said exactly what he said (”It was wilson’s wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd issues who authorized the trip.”) and only changed “It was Wilson’s Wife” to “It was a CIA agent who Wilson knew” or something similar to still make the point he was trying to make (that the trip wasn’t authorized by Cheney, or the Whitehouse). In other words, Rove made a decision when he said that to tell a reporter that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA, he didn’t have to, he chose to, and he should take responsibility for that choice.
Third and this is my favorite: The fact that Plame and Wilson have been in the public spotlight after her outing in the national media is proof that it isn’t a big deal.
Consider this… once her name was made public, she had nothing more to loose. It needs no further explanation than that.
What it boils down to is this: Carl Rove leaked the name of a CIA agent to the press after lying for two years about his involvement in the case. The Whitehouse swore that they didn’t want someone who leaked information like this in the administration, however now that at least one smoking gun is in the hands of one of the Administration’s top dogs, they seem to have nothing to say on the matter.
The Party that said it would restore honor to the presidency has found itself lying to the American people… Interestingly enough, this is the same party that crucified Clinton for having an extramarital affair, and then lying about it. The difference some say is that Clinton lied under oath [while Rove apparently just lied]. I think this is an excellent reason to haul Rove, and the whole bunch before congress and question them all under oath. If we can put the nation’s most important business on hold to ask Clinton about a blue dress and stain, this certainly can justify a few days of questioning about the complete screwing over of an American citizen who has dedicated her life to serving this very country.
The Bush administration has long shown a history of a fear of testifying under oath (consider them refusing to go under oath with the September 11 Commission), it seems by and large, they are unwilling to lie to the American people’s elected representatives when they are asked to do it within the framework of the law: it seems like if we want the truth, it is the most effective way to get it.