Bush Regime Downfall??

Anyone think that this CIA 'outting' by BushCo could be the downfall of King George?? It sort of has those earmarks to me as the flap get increasingly more attenetion.

>Anyone think that this CIA 'outting' by BushCo could be the

>downfall of King George?? It sort of has those earmarks to me

>as the flap get increasingly more attenetion.

I've thought for a long time that this had the potential to be a severely damaging scandal, and was growing increasingly aggravated that the major media were not reporting it. It took the New York Times days for them to finally give it some prominence, which it did for the first time this morning (although still no editorial about it).

Whether it will be fully or only marginally destructive depends upon 2 questions, as yet unanswered:

(1) Who were the leakers, meaning how high up are they? If they were merely mid-level White House political operatives working in Karl Rove's area without there being any evidence that Karl Rove knew what they were doing beforehand, then the damage can be contained. But if Karl Rove is directly implicated, or if his top deputies did it and he knew before or immediately after (and did nothing), that's a different matter.

(2) How does the White House handle it from here? If they are fully cooperative, disclose everything, and immediately fire the culprits as soon as they are revealed, then the damage can be contained. Usually what happens in these situations, though, is that the cover-up is the first instinct, and that becomes far worse than the original sin. I think it may be a big mistake for Bush to be just sitting around waiting for the DOJ to uncover the guilty parties, rather than finding out himself, but so far, the White House has said the right things about cooperating.

The other issue which I thought might blunt the impact was if it turned out that Wilson's wife was not undercover, but was merely an already known CIA analyst. That's what Bob Novack claimed on CNN, but I now think he's lying, because the CIA's referral to the DOJ would not have occurred if the CIA didn't think laws were broken, and even the White House now seems to be admitting that she was undercover.

The biggest mistake the White House ever made was trying to make George Tenet and the CIA accept blame for the bad intelligence leading to Iraq. The CIA was the one trying to scream that it had no intelligence showing WMDs or an Iraq/Al-Qaeda link, and the WH forced it to go along. George Tenet has proven that he is superb at exacting revenge, and this latest scandal is clearly his doing. It's never good to make an enemy out of the Director of Central Intelligence, but that's exactly what Cheney and Rove did.

>>Anyone think that this CIA 'outting' by BushCo could be the

>>downfall of King George?? It sort of has those earmarks to

>me

>>as the flap get increasingly more attenetion.

>

>I've thought for a long time that this had the potential to be

>a severely damaging scandal, and was growing increasingly

>aggravated that the major media were not reporting it. It

>took the New York Times days for them to finally give it some

>prominence, which it did for the first time this morning

>(although still no editorial about it).

>

>Whether it will be fully or only marginally destructive

>depends upon 2 questions, as yet unanswered:

>

>(1) Who were the leakers, meaning how high up are they? If

>they were merely mid-level White House political operatives

>working in Karl Rove's area without there being any evidence

>that Karl Rove knew what they were doing beforehand, then the

>damage can be contained. But if Karl Rove is directly

>implicated, or if his top deputies did it and he knew before

>or immediately after (and did nothing), that's a different

>matter.

It's highly doubtful that Rove didn't, at the very least, know about this. He is well known for his control freak tendencies, and this type of thing has his thumbprint on it. He was fired from the Bush2000 campaign for being involved in dirty tricks, and he was mightily pissed that Wilson blew the whistle about the yellowcake uranium hoax. Hence, revenge is one of his common tools.

>

I think it may be a

>big mistake for Bush to be just sitting around waiting for the

>DOJ to uncover the guilty parties, rather than finding out

>himself, but so far, the White House has said the right things

>about cooperating.

Wouldn't it be a refreshing change if instead of saying the right things, they actually did the right things? I'm not holding my breath.

>

>The other issue which I thought might blunt the impact was if

>it turned out that Wilson's wife was not undercover, but was

>merely an already known CIA analyst. That's what Bob Novack

>claimed on CNN, but I now think he's lying, because the CIA's

>referral to the DOJ would not have occurred if the CIA didn't

>think laws were broken, and even the White House now seems to

>be admitting that she was undercover.

Wilson's wife was in the operations side of the CIA. Novak was lying. What else is new?

>

>The biggest mistake the White House ever made was trying to

>make George Tenet and the CIA accept blame for the bad

>intelligence leading to Iraq. The CIA was the one trying to

>scream that it had no intelligence showing WMDs or an

>Iraq/Al-Qaeda link, and the WH forced it to go along. George

>Tenet has proven that he is superb at exacting revenge, and

>this latest scandal is clearly his doing. It's never good to

>make an enemy out of the Director of Central Intelligence, but

>that's exactly what Cheney and Rove did.

>

You say Tenet is superb at exacting revenge. In this case it was Rove who sought revenge, and hopefully the bastard will pay the price.

It would be nice to see Rove and Novak as prison cellmates for their treasonous behavior. George Bush Sr. believes that outing intellingence operatives is the most insidious form of treason. Too bad his pissant son doesn't share his views.

>It's highly doubtful that Rove didn't, at the very least, know

>about this. He is well known for his control freak

>tendencies, and this type of thing has his thumbprint on it.

Oh, I agree completely. There's no question Rove was involved. He's involved in everything, particularly if it's tawdry and deceitful. The only question is whether there will be proof that he's involved - I doubt he's the one who actually called the reporters with this leak. That means one of his underlings will have to say he directed or condoned it.

>He was fired from the Bush2000 campaign for being involved in

>dirty tricks, and he was mightily pissed that Wilson blew the

>whistle about the yellowcake uranium hoax. Hence, revenge is

>one of his common tools.

Actually, Rove was fired when he worked for the campaign of Bush's father after it was discovered that he leaked derogatory information about Robert Mosbacher, Bush Sr.'s long time associate and Commerce Secretary. Guess which reporter he leaked to then? That's right - vile Bob Novak.

>Wouldn't it be a refreshing change if instead of saying the

>right things, they actually did the right things? I'm not

>holding my breath.

They won't. They're in self-protective mode. What they're trying to do now is lump this episode in generally with "leaks of classified information," as though this offense - leaking not just classified information, but the identity of an undercover CIA officer - is no differnt than standard everyday leaks. That's too stupid even for the Washington press not to see through, and it won't work.

>Wilson's wife was in the operations side of the CIA. Novak

>was lying. What else is new?

Novak is lying about everything. It's not clear that she was undercover. Also, he said yesterday that the White House didn't come to him with this information, but he admitted in interviews from a month ago that they did. His behavior in this affair is despicable and getting worse by the minute.

>You say Tenet is superb at exacting revenge. In this case it

>was Rove who sought revenge, and hopefully the bastard will

>pay the price.

>It would be nice to see Rove and Novak as prison cellmates for

>their treasonous behavior. George Bush Sr. believes that

>outing intellingence operatives is the most insidious form of

>treason. Too bad his pissant son doesn't share his views.

Yes - I really admired this Administration in the year or so after 9/11. Since then, their successes have created a sickening level of hubris, and they have become nothing but reckless, deceitful, dangerous and extreme. This repulsive episode illustrates what they have become.

<<It's not clear that she was undercover.

That should read: it is NOW clear that she was undercover. That is now established by multiple press reports and by the CIA.

Do you think anything's actually going to come of this "investigation" when it's being done by Ashcroft? He's refused to appoint an independent nonpartisan counsel. It's a complete joke.

Forgot to include the link to this REALLY good article about the whole mess: http://truthout.org/docs_03/093003A.shtml The quote at the top, from Bush Sr., is worth the click alone.

>Do you think anything's actually going to come of this

>"investigation" when it's being done by Ashcroft? He's

>refused to appoint an independent nonpartisan counsel. It's a

>complete joke.

Try not to laugh, but this is what we're supposed to have a free press for. I don't see how the names of the leakers can be concealed for very long. Too many people already know their identity - including, presumably, the 6 (at least) journalists they called to whom they tried to leak the information. Only Novak printed it.

I think the White House is cornered on this one. A few heads will definitely roll. The hard part will be linking those heads to someone who matters - like Karl Rove.

"Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors."

-- George Herbert Walker Bush, 1999

You mean this quote? Ten to one Bush the Elder is fuming over this, not that it will do any good.

I hope you're right, Doug. That makes me happy. That, and the fact that almost 200,000 people (including me) have helped Howard Dean raise 15 million dollars this quarter to show the Bush "Patriots" and "Rangers" the power of the grassroots. He's on Leno in a half hour, btw.

Who's on Leno...doug, Dean, Bush, you or the 200,000 donors?

My man Howard!

http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/leno.jpg