I think you're right, gridlock. There just doesn't seem to be a whole lot there.
From this morning's St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
(link)
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/46C3B3CAC347E0168625703B000DD5AE?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22rove%22
"Cooper, according to an internal Time e-mail obtained by Newsweek magazine, spoke with Rove before Novak's column was published. In the conversation, Rove gave Cooper a "big warning" that Wilson's claims might not be entirely accurate and that it wasn't the director of the CIA or the vice president who sent Wilson on his trip. Rove apparently told Cooper that it was "Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on WMD (weapons of mass destruction) issues who authorized the trip," according to a story in Newsweek's July 18 issue.
"Rove's conversation with Cooper could be significant because it indicates a White House official was discussing Plame before her being publicly named and could lead to evidence of how Novak learned her name.
"Although the information is revelatory, it still is unknown whether Rove is a focus of the investigation. Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, has said that Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has told him that Rove is not a target of the inquiry. Luskin said Sunday that Rove didn't know Plame's name and was not actively trying to push the information into the public realm.
"Instead, Luskin said, Rove discussed the matter - under the cloak of secrecy - with Cooper at the tail end of a conversation about a different issue.
"Rove did not mention her name to Cooper," Luskin said."
In the conversation, Rove gave Cooper a "big warning" that Wilson's claims might not be entirely accurate and that it wasn't the director of the CIA or the vice president who sent Wilson on his trip. Rove apparently told Cooper that it was "Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on WMD (weapons of mass destruction) issues who authorized the trip," according to a story in Newsweek's July 18 issue. One of the big Democrat lies was that Plame was intentionally outed as a way of retaliating against Wilson. That explanation never made any sense, because even had that been the administration's goal, it would not have done any damage to Wilson. If you want an example of an administration scheming to damage a whistleblower, you have to look no further than what the Clinton administration did to Linda Tripp by illegally releasing her confidential employment records.
Rather, from the claim of what is contained in the Time material, it seems obvious that the intent was for reporters to dig into the real story of what was going on, namely a rogue, internal CIA plot to discredit the Bush administration by having Wilson perform his little bit of agitprop.
Rove apparently told Cooper that it was "Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on WMD (weapons of mass destruction) issues who authorized the trip," according to a story in Newsweek's July 18 issue.
How this "outs" Plame is beyond me. It sounds like the petty nepotism that goes on all the time in bureaucracies. From what was said, Plame could have been a low level staffer who was exceeding her authority.
Wouldn't it be fun just once to see the press go after a Democrat with this kind of zeal?