Karl Rove, Whistleblower

Wall Street Journal ^ | 07/13/05 | Wall Street Journal

[Pikamax]

Karl Rove, Whistleblower July 13, 2005; Page A14

Democrats and most of the Beltway press corps are baying for Karl Rove's head over his role in exposing a case of CIA nepotism involving Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame. On the contrary, we'd say the White House political guru deserves a prize -- perhaps the next iteration of the "Truth-Telling" award that The Nation magazine bestowed upon Mr. Wilson before the Senate Intelligence Committee exposed him as a fraud.

For Mr. Rove is turning out to be the real "whistleblower" in this whole sorry pseudo-scandal. He's the one who warned Time's Matthew Cooper and other reporters to be wary of Mr. Wilson's credibility. He's the one who told the press the truth that Mr. Wilson had been recommended for the CIA consulting gig by his wife, not by Vice President Dick Cheney as Mr. Wilson was asserting on the airwaves. In short, Mr. Rove provided important background so Americans could understand that Mr. Wilson wasn't a whistleblower but was a partisan trying to discredit the Iraq War in an election campaign. Thank you, Mr. Rove.

[syriacus]

I lost all respect I may have had for Ford this morning.

Me, too. And Harold Ford had seemed to be "mellowing" for in recent months.

[Josh in PA]

Harold Ford is one of the biggest, most disgusting lying politicians that he has on.

I can even tolerate Chris Dodd and Joe Biden when they ramble on.. But Ford regularly comes on with complete and total B.S. that could very easily be disputed but is just ignored.

Harold Ford is a disgrace.

[Josh in PA]

That is routine for Ford.. Nobody lies like this clown does.

[cartoonistx]

[cartoonistx]

[NathanBookman]

Hey Plame was fair game. If she is going to use her position in the CIA to send her hubby on a trip where they probably had the report written before he left. Does Ford realize the lies Wilson told? Maybe that is Ford's definition of a patriot. He is a moron.

[syriacus]

complete and total B.S.

Yes. He is a very talented mythmaker. I thought he was trying to reform lately, but I was very, very wrong.

He's a crybaby, too. He complained this morning that President Bush wasn't answering his letters.

Ford can't get Bush to answer his letters, so he runs crying to Imus.

[skidoc]

Next play in lib playbook.

Pull out fake document to prove your case! Where is Dan Rather when you need him?

[syriacus]

Ford also questioned Rove's manhood. Said if you have a beef with a man, don't go after his wife.

I wonder if I am allowed to question Wilson's manhood? He had to rely on his wife to get him an assignment to sip tea.

[syriacus]

Where is Dan Rather when you need him?

Good question.
Dan...Dan...come in, Dan.

[txrangerette]

Imus's idea of having on a "Conservative" would most often be McCain or Pat Buchanan. Ha ha ha!!

[samantha]

Gee Harold, "manhood' like your filthy,crooked, and disgusting Uncle. The multiple bribe taking "family man" that cares so much about his wife he decides to get two more wives with children while he is still with her. Harold Ford has always struck me as "Gay",and not very "manly" himself.

[Republican Red]

I turned on Bill Or'Reilly for the first time in a long time to hear his take on it.

He was ill prepared and uninformed on the whole topic. I actually ended up turning it off in mid report.

How can me - a woman in Alpharetta GA with a family to watch over and a real job to do know more about this story than News Corp. I would think Bill O'Reilly has at his beck and call a "professional" staff of researchers. He was on the air spouting the already proven falsehoods as facts and no spin. It was either big-time spin or just plain laziness.

I should have known better than to turn his show on. Fox has been no better at all in their coverage

[kevinm13]

Excellent reporting. Facts laid out clearly and truthfully with little name calling. This is what journalism should be about.

[jackv]

I agree O'Reilly was very ill prepared last night for that report, and it is all right there!
I think Newt did a good job setting him straight tho. He kept saying, just think about it for a second, Bill!

[massgopguy]

Did Imus agree? Imus went after Howie Carr's wife once and Derschowitz made Imus pay,

[OESY]

You would have thought that, in preparation for his own show, O'Reilly might have read the NY Post, in particular the Podhoretz column, for some background. It was obvious O'Reilly was again trying to wing it as Newt recited the facts of the Rove-Wilson case.

O'Really was continually flabbergasted by the revelations that everyone else who has been following the story was well aware of. The Bloviator should be canned, as his sloppy style makes FoxNews a lightning rod for liberals.

[Wil H]

I heard the husband also has her described as a CIA agent in his own biographical info somewhere- I am trying to find out where this is.

I believe it was online somewhere.

His book the "Politics of Truth" (there's a laugh!) was published after the incident, I believe.

[Steve_Seattle]

"It was either big-time spin or just plain laziness."

With O'Reilly, I think it's laziness. There have been other times when he sounded like he hadn't done his homework. He has this working-man presupposition that anyone of moderate intelligence should be able to make sound judgements on the news; fair enough, but that assumes that your news sources are accurate, and in this case we all know that they aren't. An investigative reporter, he is not.