My money is on Rove's statement being "I heard that too." Rove is too smart politically and that is a good non-confirming confirmation. In addition, having been previously misquoted by journalists before (amazingly even with a tape recorder running AND taking notes) I don't believe for a second that a journalist can get a quote right if they even tried.
But Novak is quite aware that the general public will not see that as a real confirmation. So he has to twist Rove's words a bit. But it is also true that Novak apparently had to twist CIA public relations person Bill Harlow's statement too. How did what Harlow has said differ from what Novak testified.
I think that Harlow may have done some CMA as well. And in public relatins terms ... Novak only had one real source.
Note that Novak says he outed Rove and Harlow because of what their lawyers have said. It would seem that giving Novak permission to reveal a name is is not enough. YOU have to have a mouthy lawyer.
Betcha Novak needs to save primary source name for his book.