...I seriously doubt K. Rove would lie, not like this. He doesn't strike me as the duplicitous type
I agree with you. Karl Rove is waaaay to smart anyway to do something like this. It will come out and the attackers will be made asses of again. :)
It is fairly clear that Rove identified her as a CIA Officer by her title as the Ambassador's wife rather than by her name. When asked about his knowledge of the leak Rove said he did not identify her name. That is about as close to lying as one can get without actually uttering an untruth. The intent was to deceive and it was very Clintonesque.
I have serious heartburn about Karl Rove because of his role in defining the Administration's Hispandering strategy. I'm pretty much convinced by the arguments that Plume's CIA status was common knowledge in Washington. Nevertheless, it won't hurt my feelings at all if this episode absolutely emasculates Rove. He has done a lot of damage to America by putting the good of the GOP in front of the good of the country.