Rove

President Bush seems to be taking 'œloophole' lessons from Bill Clinton, said Ellis Henican in Newsday. Twice, Bush has 'œmade an unqualified pledge' to fire any administration official who leaked the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. White House 'œsources' blew Plame's cover in press leaks back in 2003, in an act of political revenge. At the time, her husband, former U.S. diplomat Joe Wilson, was saying unkind things about the president. Now it's emerged that Bush's closest political advisor, Karl Rove, was among the leakers. So this week, Bush did some 'œpresidential wiggling' worthy of Clinton's oral-sex-isn't-sex hedge. Under pressure from the White House press corps, he reiterated that he would dismiss any leaker—but added the key phrase, 'œwho committed a crime.' That means Rove isn't going anywhere.

Seriously now, said Michelle Cottle in The New Republic Online, did anyone think Bush would ever fire Karl Rove? His guru's 'œpolitical cunning' got Bush elected to every office he's held. Besides, the president needs Rove's guidance if he is to salvage his second term. Rove, it's true, has been caught in a barefaced lie: Back in 2003, he repeatedly denied having any 'œinvolvement' in the stories revealing Plame's identity. But 'œthis administration has consistently shown itself to be completely uninterested in personal accountability—so long as the person in question has been doing the administration's bidding.' Look at the intelligence boondoggle over Iraq and the Abu Ghraib prison-abuse scandals, for which no administration official lost his job. By comparison, Rove's transgression was trifling. Was outing a CIA officer a sleazy bit of political revenge? Yes. A firing offense in 'œBushworld'? Not even close.

Nor should it be, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. In the Democratic version of this 'œpseudo scandal,' Wilson is the 'œtruth-telling' hero and Rove is the attack dog. The facts suggest the opposite. Wilson has claimed that when he was sent on his secret mission to Niger in 2002, he 'œthoroughly debunked' the notion that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium there. Bush, Wilson says, ignored him. But a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report concluded that Wilson's findings in Niger were actually 'œmildly supportive' of the suspicion that Saddam was seeking uranium in Africa. It's Rove who has turned out to be the 'œreal whistle-blower,' by warning reporters 'œto be wary' of the untrustworthy Wilson.

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As for the law, said National Review Online in an editorial, it appears that Rove committed no crimes. A special prosecutor is investigating the leak of Plame's identity, but the Intelligence Identities Protection Act is 'œnarrowly worded,' limiting offenses to the deliberate disclosure of a covert operative's name. Rove never named Plame—in his conversation with a Time reporter, she was referred to only as 'œWilson's wife'—and there's no evidence he knew she was undercover. Sorry, Democrats, you'll have to search for a White House scandal elsewhere.

Richard Cohen

The Washington Post