Rovian Secretions

[H2O Man]

Rovian Secretions

The 4-17-06 New York Sun article "No Hint Seen in Memo that Plame's Role Was Secret" included a link to a declassified version of a State Department memorandum that has played a significant role in the Plame Scandal. The Sun article suggests the memo "undercuts the idea of a deliberate campaign to expose Plame." That idea was put in check by Jason Leopold's article "State Department Memo: '16 Words' Were False," on TruthOut yesterday.

However, because the Sun article quotes Karl Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, in its attempt to spin the memo to the White House's advantage, I thought we should take a closer look. The Sun had made a Freedom of Information request for the memo last July, and reportedly had just received it. When we consider that Karl Rove apparently didn't see the memo, and wasn't on Air Force One on the July 2003 trip to Africa when it was reportedly passed around to administration officials who were upset by Joe Wilson's NY Times op-ed, it seems curious that the Sun would seek Luskin's opinion.

Just for fun, let's look back to July of 2005, and see if there is anything that stands out about Rove and Luskin. Perhaps we could start with "Rove At War," the 7-25-05 Newsweek cover story, which concludes, "As for Rove, friends say that he was shaken by the speed with which the Wilson story moved -- and in a direction he didn't expect. He's used to being in control. But now all Rove can do is mark time until someone else -- Patrick Fitzgerald -- says what comes next. After his re-election victory last November, Bush called Rove the 'Architect.' Now the hunter has to wait with everyone else to see if he has become the hunted." (page 34)

In "Think Progress's" research forum on "23 Administration Officials Involved in Plame Leak," we are reminded that on 9-29-03, when asked if he had any knowledge of who leaked a CIA agent's name, Karl answered, "No." (ABC News; 9-29-03) And that very day, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said he had spoken with Karl, and it was a "ridiculous suggestion" that he played any role in the scandal. (White House briefing; 9-29-03) And the 7-11-05 Newsweek quoted Karl as saying, "I didn't know her name and didn't leak her name."

Karl had testified three times before the grand jury. He reportedly had admitted that he participated in discussions about Wilson and Plame with some administration officials, apparently those in the WHIG. But he had denied discussing her with Time reporter Matt Cooper. During the period of time Rove denied talking to Cooper, both Time and Cooper were fighting Fitzgerald's efforts to force him to testify to the grand jury. But, as the 7-25-05 Time reports, Cooper had decided to testify.

Matthew Cooper told the grand jury that Rove had told him their conversation was on "deep background," which he understod to mean he "must keep the identity of my source confidential." Without using Valerie's name, Rove told Cooper that Wilson's wife worked for "the agency," and was responsible for sending him on the trip to Niger. He mentioned that information was going to be declassified in the "coming days that would cast doubt on Wilson's mission and his findings." He ended the conversation by saying, "I've already said too much."

How did Karl Rove and Robert Luskin respond to all of this? The 7-25-05 Newsweek notes, "Last week, Newsweek has learned, after Time's Matthew Cooper provided grand-jury testimony on his July 11, 2003, conversation with Karl Rove, Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, placed a call to Fitzgerald to make sure he didn't need anything more from Rove in light of Cooper's claims. Fitzgerald didn't bite: 'We'll get back to you,' the prosecutor replied curtly, and quickly got off the line." (page 32)

The 10-15-05 New York Times reported that Rove testified before the grand jury again. He had a cover story, about finding an e-mail to Steve Hadley that he found after his lawyer had "refreshed" his memory. This, we learned, was as a result of Luskin dining with Viveca Novak. However, in two meetings with Fitzgerald -- one under oath -- Ms. Novak's story did not seem to support Luskin's. (See "What Viveca Novak Told Fitzgerald"; Time; 12-11-05)

Ms. Novak would end her career with Time as a result of this incident. Her editors were not the only people unhappy with her behavior. "One Final note," she wrote in her final Time article, "Luskin is unhappy that I decided to write about our conversation, but I feel that he violated any understanding to keep our talk confidential by unilaterally going to Fitzgerald and telling him what was said."

And that brings us to another tactic that Rove and Luskin use frequently: selective secretions to the media. The 10-24-05 New York Times featured an article, "Republicans Testing Ways to Blunt Leak Charges." Among the sad attempts were efforts to say if Fitzgerald indicted Rove, it would amount to "criminalizing politics and that Mr. Fitzgerald did not understand how Washington works."

More, in the 10-19-05 New York Daily News, a presidential counselor was quoted as saying that "an angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Rove two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair .... 'He made his displeasure known to Karl ... He made his life miserable about this'."

All of this was too much for even Robert Novak, the dehydrated journalist who had first published Plame's identity in July 2003. On his 12-14-05 MSNBC show, host Tucker Carlson noted that Novak "said yesterday he is confident President Bush knows who leaked Plame's name and should settle the mystery." Guest David Schuster told Carlson that he believed Fitzgerald would eventually indict Rove, based in part upon Ms. Novak's testimony.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence that the New York Sun had an article quoting Luskin, who said, "It's something that people got very excited about," but that the State Department memo "further substantiates that nobody involved in discussions of her or her role in sending Mr. Wilson had the slightest inkling she was in classified status." But the memo never said she sent Wilson. I think this is another selective Rovian secretion, testing ways to blunt upcoming leak charges.

[neoblues]

1. That'd be...

pardon me for saying it, but the word is: smegma.

[H2O Man]

8. Yikes!

Wish I'd had thought of that .... "Rovian Smegma"!!!

[Patsy Stone]

2. Didja have to?

Rovian secretions? Ewww.

I think you're right. The only time a lawyer is ready to talk on the record is when it helps his client. When do you think Luskin called the Sun? :)

Oh, and "dehydrated journalist"? :rofl: It was only because he hadn't had a chance to drink more blood.

[H2O Man]

11. It makes you wonder

if, when a week or two ago, the Sun had the "breaking news/morning edition" of the Fitzgerald response, if it were a "dry run"? It made other media sources pay attention to the Sun, and they may have felt that insured this nonsense would get big coverage.

[Patsy Stone]

16. Sounds logical

and Luskin used to have a relationship with Jim VandHei too, of sorts. His articles always referenced "sources" from the Rove camp. I wonder if that went south, or if Luskin is just changing outlets to spread his propaganda? Easier time of it? Not too much cross-checking of facts? Hasn't VandHei been really quiet on this recently?

[H2O Man]

17. Luskin is an

interesting character. In a number of ways, he wass a progressive person on social issues. But he is also a material person, and that has, of course, created a problem for him in the past. The combination of these qualities brought him the Rove case, and he seems willing to take on Rove's aggressive media manipulation as a tactic. I think it's possible to respect what Teddy Wells is doing for Libby, as gross as Libby is. But I don't like what Robert has become. I think he lied to Patrick Fitzgerald on the V Novak business.

[Patsy Stone]

26. I still don't understand the Hail Mary defense

And I don't understand putting yourself in the middle of it, but I do know that if your story might not match with your alibi's, and you don't know that, you're a bad lawyer. I really expected more. I know that he's in it for the money and the publicity, and so what if he made a deal with the devil, that's his choice. But for all that money, at least try a good defense.

[Me.]

3. Rove Is The Lesser Of Two Evils In The WH

but he opened the door to the greater of the two evils (Cheney) by his politicizing everything from foreign policy from to national security. He used Swiftboat tactics on anything involving the WH and it has come back to haunt him. His games as usual approach has gone a long way in destroying the structure of this country starting with the fact that he helped to put two madmen in control of the government. They who would go on to destroying hundreds of thousands of lives. There is blood on his hands and he needs to pay for it, though he and his attorney are still using the same tactics to try and escape the noose. For such a reputed genius he seems a remarkably stupid man.

[Jackpine Radical]

45. The lesser of two evils? Not exactly, IMHO.

There are a lot more than two evils in the White House. And Rove stands pretty high among them. Some act out of a dedication to twisted ideologies. Others, the pure psychopaths, act out of simple hedonistic self-interest and general sliminess. Most fall somewhere along the continuum, with a mix of motives from both poles. Both Rove and Cheney are nearly pure cases drawn from the slimy end of the continuum.

[EVDebs]

4. Exactly who owns the NY Sun ? What is their beef with liberal media ?

""Welcome to www.nysun.com, (the "Web site"). This Web site is owned and operated by One SL, LLC ("The New York Sun").""

Znet recently ran an article stating:

""Yesterday's New York Sun -- a small, conservative New York daily noted for its slavishly pro-Israel, pro-Likkud politics and its pandering to the worst fears of New York's large Jewish community -- yesterday published a hallucinatory article, "France's Le Pen to Strike a Deal with Muslims," It claims that neo-Fascist and notorious anti-Semite Jean Marie Le Pen -- the Führer of the racist Front National party -- is "poised to strike an alliance with France's large immigrant Muslim community."""

The NEW YORK SUN's French Hallucination: A LE PEN-MUSLIM ALLIANCE?
by Doug IReland

February 22, 2006

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9783

If so, a direct link from neocon spinners tracing back to Rove and the White House may still be 'in effect'. This may also be part of the ongoing military PsyOps of the type practiced by CNN

CNN and PsyOps
www.counterpunch.org/cnnpsyops.html

The military's domestic propaganda efforts in the endless war we have been told we are in may be turning into a 'hide behind the skirts' of the military effort by the White House in order to provide cover for illegal acts.

[Me.]

6. Can You Say Neo-con?

"The NY Sun Is Pro-Likud" which means to me essentially it is a propaganda rag and has nothing to do with being a real newspaper. It also means we can expect them to back the ISOG in the OVP.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

5. Good stuff H20 - But the title makes me want a shower

With lots and lots of anti-bacterial soap.

BTW, note to Skinner: We need a shower smiley.;)

[H2O Man]

9. Lava for me. n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Even lava might not be enough?

Pure lye might be required for the poison that comes out of that man's body.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

31. Lava and rinse in a 25% solution of Lysol

Might get the slime off.

Then again, probably not.

[annabanana]

23. somehow this one isn't quite adequate

tougher scrubbing is required...

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

32. To put it in neo-con terms, I would like a more robust scrubbing

But thanks, that one is cute.

[stop the bleeding]

7. Replying so that I can read this later today

Looks good B-)

[Me.]

10. K & R

[bleever]

13. With these guys, there's always something to be learned by turning their

statements inside out. Often what you get is a brilliant little jewel of truth.

Case in point: 'Among the sad attempts were efforts to say if Fitzgerald indicted Rove, it would amount to "criminalizing politics and that Mr. Fitzgerald did not understand how Washington works."'

Reversed, you get this: If Rove smeared (or tried to evade) Fitzgerald, it would amount to politicizing crimes, and indicate that Mr. Rove did not understand how the law works.

Which is true.

:)

[H2O Man]

18. Well done.

The other thought I had was that the White House is upset, because Mr. Fitzgerald knows exactly how Washington works. A Mr. Ryan could attest to Fitzgerald's capacity to understand politics.

I'm reminded of that foolish statement, about "you have to rise above your principles." Baloney. Fitzgerald is a principled man, and it scares the heck out of Washington.

[bleever]

22. That was a Cheney quote, right?

Something about how priniciples are fine up to a point, unless they keep you from winning?

Sounds like a direct quote from the Devil.

[H2O Man]

24. Good memory.

It's commonly used in business management. Cheney delivered the satanic verse.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

33. H2O If our democracy survives, it's because of principles

Fitzgerald is a principled man, and it scares the heck out of Washington.

We're damned lucky, blessed or both to have Fitz in the middle of all this.

Edited to fix html goof.

[H2O Man]

38. On principles .....

I remember many years ago, when Oren Lyons was the Faith Keeper in the Turtle Clan, before he replaced Chief Waterman as Wisdom Keeper. And in dealings with the state, or similar settings, people would say things like, "Well you can't go back ...." One day, Oren gave an answer that always struck with me:

"Our principles do not change. Justice is always justice; freedom is always freedom. Great principles are constant. And so what they call the "old way" is nothing more than principles. And they say you can't go back to the old ways -- which means you can't go back to justice, you can't go back to equality, you can't go back to what is right and what is wrong. Principles are how you exist above and beyond the emotions that you feel; to control and have discipline of one's self. Self-discipline, not people making you behave, but the discipline where you don't need police. That is how our people lived. There were no police. There were no jails. There were basic laws -- you don't lie and steal. Tell the truth. Be strong. Look out for your brother. Look out for the ones just underneath you. Look out for your elders. Use your strength on behalf of the Nation, on behalf of the people. Conduct yourself in a proper manner."

[leftchick]

14. "Robert Novak, the dehydrated journalist "

now that was way too kind! :rofl:

[H2O Man]

19. A couple other words

came to mind. But I thought that "dehydrated" summed him up.

[Catrina]

15. Signs of desperation? Rove is losing control, imo. But bad habits are

hard to break. Manipulating the MSM has been relatively easy for Rove, ever since 9/11. The fact that he now has to turn to an obviously partisan 'news' source, might mean that other news sources no longer trust anything that comes from him, (or his lawyer) without thoroughly checking it first.

I wondered how the memo became declassified ~ your OP says it was through a Sun FOIA request dating back to last July. Things must be bad for Rove et al, if they took this chance at using this particular memo to try to prove they were not aware of who Valerie Plame was.

If this memo helps them, why wait 'til now to declassify it? Desperate men do desperate things. They know all of this will come out anyway, so why not get ahead of the game and try to use it to their advantage?

I keep wondering also about the 'damage assessment' done by the CIA after the outing of Valerie Plame and later, Brewster Jennings. I wonder if Fitzgerald has seen it and what it contains.

I do remember the judge who eventually sent Judith Miller to jail. He was reluctant to do that, but changed his mind after Fitzgerald showed him some documents after which he said that since 'this is a crime of such magnitude' he would forego his previous reticence regarding reporters and their sources.

A crime of such magnitude! If the damage assessment report showed that agents had been killed, or imprisoned as a result of the leak, that would explain the CIA's insistence on this investigation.

I'm just speculating, of course, but that judge's statement and his agreeing to jail Judith Miller after reviewing Fitzgerald's evidence, meant to me that there's a lot we don't know.

[H2O Man]

20. Rove's tactics

bring to mind the old phrase "modus operandi." A good investigator studies his/her prey, and learns their methods of procedure. The fact that Bush the Elder had fired Rove years ago for leaking information improperly -- and to Robert Novak -- might have given Mr. Fitzgerald a clue where to start.

Just as Libby's modus operandi involves being quiet, and trying to avoid attention, Karl's involves attemping a more overt form of manipulation. A passive/aggressive combination, they are!

With pressure on them, both will by nature resort to the security of their favorite methods of procedure. I think we've seen a good bit of that three times in this case with Karl: first, when he savaged the Wilsons; second, with his attempts to bullshit the grand jury; and third, with the media manipulation in the past ten months. But this may be the tip of the iceberg .... I think we are in for a show through the late spring and summer.

[Catrina]

49. Yes, thanks for reminding me that Bush Sr. fired Rove for leaking

to Novak before. I imagine that information did give Fitzgerald some ideas as to where to start. Novak may have been willing to talk right from the start though. I remember when this started, most people, before understanding the law regarding the outing of an undercover agent, thought Novak would be prosecuted, especially since none of the other reporters had published the information.

I'm still curious about Judith Miller's and Bob Woodward's role in all of this, since neither one wrote anything about the information they received.

Your point about MO is a good one ~

I think we are in for a show through the late spring and summer.

Yes, they are cornered now, and will most likely lash out in an attempt to either get revenge on Democrats in general, and/or to deflect attention away from their own troubles.



I just read that Rove's duties have been changed and Scott McClellan has resigned. Andrew Card is also gone to spend time with the family. It must be getting lonely at the top!

[Catherine Vincent]

21. I don't want to know about anything secreting from Karl Rove,

but I recommended anyway. :-) :hi:

[Missy Vixen]

25. Other than the fact I'll now need to take a wire barbecue brush

to my brainpan to rid myself of THAT visual ;-) :hi:, I recommended too.

Another great essay, H2OMan!

Julie

[Patsy Stone]

30. I believe

I've yet to congratulate you on your moderator-ship! :thumbsup: :toast:

[Beetwasher]

27. K&R

Stellar, as usual, sir!

[Disturbed]

29. Some Rovian secretions could be

cold sweat.

[kpete]

28. K&R

[Octafish]

34. Two separate issues: NIE release and Plame as a NOC.

The White Hearse and the press corpse are doing all they can to spin the story that "Oops. Plame's name got out with the 'evidence' supporting Iraq possessing WMDs."

The reality is that the NIE leaked to support BushCo's Big Lie about Iraq and WMDs did mention Plame in order to out her status as a CIA secret operative, a "non-official cover" officer. BushCo was FURIOUS that Wilson went against the Big Lie and needed to squash any further dissension from the ranks of the professionals in the government.

Anyone who knows anything knows outting Plame's identity is as big a secret as they come and that information's release damaged national security. She and her team at Brewster, Jennings & Associates were charged with stopping the spread of WMDs.

Bush and those who support him are TRAITORS. Aw shucks! You know that, H20 Man!

EdIT: TippO

[H2O Man]

37. Yep.

In a section of the thread, there is a discussion of principles .... and how the machine attempts to pressure people to "rise above their principles." Those within the machine fear Fitzgerald for having strong principles, of course, but equally important is their hatred for Wilson for sticking to his.

[Binka]

39. When the Machine Asks One To "Rise Above Their Principles"

It means...."COMPROMISE THEIR PRINCIPLES."

MLK 1963:
It is also midnight within the moral order. At midnight colours lose their distinctiveness and become a sullen shade of grey. Moral principles have lost their distinctiveness. For modern man, absolute right and wrong are a matter of what the majority is doing. Right and wrong are relative to likes and dislikes and the customs of a particular community. We have unconsciously applied Einstein’s theory of relativity, which properly described the physical universe, to the moral and ethical realm.

Midnight is the hour when men desperately seek to obey the eleventh commandment, "Thou shalt not get caught." According to the ethic of midnight, the cardinal sin is to be caught and the cardinal virtue is to get by. It is all right to lie, but one must lie with real finesse. It is all right to steal, if one is so dignified that, if caught, the charge becomes embezzlement, not robbery. It is permissible even to hate, if one so dresses his hating in the garments of love that hating appears to be loving. The Darwinian concept of the survival of the fittest has been substituted by a philosophy of the survival of the slickest. This mentality has brought a tragic breakdown of moral standards, and the midnight of moral degeneration deepens.

[H2O Man]

40. Oh, I like that!

Very accurate description.

[The Wizard]

44. Desk Jockey Plame

The knuckle dragging Bush supporting, Limbaugh listeners who insist that Plame was a desk jockey need to talk to Patrick Fitzgerald. We need to know who gave them this information.
Our President is a nut, and good riddance snotty Scottie.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

35. Rove's secretions began about 72 hours after meeting with Jeff Gannon

He's also got some sores I don't want to describe here. Let's just say the location is quite tender.

[Roland99]

42. EEWWWWWWW!!

:)

[TacticalPeek]

36. K&R

:kick:

[Laura PourMeADrink]

41. Thanks H2O ! I love your description of Novak: "dehydrated" !

[wordpix]

43. I've never understood why BushCo thought outing Plame would undermine Joe

Wilson's story about his Niger trip and discovering faked documents. So what if she suggested to CIA higher ups that her husband go to Niger to check out the story? It wasn't like he was going on some junket to play golf at a luxury resort, like some pols we know.

So stupid on CheneyRoveLibby's part to even bring Plame into the mix in the first place. But then again, "Incompetence Is Us" should be the repig motto.

[leveymg]

46. Scooter had the 2/19/02 INR Notes before he met with Judy Miller.

Those notes are a reconstruction of the meeting at which Valerie Wilson suggested that her husband be sent to Niger to check out the Yellowcake claims. She's identified as a CIA WMD analyst in the notes which are classifed Secret. Scooter got ahold of these notes as part of a bundle of classified documents faxed over by Marc Grossman Deputy Undersec State, after they talked on May 29, 2003.

These notes were incorporated as an attachment to the 6/10/03 INR.

Scooter met Judy on 6/23 and 7/8, and discussed the INR and the notes. A version of the INR made it onto AF-1 on 7/7 and was passed around by WH staffers. Valerie Plame was outed by Novak on 7/14.

See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/10/16103/0810 ;
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/17/16594/3210

[H2O Man]

47. Actually

no one claims that Valerie suggested her husband be sent at this meeting, not even the republicans who are convinced that she had previously suggested him.

[leveymg]

48. Allow me to rephrase, the notes recount the 2/19/02 meeting at which

Valerie Wilson is identified as a CIA WMD manager. Libby got his mits on these INR notes from Marc Grossman and discussed them with Judy Miller.

The importance of these INR notes is that this is the most likely documentary source from which Libby initially learned about Plame's CIA employment. Singly, or in combination with other documents received from Grossman, and Libby's two sources, Libby had sufficient information to identify Valerie as an undercover CIA NOC, and this information was passed on to Judy. That opens Libby and his confederates to conspiracy charges under the IIPA, if Fitz chooses to go in that direction.

[Pithy Cherub]

50. is Rove's recent job change due to a need to

clear the decks about his security clearances. Rove may be in the process of having them revoked as he is still not clear in the CIA Leak. Rove also was part of WHIG as a policy maker. Rove leaked the information both for political purposes and policy ones. President Cheney has a vested interest in seeing Rove diminished.

[PegDAC]

51. Eeeewwww!

That just sounds GROSS!
:puke:

[kohodog]

52. Things are heating up now that the Ryan case is finished.

Fitzgerald appears to be turning his attention to the Plame case. I expect we will see some rapid movement unless the secreter"s lawyer can tie up documents and slow the case down. There is now enough public information, and dare I say it, interest by the msm that i think that tactic is becoming transparent to the point I think the judge will want to keep things moving.

[H2O Man]

53. Yep.

Mr. Fitzgerald was presenting information on Mr. Rove to the grand jury today.

[TacticalPeek]

54. Those words are music.

:patriot:

[H2O Man]

55. Oh, good!

Someone noticed! Thank you, TacticalPeek!!!