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July 15, 2005Rope…meet dopeI think I wrote about a week ago my suspicions that the Karl Rove whirlwind was yet another Bushian “rope-a-dope.” The WH was too silent, and they were doing what they ALWAYS do - allowing the press and the Democrats to get wild, shrill, over-confident and over-the-top, and then allowing the cards to show. Many in the blogosphere suspected, right from the start, that Valerie Plame’s identity had been common knowledge in the press, carelessly bandied about. It seems now that such might well be the case. I recall that the press made a lot of noise about investigating “who outed Plame” but that some in the press - most notably Andrea Mitchell seemed very uncomfortable talking about the story, particularly once the White House said, “yeah, we’ll investigate this.” A poker player who knows he is holding aces can afford to play the game. The New York Times, in its story, does not seem to even understand the significance of its report. Read it closely, guys. On Oct. 1, 2003, Mr. Novak wrote another column in which he described calling two officials who were his sources for the earlier column. The first source, whose identity has not been revealed, provided the outlines of the story and was described by Mr. Novak as “no partisan gunslinger.” Mr. Novak wrote that when he called a second official for confirmation, the source said, “Oh, you know about it.” That second source was Mr. Rove, the person briefed on the matter said. Mr. Rove’s account to investigators about what he told Mr. Novak was similar in its message although the White House adviser’s recollection of the exact words was slightly different. Asked by investigators how he knew enough to leave Mr. Novak with the impression that his information was accurate, Mr. Rove said he had heard portions of the story from other journalists, but had not heard Ms. Wilson’s name. As many, many suspected - it was the press itself which “outed” Ms. Plame. Maybe Judith Miller is sitting in jail to protect herself or her boss…although, to be honest, it still seems unlikely that a crime was even committed, here. We sure as heck know Miller is not in jail to protect Rove…are we supposed to believe that - during the election - the press sat on information that could have taken Rove out of their way? Still…I gotta say, one of the reasons I didn’t spend a lot of time writing about this “story” was because I knew - I just knew - that in the end, the thing would blow up in the press’ face. This is what Bush does all the time - plays his hand close to the vest, lets the other side get crazed, waits until they have a big press-gushing moment, when they are sure they have won - (and allowing them to expose their own vindictiveness)…then he lays down his cards. If he and Rove knew from the start that the baby was Novak - as it appears they did - they had no reason to play things any way but as they did. I must say, it takes a man with a strong stomach and a pair of big brass ones to put up with all the churning whirlwinds, when they know the truth…but I guess you can do it if you know that all the crap will eventually blowback onto those working against you, and will ultimately hurt them. Lorie Byrd at Polipundit has a fast and good response to the story, and Ed Morrissey asks what is a very good question: Who leaked this Grand Jury testimony? Isn’t THAT against the law? I like Ace’s header: NYT Clears Rove Without Quite Admitting It My own question: when is Valerie Plame going to be asked about any of this? And I wonder what Judith Miller’s peers, are going to say today. Expect the press to bury this pretty quickly, after making sure they re-iterate every charge against Rove, one more time. Two years of this will leave lots of residual damage. Our modern “free’ press. http://theanchoressonline.com/2005/07/15/ropemeet-dope/trackback/ 10 Responses to “Rope…meet dope” |
July 15th, 2005 at 8:31 am
[...] The Anchoress writes on the Plame affair. [...]
July 15th, 2005 at 9:53 am
I remain astonished at the reality that despite subsequent and repeated election losses, the Dems still have not learned their lesson- that you cannot expect an electorate to react to negativity and the shrill, frenzied catcalls that emanate from what are really no more than sore losers.
The Dems sound like complaining, moaning employess, always complaining about the boss and oversimplifying what it takes to run a business. Point out a few business realities and you’re ’stupid.’
July 15th, 2005 at 10:26 am
The Dems have become Captain Queeg, rolling the silver balls in their hands, rambling about Bushitler, Dick,Darth Vader,Cheney and Karl,the Emperor, Rove stealing the strawberries, I mean elections. They are madly searching for the “truth” and will look under every rock and in every corner until they find it.
July 15th, 2005 at 11:29 am
Rope-the-dopes…
The Anchoress writes: I think I wrote about a week ago my suspicions that the Karl Rove whirlwind was yet another Bushian “rope-a-dope.” The WH was too silent, and they were doing what they ALWAYS do - allowing the…
July 15th, 2005 at 12:11 pm
Friday Blog Round-Up
I haven’t done one of these in a while, so I thought it was about time to do it again. Yes, that’s right…it’s my Friday Blog Round-Up (patent pending lol).
Patrick Ruffini explains why the Jihad is growing weary.
Ace tells you how to trick …
July 15th, 2005 at 2:39 pm
FREE THE KARL ROVE ONE!
Lots of people in blogland commenting on the latest chapter in Rovegate, which today has the New York Times reporting the following: WASHINGTON, July 14 - Karl Rove, the White House senior adviser, spoke with the columnist Robert D. Novak as he was…
July 15th, 2005 at 2:49 pm
Rove-Plame: the other shoe drops
So we’ve come back full circle. We said a couple of days ago, there would be another shoe to drop that would shed more light on the whole Plame/Wilson/Novak/Rove/ etc. saga, and last night we got two. The AP reports:
Chief presidential adviser…
July 15th, 2005 at 4:25 pm
You know, you and Betsy just made CNN…
I knew you when…
July 15th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
I like what George Foreman said one time on Hannity and Colmes: “You have to remember that I was the dope.”
It’s too bad that most of the journalists getting cought by this “not-a-crisis” will not be as gracious now as Mr. Foreman is these days. Of course, being saved and having a relationship with Christ has a lot to do with it, as Mr. Foreman will proudly proclaim if asked.
July 17th, 2005 at 1:25 am
One last entry on “Plamegate”…
Again, one more post for my sister (when she gets a chance to visit my blog) on the media hype…