As Expected, Karl Rove Is Sweet/Pure/Guiltless

WaPo reports this morning that Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, admits “Rove spoke with at least one reporter about Valerie Plame's role at the CIA before she was identified as a covert agent in a newspaper column two years ago.” But Luskin said his client did not identify her by name. The WaPo article says, “(Time mag's Matthew) Cooper, according to an internal Time e-mail obtained by Newsweek magazine, spoke with Rove before Novak's column was published. In the conversation, Rove gave Cooper a "big warning" that Wilson's assertions might not be entirely accurate and that it was not the director of the CIA or the vice president who sent Wilson on his trip. Rove apparently told Cooper that it was "Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip," according to a story in Newsweek's July 18 issue.” Whew! I'm so glad that's cleared up. Karl Rove fingered Valerie Plame and gave particulars about her job with the CIA but didn't say her name. Ergo, Rove is off the hook. The Plame case game is entering the “Lawyers Wriggle and Twist” Semi-finals. The rules are: to be considered a violation of the law, a disclosure by a government official must have been deliberate, the person doing it must have known that the CIA officer was a covert agent, and he or she must have known that the government was actively concealing the covert agent's identity. Good. That means if any government official accidentally and with no malice tells a reporter that the deputy chief of staff in the White House is a fat fascist twat who has committed war crimes and has never told the truth since he oiled his way into the Bush administration, that official won't get into trouble because he didn't say the name KARL ROVE. Coming up, the White House Whirl and Spin Finals: Karl Rove Reveals He's Jesus and George W. Bush is the Beloved Disciple.