Nadagate

Sometimes I think that I would like the mondo traffic and the notoriety that the big boys and girls have. Then, on the few occasions in which I get a link from one of them--though I'm quite grateful--I know why some of them must be pretty stressed out.

In the comments to one of Kevin Drum’s posts on the Plame “scandal,” some lunatic person with a unique perspective is talking about prosecuting Karl Rove under the Espionage Act for “leaking” Valerie Plame’s name, suggesting that Mr. Rove’s “crime” is a capital offense. When you’re Karl Rove, some days it just doesn’t pay to answer the phone.

This is what happens to your perspective when you want something so bad that you’re willing to ignore the facts to get it.

Meanwhile, John Tierney sums up the whole thing nicely; again, astonishingly enough, in the New York Times.

For now, though, it looks as if this scandal is about a spy who was not endangered, a whistle-blower who did not blow the whistle and was not smeared, and a White House official who has not been fired for a felony that he did not commit. And so far the only victim is a reporter who did not write a story about it. [SNIP]

What do you call a scandal that's not scandalous?

Nadagate.

(Thanks to Lucianne.com)

Comments

[StinKerr]

I copied the article to a PDF file and will cheerfully make it available to the usual suspects after it is archived and becomes a premium article.

His slight mention of Judith Miller's position is understandable as they are both writing for the NYTimes. He could hardly mention that she's in jail because she refuses to accept the waivers of anonymity that were signed by the chief target of the MSM more than a year ago. Er... make that the chief target's closest advisor. After all, we know who they're really after, don't we?

Miller isn't going to let this die even if she needs to make a martyr of herself by going to jail for contempt and obstruction.

Unless her source wasn't Rove or anyone else in the White House. That's the interesting part. I won't speculate as to who it might be...as much as I'd like to do so.

[teal marie]

Oh, yeah, Drum's site puts things in perspective, snake-pit-wise. Those guys bite the hell out of each other for not being bloodthirsty enough and express "Optimism" that there's a traitor in the WhiteHouse. What infuriates me is the timing. They choose to rethrow this tantrum just when the London attacks and the Impulsive Car bomber who drove into a crowd of kids in Iraq were getting too much media attention. Like 6 year old brats pitching a fit at a funeral, knowing full well it was the worst possible time to act up, but too immature to have any mercy.

The link to Lucianne was a real pleasure. I especially appreciated this comment -

Reply 11 - Posted by: T-Bubba
"There is a real scandal here, one that even some BigMedia type is going to have to address.

And that is the scandal of an anti-anti-terrorist in the CIA sending her Kerry-appointee, anti-anti-terrorist husband to trump up charges against a sitting president during a wartime election campaign.

Will Senator PurpleHeart pay a price for this?"

I (teal) dunno if Kerry is that dumb. I doubt it. But I agree that this is a serious scandal. No matter how inept this farce makes them (idiotarians) look in the end, it's no laughing matter how depraved and perverse they've become.
Sorry, I'm just tired and cynical. Musn't grumble.
My prayers are for the real victims of the real terror attacks. For their families, for their awful grief.

[otcconan]

the chances Judith Miller's source is Rove, and that she sat on that information under threat of jail, in an election cycle, are quite slim, I think.

[Tully]

The chances are much better that Miller's source is either Plame or Wilson.

[Bill O..]

I am assuming you all either did not see of have not yet seen Mathew Cooper on Meet the Press explaining how it was through Rove that he first heard of Valerie Plame and that she was a covert CIA agent.

[torchy]

Bill O
Apparently you didn't watch the Cooper interview from the beginning where Russert excerpted an upcoming Time magazine article where Cooper admits that Rove didn't name Wilsons wife as Valerie Plame or that she was a covert agent with the CIA.
I assume the pre-requisites for outing a covert agent are to give the agents name AND confirm that they are a covert agent for the CIA or another intelligence outfit, neither of which Rove did. Karl Rove admits that he heard those allegations and told Cooper that "I heard that too" when presented with those allegations by Cooper. "I heard that too" only confirms that a rumor exists, not that the substance of the rumor is correct. Read the words, not what you want to see.

[justin]

Teal Marie--are you serious? What scandal with Kerry are you talking about (or is that Bubba guy referring to)? You/he sound as bad as those Bush=Hitler people on the left. Don't forget, WILSON WAS RIGHT about the Niger/Iraq connection, even if Wilson isn't the most reliable person in other ways. But oh, with you that doesn't seem to matter, because any criticism of the President, even legit, is treason. Unless it's criticism of Clinton during a war, then it's OK.

It's hard to know who to trust with this whole thing. I certainly don't know whether to believe Rove now, who originally said he had nothing to do with this thing, and he if he wasn't lying in the first place, was only telling the truth in a Bill Clinton "I did no have sex" sort of way. Wilson doens't seem like the most reliable person either. As a "Bush hater", I'd love to see Rove go, but I'm also just curious about what the truth is.

[stroudDAWG]

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, and it will not make this scandal go away. Here is a letter from 18 former CIA intelligence officers to congressional leaders about why the Rove/Plame scandal is a real problem, and why the Republican response so far has been shameful and sleazy. Before you get out your partisan hatchets, please note that out of the four signees who have political contribution records, three gave only to Republicans.

CIA Agents Letter to US Senate and House

18 July 2005

AN OPEN STATEMENT TO THE LEADERS OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE.

We, the undersigned former U.S. intelligence officers are concerned with the tone and substance of the public debate over the ongoing Department of Justice investigation into who leaked the name of Valerie Plame, wife of former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV, to syndicated columnist Robert Novak and other members of the media, which exposed her status as an undercover CIA officer. The disclosure of Ms. Plame's name was a shameful event in American history and, in our professional judgment, may have damaged U.S. national security and poses a threat to the ability of U.S. intelligence gathering using human sources. Any breach of the code of confidentiality and cover weakens the overall fabric of intelligence, and, directly or indirectly, jeopardizes the work and safety of intelligence workers and their sources.

The Republican National Committee has circulated talking points to supporters to use as part of a coordinated strategy to discredit Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife. As part of this campaign a common theme is the idea that Ambassador Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame was not undercover and deserved no protection. The following are four recent examples of this "talking point":

Michael Medved stated on Larry King Live on July 12, 2005, "And let's be honest about this. Mrs. Plame, Mrs. Wilson, had a desk job at Langley. She went back and forth every single day."

Victoria Toensing stated on a Fox News program with John Gibson on July 12, 2005 that, "Well, they weren't taking affirmative measures to protect that identity. They gave her a desk job in Langley. You don't really have somebody deep undercover going back and forth to Langley, where people can see them."

Ed Rodgers, Washington Lobbyist and former Republican official, said on July 13, 2005 on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, "And also I think it is now a matter of established fact that Mrs. Plame was not a protected covert agent, and I don't think there's any meaningful investigation about that."

House majority whip Roy Blunt (R, Mo), on Face the Nation, July 17, 2005, "It certainly wouldn't be the first time that the CIA might have been overzealous in sort of maintaining the kind of top-secret definition on things longer than they needed to. You know, this was a job that the ambassador's wife had that she went to every day. It was a desk job. I think many people in Washington understood that her employment was at the CIA, and she went to that office every day."

These comments reveal an astonishing ignorance of the intelligence community and the role of cover. The fact is that there are thousands of U.S. intelligence officers who "work at a desk" in the Washington, D.C. area every day who are undercover. Some have official cover, and some have non-official cover. Both classes of cover must and should be protected.

While we are pleased that the U.S. Department of Justice is conducting an investigation and that the U.S. Attorney General has recused himself, we believe that the partisan attacks against Valerie Plame are sending a deeply discouraging message to the men and women who have agreed to work undercover for their nation's security.

We are not lawyers and are not qualified to determine whether the leakers technically violated the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act. However, we are confident that Valerie Plame was working in a cover status and that our nation's leaders, regardless of political party, have a duty to protect all intelligence officers. We believe it is appropriate for the President to move proactively to dismiss from office or administratively punish any official who participated in any way in revealing Valerie Plame's status. Such an act by the President would send an unambiguous message that leaks of this nature will not be tolerated and would be consistent with his duties as the Commander-in-Chief.

We also believe it is important that Congress speak with one non-partisan voice on this issue. Intelligence officers should not be used as political footballs. In the case of Valerie Plame, she still works for the CIA and is not in a position to publicly defend her reputation and honor. We stand in her stead and ask that Republicans and Democrats honor her service to her country and stop the campaign of disparagement and innuendo aimed at discrediting Mrs. Wilson and her husband.

Our friends and colleagues have difficult jobs gathering the intelligence, which helps, for example, to prevent terrorist attacks against Americans at home and abroad. They sometimes face great personal risk and must spend long hours away from family and friends. They serve because they love this country and are committed to protecting it from threats from abroad and to defending the principles of liberty and freedom. They do not expect public acknowledgement for their work, but they do expect and deserve their government's protection of their covert status.

For the good of our country, we ask you to please stand up for every man and woman who works for the U.S. intelligence community and help protect their ability to live their cover.

Sincerely yours,
Larry C. Johnson, former Analyst, CIA

JOINED BY:

Mr. Brent Cavan, former Analyst, CIA
Mr. Vince Cannistraro, former Case Officer, CIA
Mr. Michael Grimaldi, former Analyst, CIA
Mr. Mel Goodman, former senior Analyst, CIA
Col. W. Patrick Lang (US Army retired), former Director, Defense Humint Services, DIA
Mr. David MacMichael, former senior estimates officer, National Intelligence Council, CIA
Mr. James Marcinkowski, former Case Officer, CIA
Mr. Ray McGovern, former senior Analyst and PDB Briefer, CIA
Mr. Jim Smith, former Case Officer, CIA
Mr. William C. Wagner, former Case Officer, CIA

[Bill O...]

OUCH!!!

[baldilocks]

stroudDawg,

If you took the time to come back here to make your point--especially after bidding me farewell in email--you could take a little more time to insert links into your missive, so I can read the info in an eye-ball friendly format. It only takes a few seconds.

Thanks.

[Bill O...]

And on that note here is a link/URL to a Washingtion Post article that describes the classified state department memorandum that apparently was passed around like a doobie in the front of air force one:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/20/AR2005072002517.html
In the memo Valerie Wilson's(Plames) name was clearly marked with S for secret.
On a related note: it is so sad and scummy how they tried to set up Colin Powell to take the fall for this 2 days ago.