I have this image of Karl Rove, one of George Bush’s senior advisors and architect of his re-election campaign, smoking a big cigar (Cuban) and laughing at America. This is a guy who advises trotting out patriotism as an excuse for violating civil rights, lying to the public about fictional WMD, and calling political opponents who actually served in a war [1]“cowards” and liars.
And now he’s playing word games over the despicable act of “outing” an undercover CIA operative [2] to score political points against an opponent [3]. To summarize: in 2002, Joseph Wilson was sent on a publicly announced fact finding mission by the CIA. Based on that trip, Joseph then vigorously countered the Bush administrations claims that weapons of mass destruction were being built in Iraq. Karl Rove didn’t like this, so he secretly told a news reporter that Joseph was sent on this “junket” because his wife worked for the CIA. The newspaper reporter published a story quoting “highly placed sources” saying that Valerie Plume, Joseph Wilson’s wife, worked for the CIA. Valerie Plume was a CIA secret operative. The Bush administration claimed later that no one in the Whitehouse had leaked the information, and if someone from the Whitehouse was identified to have been involved they would be immediately fired. Rove himself was asked if he had leaked any such information, and he said he had never told anyone the name of any CIA operatives.
Now Karl Rove has been identified as the man who revealed Valerie Plume’s identity: the email he sent is now part of public record. But he says he never lied: you see, he never actually *named* Valerie Plume, he just said “Joseph Wilson’s wife works for the CIA”.
I admire people who stand by their convictions, who admit their mistakes, and who set high standards for themselves. Karl Rove does none of these things, and he’s making my already dismal perception of the Bush administration deteriorate further through his high level association with the president.
Some people might liken Rove’s word games to Clinton’s definition of “sex” as it pertained to Monica Lewinksy. But lets get something straight here: Karl Rove publicly identified a CIA agent, thereby ending her career and putting her life in jeopardy. He did so for no other reason than to score some political points while polishing up the Weapons of Mass Destruction lie. His good friend George Bush is still “supporting” him, despite promising vehemently to fire anyone who was identified as having leaked Valerie’s name.
People who put their own political agendas above the lives of civilians, soldiers, and government agents have no place in government. They sicken me. Karl Rove sickens me. But apparently the average American thinks this kind of thing is okay, and no doubt they’d elect Bush for a third term if the law didn’t prevent it, because dammit they are Republican, and he’s Republican, and that’s the way its done.