Rove does Victory laps; stupid Dems cower before another season of lies, smear-mobs, death-squads, and stolen elections
Democrats to Valerie Plame, Ambassador Joe Wilson, and other courageous whistleblowers who risk their careers to expose lies and corruption in the Bush administration government: "TOUGH ****, SUCKERS! As long as we get out $100 million year in campaign donations, and 'belly of the beast' government power and perks, WE DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU SUCKERS!"
Lawyer: Rove is off the hook in Plamegate
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/
And just like that, it appears to be over.
Patrick Fitzgerald has told Karl Rove that he does not expect to seek criminal charges against him as part of his investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame, Rove lawyer Robert Luskin said in a statement released early this morning.
In the statement, Luskin said that Fitzgerald "has formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges" against Rove. "In deference to the pending case, we will not make any further public statements about the subject matter of the investigation," Luskin continued. "We believe that the special counsel's decision should put an end to the baseless speculation about Mr. Rove's conduct."
Well, not exactly. There's been plenty of speculation about the consequences of Rove's conduct -- much of which may well have been baseless -- but there's been little need for anyone to speculate about the conduct itself. Rove leaked Plame's identity to Robert Novak and to Time's Matthew Cooper, and he failed to mention his conversation with Cooper in initial interviews with federal investigators and an initial appearance before the grand jury.
Rove returned to the grand jury several times in an apparent effort to explain away why he failed to tell investigators and prosecutors about the Cooper leak. Because Fitzgerald hasn't yet been available for comment -- and he probably won't say much once he is -- it's not clear yet whether Rove's explanations, an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors, Fitzgerald's own assessment of the strength of his evidence or something else entirely drove the special counsel's decision to give the "all clear" notice to Rove Monday.
"We've always said [Rove] did everything he could to cooperate," Luskin told the Washington Post in a short telephone interview this morning. "At the end of the day, [Fitzgerald] made a determination on the evidence."
Whatever the reason for Fitzgerald's decision, it represents a victory for a White House that needs a lot of things right now, another high-profile criminal charge not being among them. Although Luskin's statement did not close the door entirely on the possibility of prosecution -- there's a difference between "does not anticipate" and "won't" -- Rove spokesman Mark Corallo tells the Associated Press: "We're done."
Does this mean that the Bush administration will now come clean about what the president and the vice president knew about Plame's outing or why Scott McClellan denied so unequivocally that Scooter Libby and Karl Rove were involved in it? Don't count on it; with Libby's case still on track for trial, the "ongoing investigation" excuse probably has some more mileage in it.
And what about Rove's future at the White House? With Ken Mehlman and his ilk doing victory laps this morning, Rove's job seems more secure than ever before -- despite the promise the president once made to fire anyone who was involved in Plame's outing. Rove "doesn't belong in the White House," Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean told NBC this morning. "If the president valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove, Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago. So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but it's not very good news for America."
Karl Rove: "Character matters"
June 13, 2006
If Karl Rove is indeed off the hook in the Valerie Plame case, we can look forward to hearing a lot more from him in public places as the 2006 elections near. As his lawyer was getting the good news from Patrick Fitzgerald, Rove was flying to New Hampshire Monday to speak at a fundraiser for the state's Republican Party, which is nearly broke because of legal expenses it has incurred in a phone-jamming prosecution.
Here's some of what he said:
The war in Iraq: "We have no excuses to make for it."
John Kerry and Jack Murtha: "They are profoundly wrong ... Like too many Democrats, it strikes me that they are ready to give the green light to go to war, but when it gets tough, they fall back on that party's old platform of cutting and running. They may be with you for the first few bullets but they won't be there for the last tough battles."
The difference between Democrats and Republicans: "They are for higher taxes, we are for lower taxes. They are for higher spending, we are for lower spending ... What would the result have been if they were in charge? Less economic growth, longer recession, bigger government, bigger deficits. That is the difference between the two parties.”
George W. Bush and 9/11: "Sometimes history sends you something that you can't plan for. And what really matters then is the character of the person who occupies [the White House] ... Character matters."
A civil suit against Karl Rove?
Joe Wilson may never get to see Karl Rove "frogmarched out of the White House in handcuffs," but he isn't giving up hope for some kind of "accountability moment."
Wilson has talked before about the possibility of filing a civil lawsuit against Rove and others involved in leaking his wife's identity, but he's said he would wait for Patrick Fitzgerald to finish his work first. Now that Fitzgerald appears to be finished, at least with Rove, the attorney for Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame, seems to be hinting that such a suit may be in the works.
In a statement published this morning by Raw Story, attorney Christopher Wolf says that the letter Patrick Fitzgerald sent to Robert Luskin apparently means that Rove "will not be called to answer in criminal court for his participation in the wrongful disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified employment status at the CIA in retaliation against Joe Wilson for questioning the rationale for war in Iraq."
However, Wolf says, "that obviously does not end the matter." He says that the day "still may come when Mr. Rove and others are called to account in a court of law for their attacks on the Wilsons."
-- Tim Grieve
Lawyer: Rove is off the hook in Plamegate
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/
And just like that, it appears to be over.
Patrick Fitzgerald has told Karl Rove that he does not expect to seek criminal charges against him as part of his investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame, Rove lawyer Robert Luskin said in a statement released early this morning.
In the statement, Luskin said that Fitzgerald "has formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges" against Rove. "In deference to the pending case, we will not make any further public statements about the subject matter of the investigation," Luskin continued. "We believe that the special counsel's decision should put an end to the baseless speculation about Mr. Rove's conduct."
Well, not exactly. There's been plenty of speculation about the consequences of Rove's conduct -- much of which may well have been baseless -- but there's been little need for anyone to speculate about the conduct itself. Rove leaked Plame's identity to Robert Novak and to Time's Matthew Cooper, and he failed to mention his conversation with Cooper in initial interviews with federal investigators and an initial appearance before the grand jury.
Rove returned to the grand jury several times in an apparent effort to explain away why he failed to tell investigators and prosecutors about the Cooper leak. Because Fitzgerald hasn't yet been available for comment -- and he probably won't say much once he is -- it's not clear yet whether Rove's explanations, an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors, Fitzgerald's own assessment of the strength of his evidence or something else entirely drove the special counsel's decision to give the "all clear" notice to Rove Monday.
"We've always said [Rove] did everything he could to cooperate," Luskin told the Washington Post in a short telephone interview this morning. "At the end of the day, [Fitzgerald] made a determination on the evidence."
Whatever the reason for Fitzgerald's decision, it represents a victory for a White House that needs a lot of things right now, another high-profile criminal charge not being among them. Although Luskin's statement did not close the door entirely on the possibility of prosecution -- there's a difference between "does not anticipate" and "won't" -- Rove spokesman Mark Corallo tells the Associated Press: "We're done."
Does this mean that the Bush administration will now come clean about what the president and the vice president knew about Plame's outing or why Scott McClellan denied so unequivocally that Scooter Libby and Karl Rove were involved in it? Don't count on it; with Libby's case still on track for trial, the "ongoing investigation" excuse probably has some more mileage in it.
And what about Rove's future at the White House? With Ken Mehlman and his ilk doing victory laps this morning, Rove's job seems more secure than ever before -- despite the promise the president once made to fire anyone who was involved in Plame's outing. Rove "doesn't belong in the White House," Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean told NBC this morning. "If the president valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove, Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago. So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but it's not very good news for America."
Karl Rove: "Character matters"
June 13, 2006
If Karl Rove is indeed off the hook in the Valerie Plame case, we can look forward to hearing a lot more from him in public places as the 2006 elections near. As his lawyer was getting the good news from Patrick Fitzgerald, Rove was flying to New Hampshire Monday to speak at a fundraiser for the state's Republican Party, which is nearly broke because of legal expenses it has incurred in a phone-jamming prosecution.
Here's some of what he said:
The war in Iraq: "We have no excuses to make for it."
John Kerry and Jack Murtha: "They are profoundly wrong ... Like too many Democrats, it strikes me that they are ready to give the green light to go to war, but when it gets tough, they fall back on that party's old platform of cutting and running. They may be with you for the first few bullets but they won't be there for the last tough battles."
The difference between Democrats and Republicans: "They are for higher taxes, we are for lower taxes. They are for higher spending, we are for lower spending ... What would the result have been if they were in charge? Less economic growth, longer recession, bigger government, bigger deficits. That is the difference between the two parties.”
George W. Bush and 9/11: "Sometimes history sends you something that you can't plan for. And what really matters then is the character of the person who occupies [the White House] ... Character matters."
A civil suit against Karl Rove?
Joe Wilson may never get to see Karl Rove "frogmarched out of the White House in handcuffs," but he isn't giving up hope for some kind of "accountability moment."
Wilson has talked before about the possibility of filing a civil lawsuit against Rove and others involved in leaking his wife's identity, but he's said he would wait for Patrick Fitzgerald to finish his work first. Now that Fitzgerald appears to be finished, at least with Rove, the attorney for Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame, seems to be hinting that such a suit may be in the works.
In a statement published this morning by Raw Story, attorney Christopher Wolf says that the letter Patrick Fitzgerald sent to Robert Luskin apparently means that Rove "will not be called to answer in criminal court for his participation in the wrongful disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified employment status at the CIA in retaliation against Joe Wilson for questioning the rationale for war in Iraq."
However, Wolf says, "that obviously does not end the matter." He says that the day "still may come when Mr. Rove and others are called to account in a court of law for their attacks on the Wilsons."
-- Tim Grieve
posted by verifi at 9:53 AM
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