The White House Is Now Doing Damage Control Over Rove

The Republican party's spin cycle has become completely unbalanced and you can hear their machine banging against the walls of the White House. Press Secretary Scott McClellan has been under fire from the press for the past three days as he continues to stonewall on answering questions regarding Rove. Bush has decided to keep quit concerning the whole thing, refusing to comment or answer questions from reporters regarding the ongoing investigation. Most of those questions seem to be about Bush's promise to get rid of anybody in his administration that may have been the source of the leak.

The GOP now have their talking points in which they focus on spinning the whole thing from being about Rove to being about Wilson in yet another attempt to discredit him, which is pretty sad since it was the first attempt to discredit Wilson which started this whole mess.

Wingnut Radio has also come to the defense of Rove with some pretty outrageous claims (aka lies). Rush Limbaugh tells his listeners that the President never said that he would fire the person responsible for the leak. But on October 6, 2003 Press Secretary Scott McClellan stated, "I think I made that very clear last week. The topic came up, and I said that if anyone in this administration was responsible for the leaking of classified information, they would no longer work in this administration." And again on October 7, 2003 McClellan said, "If someone leaked classified information, the President wants to know. If someone in this administration leaked classified information, they will no longer be a part of this administration, because that's not the way this White House operates, that's not the way this President expects people in his administration to conduct their business."

I doubt they'll be able to dodge the bullet on this one. It doesn't look like prosecutor Fitzgerald can be bought or sold, so Rove just might have to move from a position at the White House to one at the Big House. That is unless Bush pardons him, which would be political suicide for the Republican party in general, and also since we've yet to learn what Bush's role in this whole thing is, he might just end up sharing a cell with his good friend Karl Rove. That would leave Cheney in charge, unless he had a hand in it as well. That is the hand that isn't busy handing out taxpayer money to Haliburton like it was a candy on Halloween.

Bombs Blast Britain Into The Fore-Front of The War on Terror

It is tragic what happened in London, there's no doubt about that. And for Bush, the timing couldn't have been better. According to Fox News commentators, the attacks do more to serve the interests of the Western (U.S.) world than they do for the terrorist groups. It puts terrorism back in the limelight, over-shadowing the G8 summit and the issue of global warming and African Aid.

There will be little talk now in the press about the meeting. Global Warming is a sore spot with the Bush administration, which is in complete denial of its very existence. Going so far as to have a White House official and former oil industry lobbyist doctor its official reports. He later resigned and went to work for ExxonMobil. And as far as aid for Africa goes, well we say we're going to give a lot, then follow it up with that old "the checks in the mail" line.

It also comes at a time when Britain recently announced that it was going to start pulling UK troops out of Iraq in order to send them to Afghanistan, the real front on the War on Terror.

The group that claimed responsibility for the attack, the "Secret Organization -- al Qaida in Europe," seems to be a previously unknown and unheard of group (I guess intelligence ,or lack of, is still a problem). The letter claiming responsibility was posted to a website that has since been shut down. Although the website has been used to post authentic claims, it has also been used to post fraudulent claims. The authenticity of the letter and the group are still in question.

So the real question is; Who is responsible for the attacks and why? The people on the right are screaming that it's blood thirsty terrorists who want to destroy America and what our country stands for, oh and the UK cause they're are allies. The people on the left seem to be asking; Who had the most to gain from the attack and its timing? Look there and you might just find out who's responsible for the attack.

Bush Crashes The G8 Summit

Well, he didn't actually crash the summit so much as he crashed at the summit. While riding the "Presidential Bike", Bush managed to crash into a police officers who was on security patrol. Apparently Bush suffered minor injuries consisting of a few cuts and scratches. The police officer may have suffered an ankle injury and was taken to the hospital.

Sadly, the bicycle suffered a fatal injury and will most likely be flown back in a flag draped coffin and unloaded under the cover of night. For privacy concerns, there will be no photographs allowed of the bikes return home.

Policeman injured in Bush crash
From correspondents in Gleneagles
July 07, 2005

"US President George W. Bush, out for a spin on his bicycle at the Group of Eight summit venue, crashed into a policeman and had to be treated for scratches on his hands and arms.

Mr Bush was going at a pretty high speed on the presidential bicycle when he collided with an officer guarding the Gleneagles golf resort, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

The US leader, who had been riding for about an hour, skidded on the paved surface and suffered scrapes to his hands and arms.

He was treated and bandaged by the White House physician.

The President was mostly concerned about the police officer, who was taken to a local hospital as a precaution with a possible ankle injury, Mr McClellan said.

The President spent some time with the officer and had asked the White House physician, Richard Tubb, to monitor his condition at the hospital, he said.

Mr Bush would likely call the officer later, Mr McClellan said.

The President, who had been riding with a Secret Service agent, was fine, but the bicycle suffered some damage and Mr Bush had to return to the hotel in a car, which had been trailing them.

Mr McClellan declined to speculate about who was at fault..."

Given what is known, it was raining lightly, Bush was traveling at a high rate of speed, and he skidded into the officer, I think determining who was at fault is a no-brainer.

Bush's Rove Boat Is Leaking ...

Finally, we get to find out - who was the inside person at the White House that leaked the identity of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative ... and as it stands, all fingers seem to be pointed at Karl Rove.

Editor & Publisher: Reports Reveal Karl Rove Named in Matt Cooper Documents

By Greg Mitchell

NEW YORK Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to a federal judge, revealing who its reporter, Matt Cooper, identified as his source or sources in the Valerie Plame/CIA case, speculation runs rampant. Lawrence O'Donnell, senior MSNBC political analyst, now claims that at least two authoritative sources have confirmed that one name is top White House mastermind Karl Rove.

This afternoon, Newsweek's Michael Isikoff confirmed that Cooper did indeed talk to Rove for his story, but Rove's lawyer denied he was the key leaker in the case.

"The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper's sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House," Isikoff writes on the Newsweek web site. "Cooper and a Time spokeswoman declined to comment. But in an interview with Newsweek, Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove had been interviewed by Cooper for the article. It is unclear, however, what passed between Cooper and Rove."

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that Karl Rove was behind this thing, but he can't be the only leak involved. For starters, where did Karl get his info? Well it would have had to come from somebody who had access to it. Somebody that could pressure people into divulging the names of the operative who collected intel regarding the proof of purchase, or lack of,in the claims the Iraq had tried to acquire Uranium from Niger. Somebody like, ohhh - John Bolton. Which could also explain why Bush has refused to release the documents requested regarding his confirmation to the United Nations. If they show that Bolton got Plame's name as a CIA operative, which he would not need to know, then he might just be the beginning of an inside conspiracy to leak her identity as retribution to the article her husband wrote telling the world that Bush & Co. were lying about Iraq's apparent nuclear threat.


I doubt Bolton was the only source of the leak. He most likely passed the information to Rove, who in turn may have had a few people shopping around for a reporter willing to pull the trigger.

According to Novak, there were two sources regarding the Plame story. The other finger seems to be pointed at "Scooter" Libby.

And just how much did Bush know about the whole thing? I doubt he would have been kept out of the loop.

I seems that the Grand Jury investigation into the leak might actually prove useful. The source had been named by Novak some time ago, and Rove had answered questions by the Grand Jury on several occasion, claiming he has no involvement whatsoever in the leak. Now he may be looking at having perjured himself to the Grand Jury.

Then again, this seems to hinge of the dates of the notes recently released by Time. If Roves contacts with Cooper were after Novak broke the story, then it could porvide Rove with a defense.

It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Lawrence O'Donnell - "What we're going to go to now in the next stage, when Matt Cooper's emails-within Time Magazine, uh, are handed over to the grand jury is the ultimate revelation, probably within the week of who his source is. And I know I'm going to get pulled into the grand jury for saying this but the source of-for Matt Cooper was Karl Rove, and that will be revealed in this document dump that Time Magazine's going to do with the grand jury."
(C&L has the video on this)