David Corn - Bush must fire Rove.

A lot of posters on dKos and Booman Tribune seem to think that Rove can skate on the criminal charges regarding the release of Valerie Plame's name to the press as retaliation against her husband for showing that Bush lied in his State of the Union speech about the Niger-Iraq uranium connection. David Corn has posted a comment today that explains why Rove must be fired for what he did.

"In a July 11, 2003 email that Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper sent to his bureau chief, Cooper noted he had spoken to Rove on "double super secret background" and that Rove had told him that Wilson's "wife...Apparently works at the agency on wmd issues." "Agency" means CIA."

This email demonstrates that Rove committed a firing offense. He leaked national security information as part of a fierce campaign to undermine Wilson, who had criticized the White House on the war on Iraq. Rove's overworked attorney, Robert Luskin, defends his client by arguing that Rove never revealed the name of Valerie Plame/Wilson to Cooper and that he only referred to her as Wilson's wife. This is not much of a defense. If Cooper or any other journalist had written that "Wilson's wife works for the CIA"--without mentioning her name--such a disclosure could have been expected to have the same effect as if her name had been used: Valerie Wilson would have been compromised, her anti-WMD work placed at risk, and national security potentially harmed. Either Rove knew that he was revealing an undercover officer to a reporter or he was identifying a CIA officer without bothering to check on her status and without considering the consequences of outing her. Take your pick: in both scenarios Rove is acting in a reckless and cavalier fashion, ignoring the national security interests of the nation to score a political point against a policy foe.

This ought to get Rove fired--unless he resigns first.

All the weasle-wording in the world won't get Rove - or Bush, for that matter - out of what Rove did and Bush concealed.

The legal outcome of this story is possibly a bit in doubt, but the political outcome is totally clear. This is a total disaster for the Bush administration. The manner in which the White House has retreated to the final keep of the defensive bunker demonstrates that they are aware of the trouble they are in.

Thirty years from now the Conservatives will be complaining that the only problem is that the Liberals were out to get the Bush-Cheney-Rove group. Rove was innocent but those vicious Liberals were to blame for smearing good civil servants. You know, just like they are defending Richard Nixon and attempting to resurrect the reputation of Joseph McCarthy now. Just remember. In every case, Nixon, McCarthy and Rove, they have been guilty and crooked.

This is the Republican Party that has taken control of America. Guilty and crooked.