Bush Says Rove Must Be Allowed To Lie

Uhhh... This must be terribly embarrassing for Mr. Bush, who presently occupies the office of the President.

He is on the short plank above the sharks. His chief advisor, Karl Rove, has been described in uncontroverted sworn statements, statements accepted in a court case gone to judgment, as having leaked covert CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

Bush is unwilling to let Rove make sworn statements to the contrary. The implication is that Rove would either lie and get nailed like Scooter Libby or tell the truth and implicate the White House in the scandal. So the testimony that Rove leaked Plame's name stands.

Bush did say, long ago, that he would fire whoever leaked Plame's identity. He never investigated the leak. Now, Congress and the courts have confirmed that the leaker is his right-hand man.

For those in opposition to the administration, Rove's presence in the White House is the gift that keeps on giving.

And Rove is caught in a second scandal, where eight US Attorneys were fired who weren't sufficiently targeting Democrats or who were - heaven forbid, biting the hand that feeds them! - investigating Republicans. And then after they were fired, they were dumped on for being incompetent so they could not continue their careers elsewhere. It may have justified their firing for the moment, but it created a cadre of revolutionary former US Attorneys who now seek to overthrow the politicization of their system.

There is only one way this ball can roll.

The gift that keeps on giving.