The NY Times provides their take on the Rove scandal. Their piece lays it out very clearly. Rove outed a CIA agent as political payback and the White House backed themselves in to a corner:
The White House went on the defensive today amid a barrage of questions from Democrats and reporters about the presidential adviser Karl Rove and whether he had disclosed the name of a covert intelligence operative in retaliation for criticism of the administration's Iraq policy.Today's press briefing may be the day that the White House Press Corps found their spines. Looks like Karl and the White House counted on them being patsies.
President Bush's chief spokesman, Scott McClellan, declined to repeat his earlier assertions that Mr. Rove, the deputy White House chief of staff, had nothing to do with leaking the name of the operative, Valerie Plame of the Central Intelligence Agency, to get back at her husband, a former United States ambassador who had publicly challenged Bush administration policy.
Nor would Mr. McClellan repeat his earlier statements that any White House staff person who had leaked the name should be fired.
"The president directed the White House to cooperate fully with the investigation, and as part of cooperating fully with the investigation, we made a decision that we weren't going to comment on it while it is ongoing," Mr. McClellan said at a news briefing.
His comments came as Democrats began to intensify the pressure on the White House.
Now, they need to keep up the pressure and realize that Rove and McClellan have been lying to them about this for scandal for years. Payback is a bitch...and it's time for payback. If the White House wants national security to be an issue, and they do, then people like Rove who endanger national security need to be held responsible.
