Ramblings' Journal

White House reporters smell blood in the water

White House reporters Terry Moran, David Gregory and John Roberts (ABC, NBC & CBS, respectively), along with the rest of the White House press corps smell blood in the water regarding Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and his role in the Plame/CIA affair. They have become very aggressive with their questioning behind a White House statement supporting Rove.

During yesterday's White House press conference yesterday, the trio pelted White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan with questions about Rove. McClellan, for his part, tried to parry and defend, but it wasn't pretty.

Want an example? Let's go to the audio tape...

Q: Let me -- let me just do what you did a few moments ago and step back from the context of the investigation to the President's agenda. Does Karl Rove, with all the attention being paid to him now, become a liability to the President, an impediment to his pushing his agenda?

MR. McCLELLAN: See, you're asking all these context in -- all these questions in the context of the news reports relating to an investigation --

Q: I'm talking about it now in the larger sense of Rove being the Deputy Chief of Staff.

MR. McCLELLAN: We're continuing to move forward on our agenda, and the -- we're on the verge of accomplishing some very big things when it comes to the agenda. And --

Q: But is Karl Rove an impediment now, with all this attention distracting from that push on your agenda?

MR. McCLELLAN: Everybody who is working here is helping us to advance the agenda, and that includes Karl in a very big way.

Q: Has he apologized to you for telling you he is not involved?

MR. McCLELLAN: Helen, I'm not going to get into any private discussions.

Q: He put you on the spot. He put your credibility on the line.

MR. McCLELLAN: And, Helen, I appreciate you all wanting to move forward and find the facts relating to this investigation. I want to know all the facts relating to the investigation.

Q: You people are on the record, one quote after another.

MR. McCLELLAN: The President wants to get to the bottom of it. And it's just not appropriate. If you'll remember back two years ago, or almost two years ago, I did draw a line and I said, we're just not going to get into commenting on --

Q: You also made comments in defending Mr. Rove.

MR. McCLELLAN: We're just not going to get into commenting on an investigation that continues. And I think you've heard me explain why I'm not going to do that. I do want to talk about this --

Q: Do you regret putting yourself out on a limb, Scott?

MR. McCLELLAN: I do want to talk about this, and we will talk about it once the investigation is complete.

Q: Do you regret what you said in 2003?

The presser went on in this vein. Like I said. It wasn't pretty.

Bottom line, there's nothing new. Rove came clean months ago, while testifying to a grand jury. Time confirmed that Rove was one of Matthew Cooper's sources from when he disclosed Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA employee.

Plame was a CIA employee, period. According to noted Bush-basher, Joe Wilson, Plame was a CIA agent, and the press has siezed upon this notion, but there is no evidence supporting it, save Wilson's rants. And if she wasn't covert, there was no crime.

But don't confuse the press -- or the Democrats -- with the facts. They think they've got something here.

And they're going to act like petulant children throwing a tantrum until they get the White House to give them what they want: Karl Rove's head on a platter. After all, they think that Rove is the solitary eeeevil mastermind behind the Bush presidency. They figure they get Rove, then Bush is easy pickings.

But the picture is never as clear as it seems, is it?

Posted by mhking at July 13, 2005 10:12 AM | TrackBack