To follow up on points raised by Digby and John, I think it’s abundantly clear right now that demanding Karl Rove’s immediate resignation is a no-brainer. Whether he’s a felon remains to be seen, but based solely on what we know about his tactics in the Plame scandal, Rove shouldn’t be able to step foot in the White House — unless it’s to tender his resignation. As Digby put it:
It makes no difference for our purposes whether Rove is legally culpable because he did or did not know that Plame was undercover. He was a very, very, very high level official in the White House and he shouldn’t have been telling anyone anything about CIA agents for political reasons, particularly ones he knew worked in the field of weapons of mass destruction, period. He may have broken the law; the investigation will proceed apace whether we think he did or not. But regardless, the fact is that Rove conducted a smear operation in which a CIA agent was outed.
Absolutely right. I think there’s ample evidence that Rove is in a world of legal trouble right now after intentionally disclosing information identifying an undercover CIA agent. But put that aside for a moment while the White House criminal investigation continues to unfold.
Instead, let’s consider the defense. Under the best case scenario, if Rove’s conversations about Joseph Wilson’s wife were not technically illegal, we still have the president’s top political aide covering up a White House lie by smearing an opponent, going after his wife, and in the process “accidentally” exposing an undercover CIA agent. For the White House, that’s the best case scenario.
Indeed, the defense isn’t that Rove has acted in an ethical and principled fashion; the defense is that Rove is merely a vicious smear artist who helped disseminate classified information to cover his lies about Iraq. But it’s not a problem, according to the defense theory, because he didn’t literally leak Plame’s name. Yeah, that’s persuasive.
If GOP spin is right, Rove is a reckless and dishonest attack dog who’ll do anything to defame an opponent. If Rove’s critics are right, he’s a traitor whose actions border on treason. Either way, to quote Digby, Rove is “a cheap thug.”
Whether Rove gets indicted remains to be seen. But in the interim, there’s no excuse for allowing a person capable of such appalling and disgraceful tactics to help run the executive branch of the federal government. None.