Because He's So Good
by digby
Just in case Bush's Fourth of July "fuck you" to the American people wasn't emphatic enough, here's a double "fuck you," with a twist:
Should White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove be privy to the nation's most sensitive secrets? Did he break trust with President Bush and the nation when he told syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak about Valerie Plame's classified job with the CIA? Did he further erode that trust in 2003 when he told then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan that, as McClellan put it, there was "no truth" to rumors that he played a role in the disclosure of Plame's identity?
Rove, of course, was investigated by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald in the CIA leak case but was never charged. His security clearance was renewed after a reinvestigation in late 2006, which has puzzled Rep . Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
In a letter sent last week to White House Counsel Fred F. Fielding, Waxman alleged that Rove's actions amounted to a violation of presidential guidelines that say "deliberate or negligent disclosure" of classified information can disqualify a staffer from future access to such material. Also being less than forthcoming, even about unintentional breaches, can be cause for revoking a security clearance.
"Under these standards, it is hard to see how Mr. Rove would qualify for renewal of his security clearance," Waxman wrote.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said he could not discuss details but that Rove's "clearance was appropriately renewed as part of the regular process that occurs every five years."
Right. Whether he was intentionally leaking Valerie Wilson's name to Matthew Cooper, which he was, or whether you believe the noxious gas emanating from the mouths of Mr and Mrs Toensing over the last few months and Karl just "let it slip," without knowing what he was doing (and anyway Richard Armitage did it first so nothing that happened after that can possibly be illegal) ---- he has no business getting a security clearance.
In fact, I'd really like to know what the lying sack of compost is still doing on the taxpayers payroll anyway. The man is under suspicion for using the department of Justice to steal election for Republicans, for gawd's sake. He's the last person on the planet who should have a security clearance. Bush isn't running again, his ratings are permanently in the toilet and Rove is radioactive with Republicans. What is doing all day?
I know Bush will probably just pardon him -- and then issue him the first knighthood in American history, after the fact --- but I really, really think the congress needs to nail Bush's Brain to the wall. He may not ever pay the full price, but by gawd, somebody needs to make an example of him anyway.
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