Day: July 20, 2005

This is real, not Photoshopped – from Crooks & Liars:

In this photograph taken in June 2003, Karl Rove, senior advisor to President Bush and Robert Novak are pictured together at a party marking the 40th anniversary of Novak’s newspaper column at the Army Navy Club in Washington DC. At the event a number of people wore buttons reading, “I’m a source, not a target.” Rove is at the center of a controversy about the leaking of a CIA operative’s identity which originally appeared in Novak’s newspaper column. (AP Photo/Lauren Shay)

According to a recent Pew survey, one-word impressions of George Bush were slightly more negative than positive (40% vs. 36%); 12% were neutral or not clearly positive or negative. As with several previous surveys that have tapped this top-of-the-mind association with the president, the most frequent response was “honest.” Close behind were two negative (yet accurate) terms: “incompetent” and “arrogant.” Other frequently mentioned positive terms included “good,” “integrity” and “determined.” Other popular negative words included “liar,” “stupid” and “idiot.” Common neutral or ambiguous responses included “fair,” “aggressive,” and “adequate.”

I don¹t know what it means, but it’s interesting to note that “sucks” was in the February poll but is absent in the July survey. Personally, I still think Bush sucks.

Molly Ivins — you gotta love her:

Now it’s getting funnier and funnier. There is an elephant in the living room and we’re sitting around having a conversation about whether there’s an elephant in the living room.

“I think there’s an elephant in the living room.”

“Well, there’s a lot of elephant poop around, but that doesn’t prove there’s an elephant in the living room.”

The entire Republican Party is shocked (!) anyone would think that Karl Rove (!!) would leak a story to damage a political opponent. Oh, the horror. And Karl has always been such a sweet guy. Just to give you an idea, one time Rove was displeased with the job done by a political advance man and said, “We will f— him. Do you hear me? We will f— him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever f—ed him!” (From an article by Ron Suskind). And that was a guy who was on his side.

Read the rest on AlterNet.

We had several leaks last week in the Plame Name Blame Game scandal from an unnamed source who was described as being familiar with Karl Rove’s grand jury testimony.

What has gone barely noticed is that someone else leaked some information that is highly detrimental to Rove. It was published in the American Prospect:

White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove did not disclose that he had ever discussed CIA officer Valerie Plame with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper during Rove’s first interview with the FBI, according to legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the matter.

The omission by Rove created doubt for federal investigators, almost from the inception of their criminal probe into who leaked Plame’s name to columnist Robert Novak, as to whether Rove was withholding crucial information from them, and perhaps even misleading or lying to them, the sources said.

Say WHAT?! Rove lied to federal investigators? Wait – isn’t that what Martha Stewart went to jail for?

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