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The Plame game - CIA LEAK (writer says, "Just shut up, wouldja?")
TOWNHALL.COM ^ | JULY 19, 2005 | Bill Murchison

Posted on 07/18/2005 10:18:17 PM PDT by CHARLITE

From here in heartland America, I'm winging a message eastward. It's addressed to my brothers and sisters of the mass media as they scrunch up their brows and artfully work their jaws, seeking to understand and explain what Karl Rove knew about Valerie Plame and when he knew it, assuming he knew much of anything, and whom he told, if he told anybody, and who heard, and who else knew it and why.

And my message?

A terse one: Just shut up, wouldja?

Unfortunately, I already know the answer to such an excellent and timely question. The answer is a scandalized "No! How could anyone ask such a question?"

The Washington, D.C., Beltway is in one of its periodic orgies over next to nothing. Nobody gets by with pooh-poohing such proceedings, which will proceed until 1) the Beltway has made nothing sound like something, or 2) the rest of the country tunes out totally or falls dead asleep.

I am betting on the latter possibility, given not just the essentially opaque nature of the Plame Game -- outside feverish Washington, I mean -- but also its irrelevance to the purposes of a nation with larger fish to fry, Iraq being one of those things.

Actually, Iraq is at the center of this thing, which helps explain the rage and indignation that fill so many Washington minds. Everything about Iraq stirs the capital to indignation, especially when it has to do with weapons of mass destruction.

Those paying attention to this inherently silly story recall that it began in 2003, when the columnist Robert Novak wrote, almost as an aside, that Valerie Plame, "a [CIA] operative on weapons of mass destruction" had "suggested sending [her husband, Joseph Wilson IV] to Niger to investigate" reports of Iraqi efforts to buy uranium yellowcake. Which reports Wilson, on his return, said couldn't be substantiated.

Suddenly Beltway interest shifted. Let's not talk about Saddam Hussein's malevolent intentions and designs went the new line. Let's talk about who leaked news of the Wilson-Plame connection. Forget the important stuff -- let's discuss the trivia. Accordingly, a special prosecutor was charged with finding out whether the leakers broke federal law by noting Plame's place of employment. And so on and so on to the present point. Ah, yes -- with a New York Times reporter in jail for refusing cooperation with the prosecutor.

Is all this of no interest? No one would speak thus of a story involving possible breaches of law -- even if no such breaches seem anywhere close to being proved. The problem is the furor. What's all this about? From heartland America that seems plain enough -- and uncomplimentary enough to all involved.

We've got here at bottom a Beltway story -- as tale not of America but of Washington. Yawn. Washington may be a nice place, but its inner workings aren't nearly as compelling to those outside the Beltway as to those inside. These people imagine normal folk sit around dishing the dirt on Valerie Plame? Fat chance.

Then there's the media involvement: newspeople at the center, with one behind bars. That guarantees media obsession.

We know what comes next, of course. The Bush White House is involved. The liberal Democrats who pretty well are the major media aren't going to miss a moment like this one; and even if they were inclined to, the liberal Democrats on Capitol Hill, still unable to get over the 2000 and 2004 elections, wouldn't dream of letting pass any attempt to revenge themselves on their archenemy, Karl Rove. Never mind that Rove isn't even a target of the special prosecutor's investigation. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and other Democrats want him fired anyway.

All this with Iraq in some disarray and a Supreme Court nomination battle looming. You could get the impression we've gone collectively nuts. No, just the Beltway -- a peculiar patch of land never to be confused with the United States of America.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: beltway; cia; cialeak; illegalities; insiders; jailtime; joewilson; journalists; judithmiller; karlrove; leak; prosecutor; scandal; valerieplame; washington
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1 posted on 07/18/2005 10:18:21 PM PDT by CHARLITE
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To: CHARLITE

I agree .. I wish they would just SHUT UP!!


2 posted on 07/18/2005 10:26:18 PM PDT by CyberAnt (President Bush: "America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth")
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To: CHARLITE

Perhaps Karl Rove should be questioned in connection with that case in Aruba. Who knows? The Dims might just get lucky. I mean they don't have to actually question him, just ask the questions and provide the answers like they're already doing.


3 posted on 07/18/2005 10:29:07 PM PDT by claudiustg (Go Sharon! Go Bush!)
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To: CHARLITE
Never mind that Rove isn't even a target of the special prosecutor's investigation. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and other Democrats want him fired anyway.

Yeah. Socialist dictators get off on that kind of stuff. "Off with his head!"

4 posted on 07/18/2005 10:33:52 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("A people without a heritage are easily persuaded (deceived)" - Karl Marx)
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To: CyberAnt

And worst of all is FoxNews.com, still the lead political story "Bush: If Crime Committed, Staffer Will Go."

Geez, they're getting to be as bad as the Clinton News Network. Zip it, already!


5 posted on 07/18/2005 10:39:40 PM PDT by Joe_McCarthy_Jr
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To: Joe_McCarthy_Jr

I've been yelling at them for a week over this - Brit seemed to have the only comprehensive discussion.


6 posted on 07/18/2005 10:42:10 PM PDT by CyberAnt (President Bush: "America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth")
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To: Joe_McCarthy_Jr

You're pretty 'out there', Joe Jr., for a guy who just registered today. Hmmmmm?


7 posted on 07/18/2005 10:43:14 PM PDT by StarSpangled
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To: Joe_McCarthy_Jr

You got that right. Fox News is becoming MSM at a fast rate. Brit is sighting a poll that says President Bush trust is taking a hit. It took Mort to shoot the ABC poll down.


8 posted on 07/18/2005 10:43:56 PM PDT by Brimack34
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To: StarSpangled

"Hmmmmm?"

Indeed. Hmmmmmmmm.


9 posted on 07/18/2005 11:14:40 PM PDT by Joe_McCarthy_Jr
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To: Joe_McCarthy_Jr

Go for it, Joe Jr. LOL


10 posted on 07/18/2005 11:21:40 PM PDT by StarSpangled
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To: CHARLITE
...the liberal Democrats on Capitol Hill, still unable to get over the 2000 and 2004 elections, ...

And there is the crux of the matter. There has been a steady drumbeat, part of a larger strategy to get the Dems back in power, even before the 2000 election was settled by the courts. That drumbeat is a steady mantra of madeup accusations against Republicans in general and Bush specifically. Although Bush can't run again they fear him as a campaigner for others.

A knowledgeable Freeper said shortly after the election that what the Democrats were doing was from the Communists playbook in Eastern Europe shortly after the fall of the USSR and free elections in Eastern Europe. If the Communists were upset in a election despite their efforts to fix it, they would immediately contest the election, demanding recounts, etc. If they lost there they would mount a steady attack on the legitimacy of the the winners and continue with all sorts of accusations until the next election with hopes of regaining power. The left's playbook is so old as to be predictable.

The Dems first withheld the transition money so that when Bush was finally in office he had to start from scratch putting together a team and staff. They also planted loyal moles in the FBI, CIA, and the State Department, other departments too but those especially, often putting political appointees into jobs covered by Civil Service so they couldn't easily be removed.

We are seeing the results of that now. Keeping the Democrats out of office is the most important thing the lovers of this country can do. If those crooks return to power all else is meaningless.

11 posted on 07/18/2005 11:44:43 PM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government.)
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To: CHARLITE
Volumes upon volumes have been written on this subject by legions upon legions of writers.

No offense to anyone, but it's kind of like watching five thousand sharks go after a thimble full of chum.

APf
12 posted on 07/18/2005 11:53:41 PM PDT by APFel (This space for sale or rent)
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To: CHARLITE

bttt


13 posted on 07/18/2005 11:55:52 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Mind-numbed Robot
"Andropov said, wisely, 'Now all we have to do is to keep the Vietnam-era anti-Americanism alive.'”

From a National Review article by Ion Mihai Pacepa.


This phrase applies to EVERYTHING that has happened since....well, everything bad that has been done/said in my lifetime by the libs.
14 posted on 07/19/2005 1:23:53 AM PDT by Watery Tart (Oh! By the way..... Joseph Wilson is a fraud :-) ~~ FReeper MJY1288)
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To: Watery Tart

Thanks for the link. I opened it and looked at it but will save it for tommorrow to read. I am up late rather than early. :-) Damn Freeping!


15 posted on 07/19/2005 2:15:29 AM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government.)
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To: CyberAnt

And lets not discuss the tons of Uranium that was removed from Iraq by the US.


16 posted on 07/19/2005 2:20:53 AM PDT by stocksthatgoup (http://www.busateripens.com)
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To: CHARLITE
I don't know if anyone else has pointed this out yet but...
You know how all the Dims are whining that Bush changed from saying he'd fire anyone "involved" to now anyone who committed a "crime"?(specifically I saw a clip of Reid yesterday, in which btw, he seemed really stoned, don't know what was wrong with him)
Well we could just as usual write it off as their normal idiocy and partisan crap.. But I see it differently.

Yes the President changed the wording. But my question is, if no one ends up being convicted of a "crime" is there really a "leak" for someone to have been "involved" in? I mean we already know she wasn't a covert operative within 5 years of her "outing." So we basically no that there was no crime committed. So why should Rove still be fired for "involvement" in a "leak." If the facts stand, as they seem to today, I don't think it was a "leak" was it?

Let me know if this makes sense to anyone.
17 posted on 07/19/2005 3:34:36 AM PDT by rabair
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To: rabair

Didn't you get the memo? The latest to to FIRE people that have NOT committed a crime.


18 posted on 07/19/2005 5:00:56 AM PDT by HawaiianGecko (Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results is the definition of insanity.)
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To: Joe_McCarthy_Jr

"Indeed. Hmmmmmmmmmmm."

Weird, you sound like this guy with that:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1374937/posts?page=12#12
Posted by spect8or to *******
On News/Activism 04/27/2005 6:24:16 AM EDT · 12 of 13

Yeah, Mikey, interesting. Ve-ery interesting...



19 posted on 07/19/2005 7:25:37 AM PDT by Darksheare (Hey troll, Sith happens.)
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To: Watery Tart
I am back and the link you provided to National Review outlines exactly the point I was making, except it is from the horse's mouth, the KGB. When you read things like that it is easy to recognize them happening everyday right here in the USA.

Rigging and stealing elections is also a Communist forte. I worry about these new electronic voting machines. First clue was the 2000 elections and the hanging chad debacle. To insist that a punch card was too difficult to use was absurd on its face. Then when the Diebol machines were introduced they immediately accused the Republicans of rigging them because the owner of Diebol had contributed to the Republicans. Being keenly aware of the Democrats habit of projection I was immediately alerted that rigging the machines was exactly what Hillary intended to do. It would only need be done in a few key spots around the country. Once there was suspicion plus the time it would take to mobilize an effort to examine the machines all the dirty work could be undone and covered.

We are facing a ruthless and unprincipled enemy. I talking about the Dems, not the terrorists.
20 posted on 07/19/2005 7:28:05 AM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government.)
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