Karl Rove's Treason: Do I Smell A Medal Of Freedom?

by Steve Young

Strap up and remove any loose dentures, boys and girls -- it's gonna be a bumpy ride. How bumpy? It could even throw Sandra Day O'Connor off the front page, maybe even squeeze Natalee Holloway off of Fox. Well, maybe not Holloway. Not on Greta's life. But everywhere else, it's Karl Rove's Summer of Disgrace.

The Lords of Loud will have to be at the top of their game, but it just may not be good enough. Hannity can recite his tireless litany about the Evil Democrats and Rush can wearily blame "politics as usual." Scotty McClellan will assure the press pool that protocols were in place, then call on "Steve" to change the subject. But no matter how loud the indignant whine, nothing can distract from this reality: For all intent and purposes, the President's right-hand man is a traitor to his county, and to those who put their lives on the line for his country.

There's not enough lipstick in the galaxy to pretty up this pig. You know the story: Former ambassador Joseph Wilson was sent to investigate reports that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium from the African country of Niger. When he returned, he had the audacity to bring back a "there ain't no story" story, and the demonization of Wilson began. To further batter Wilson for telling the truth, "someone" in the Bush administration felt it politics as usual to leak to certain journalists that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The leaker didn't seem concerned at all that he not only compromised an undercover CIA agent, but placed in danger everyone she worked with. Especially those based overseas.

"It's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words" -- Joseph Wilson, August 21, 2003 Fake photo: "Dood Abides"

Rove's lawyer will dance. He'll say that while his client might have spoken to the reporters now facing jail terms for withholding their sources concerning the "leak," he didn't do anything illegal. That argument may even seem reasonable, at first -- after all, this White House sent 140,000 troops into harm's way and thousands to their death based a horrific roster of "mistakes," and that isn't considered illegal. But there's the sticky problem of it being a felony to knowingly identify a covert operative. Plus Rove spent two hours before a grand jury last October answering questions under oath. In other cases at other times, imagine the happy hours Fox might have spent speculating on how many counts of perjury might be in the offing.

Even though a summer of raised terrorist alerts, flag-burning amendments, or 9/11 speech references probably await us, there is the question of the American public's willingness to grant yet another pass to this White House. This may be just what the public needs to keep their eyes pried open to the truth. The liberal media never really followed up when Rove called MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews and told him that Wilson's wife was "fair game." President Bush put off the easily acquiesced media with his ripple of concern. "If there's a leak in my administration," said the President, "I want to know who it is. And that person would be taken care of." 'Course, with this administration, he probably meant that he would call for another Medal of Freedom ceremony.

So as Sean Hannity prepares to set up his live broadcast outside the hospice where Rove's political career hovers between life and death, we can look forward to the White House briefing where McClellan calls on Helen Thomas. The Grande Dame of the press corps -- who traditionally ended press conferences for eight presidencies (until this one) with the words, "thank you Mr. President" -- will rise and utter another White House classic: "What did the President know?" She will ask, "And when did he know it?"