Every attempt to spin this, to excuse it... Only makes it worse.

Editor and Publisher Today: (July 15, 2005) - Today, July 15, 2005, may go down in history as the day when what has previously been known as the "Plame Affair" or "the CIA leak scandal" or even, lately "Miller/Cooper/Rove," finally gets that most coveted of scandal slugs: Plamegate.

And with the blockbuster reports today from The New York Times, the Associated Press, and the Washington Post detailing Karl Rove's conversation with Robert Novak, six days before he wrote his fateful outing column, we are suddenly into "what-did-the-president-know-and-when-did-he-know-it" territory.

Plamegate. It's about time. Think about it: We had a Liddy then and a Libby now. Though we should be happy that in 1972 Democratic headquarters was not located in a different, nearby, Washington, D.C. complex. Then we might have to call it PlameHoJo.

The New York Times' new duo on this case -- David Johnston and Richard Stevenson -- raised the specter of Watergate in one paragraph today when they noted that the latest news puts front and center the issue the White House "has never addressed": The president's knowledge of any of this.

If the Times pair stay on the case, will they be the new Woodward & Bernstein? Somehow Johnston & Stevenson doesn't have quite the same ring to it, though it is early, and other candidates may apply (Allen & Leonnig? Gannon & Guckert?).

And as in 1972 and 1973, a story that seemed fairly well contained, and threatening to become old hat, suddenly may spread, like an octopus, as testimony gets leaked, the press wakes from its torpor, and allegations appear that the White House may have been engaged in some kind of "coverup" as bad as the possible crime at the center of he story.

It's far from proven so far, but: Is there a cancer on the presidency?

These Watergate links may seem like stretching the point, but you will have to forgive me: In a column about Rove today, John Dean, Mr. Cancer on the President himself, cites a recent E&P column on the case.

Who knows, we may even be ready for a re-make of one old early 1970s hit under a new title: "The Night They Rove Old Dubya Down."

For in the 2000s, everything old is new again, or is it vice versa? Two years ago, when I was one of the first journalists to predict that the conflict in Iraq could become another Vietnam, I was laughed at. The analogy was never precise, and still isn't, yet: who is laughing now? Certainly not Messrs. Bush, Rumsfeld, or Cheney, or the tens of thousands of U.S. troops still languishing over there, not to mention their dead comrades, and the deceased Iraqis.

In any event, the next few weeks should be riveting. Now that we know that Rove was one of Novak's sources, and that he had two of them, surely speculation will center on the office of Vice President Cheney and his aide "Scooter" Libby. What kind of name is "Scooter" anyway?

But more than anything, the question that will be asked today and this weekend is: What did the president know etc.?

Did Rove fill him in on his conversations with Novak and Cooper (and possibly others) a long time back? If he did and the president did nothing, should that be taken as a sign of approval, and what would that mean? If Rove didn't tell him, and this is all news to Bush, does that deserve a prompt dismissal? Or is it possible the entire smear-Wilson campaign originated in the Oval House, or the veep's chambers?

Read the whole thing. (Hat tip Blue Collar Politics)

What is interesting is the almost palatable desperation in the air in the Conservative Blogsphere. There is a sense of everyone running around trying to come up with something... ANYTHING, to make this story go away. To make it irrelevant. First there was splitting hairs over whether Rove used her name... (Maribell Anderson is David Anderson's wife guys), then it was all Wilson's fault. He lied after all. Wilson effectively DESTROYED that meme yesterday. Now they desperately attempt to define Plame's Secret Agent Credentials and Status. (I would think that logic would dictate accepting the CIA's own classification of their agent. And one would assume that since they asked for this investigation, they considered her status protected... Ya think...

In the meantime, the plot thickens, as Bob Novak is suspected of ratting out other journalist, perhaps to save his own hide. As I said earlier today, it is odd that Novak is not in jail...

But the bottom line is clear... No amount of spin will eliminate the stench emanating from Washington at the moment, nor will it seemingly quell the thirst of a press that suddenly has red meat, or stem to massive bleeding that Bush's public perception is taking right now. Viva Plamegate.

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Posted by: Marty at July 16, 2005 09:16 AM

Posted by: David Anderson at July 16, 2005 04:46 PM