Simon Rosenberg's 5 Points

Here are Simon Rosenberg's 5 points to emphasize concerning the Rove Affair:

1. Whatever the outcome, the White House has been caught in a lie. McClellan’s 2003 assertion that it was ridiculous to think that Rove had anything to do with the leak was blatantly untrue. Did McClellan know this at the time? Did he purposely lie? What else has he lied about? And why did Rove let this lie stand? Are lies from this White House so common that when one was committed there was no reason to correct what was said? Should McClellan now be immediately fired for lying to his country?

2. Valerie Plame was undercover at the time. Rove’s allies are spinning that she no longer had covert status. But it was the CIA who asked the Department of Justice to pursue the case. The intelligence community believed she was under cover and that is all that really matters.

3. Rove was fired from the 1992 Bush campaign for leaking information to Robert Novak. Rove’s status as a vicious operative willing to distort, lie and smear is well-documented. His previous disclosure of unauthorized information to one of the journalists at the heart of this case only confirms that this is but the latest chapter in a long history of ethically bankrupt political dealings.

4. Despite the White House’s repeated assertion that Rove had nothing to do with the affair, he has in fact testified or been questioned under oath on five different occasions. Is it really possible that he did not warn the President, Dick Cheney, Andy Card or anyone else that the White House’s line on this affair differed substantially from what he was saying under oath in these five instances? Why was McClellan so unprepared last week?

5. If anyone on the White House staff is indicted, it gives validity to Wilson’s claim that the administration strategically lied in its run-up to Iraq. If they were willing to expose an undercover CIA agent, cover it up and lie about it for so long what were they protecting? Their behavior suggests they have something to hide. If the indictment comes, look for a national re-examination of their story leading to war.