First Bad Press Conference—Ever
Published 13 July 2005
Hi! You've stumbled upon a blog post by a guy named Ryan. I'm not that guy anymore, but I've left his posts around because cool URIs don't change and to remind me how much I've learned and grown over time.
Ryan was a well-meaning but naïve and priviledged person. His views don't necessarily represent the views of anyone.
The Washington Post is running a fairly accurate summation of the event, but my favorite is John Stewart of the The Daily Show conspiratorially whispering, we secretly replaced the white house press team with actual reporters.
It was a thrilling press conference, in which the attending reporters—who usually do nothing to ruffle the BushCo's feathers in fear of being stonewalled in the future—grilled press secretary Scott McClellan about Karl Rove suspectedly outing a CIA agent and wife of a US Ambassador and Bush critic. McClellan showed his automaton ability by repeating can't comment…ongoing investigation,
for any question regarding Rove, even if it had nothing to do with the investigation. Of course, this has not stopped Bush and the White House from commenting before, only after the public found out it was one of their buddies it became very convenient.
Who Cares?
In case you haven't followed the issue here is why it's important:
- The CIA Agent's identity was released after her husband had blasted Bush publicly, so it is likely an act of revenge.
- Outing a CIA agent is a felony, as it puts both the agent, and everything to which that agent is connected in jeopardy.
- The reporters protected their source even when faced with jail for contempt of court.
- Karl Rove (cue howling noise) is called
the man behind the curtain
in the Bush Whitehouse, a vicious strategist and political mind. - Bush may be forced to show his true colors by either keeping his friend by his side despite felony charges, or crucify a valuable storm trooper to save face.
My prognosis is that it will never get that far. Something will halt the case: charges will be dropped for reasons that might involved national security risk to devluge, the press will become bored and stop following the story, or more likely, the administration will sweep aside the charges and pretend like nothing has happened. Regardless, Rove won't stay in jail long even if he is convicted. Bush will pardon him well before December 2008.