Ah, the Grey Bitch...

...clearly, she is no longer a lady. Not when her headlines imply that Rove is guilty, but she buries the one essential line from the source of the story that implies he is innocent. There are many who expose this bitch, so I'll let them do the heavy lifting. When I learn how to list them on this blog, I will place them to the right of this column.

July 15, 2005

Rove Reportedly Held Phone Talk on C.I.A. Officer

By DAVID JOHNSTON
and RICHARD W. STEVENSON

WASHINGTON, July 14 - Karl Rove, the White House senior adviser, spoke with the columnist Robert D. Novak as he was preparing an article in July 2003 that identified a C.I.A. officer who was undercover, someone who has been officially briefed on the matter said.

If you only read that headline and opening line, you walked away with this impression: Rove GUILTY!

For those who read carefully, the story's source offered the following line of exoneration, which was buried in the seventh paragraph. Remember, the source of this story is the only reason for the story in the first place. The source was obviously trying to take the heat off of Rove, apparently because he believes Rove has been unfairly attacked. Yet, the bitch only saw "fit" to print this one line:

The person discussed the matter in the belief that Mr. Rove was truthful in saying that he had not disclosed Ms. Wilson's identity.

The bitch would have been completely justified if her headline read: "Rove Told the Truth", but she did not print that. In fact, she quickly followed the exonerating sentence with this paragraph:

The conversation between Mr. Novak and Mr. Rove seemed almost certain to intensify the question about whether one of Mr. Bush's closest political advisers played a role in what appeared to be an effort to undermine Mr. Wilson's credibility after he challenged the veracity of a key point in Mr. Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech, saying Saddam Hussein had sought nuclear fuel in Africa.

Almost certain to intensify the question of Rove's role? There is no question that Rove was trying to undermine Wilson's credibility because the Grey Bitch and her sisters would (or could) not. The bitch gave Wilson all of his credibility in the first place when she allowed Wilson to make false statements in her pages. It is a good thing for Rove that discrediting false witnesses is not a crime.

I think Tigerhawk is correct in his assessment that this is all about Democrats (and Liberals) getting all of their punches in before Rove's exculpation.

...If there is no crime, the Democrats have to get a lot of bashing in while the press is paying attention (which it is likely to do while Judith Miller languishes in jail protecting a source who is manifestly neither Karl Rove nor Scooter Libby). Otherwise, Evil Karl will live to torture them another day...