Bush Silent on Rove's Role

As pressure mounts on the White House and advocates from both sides clash over Rove's resignation, for once, Bush has nothing to say about his senior advisor's involvement in the Valerie Plame case. In Wednesday's press conference, he remained conspicuously silent and refused to comment either way on the controversy, citing a need "for people not to prejudge the investigation based on media reports" as his primary reasoning. Yet not long after, Scott McClellan, who has consistently lied over the course of this story, spins just the opposite way, insisting everyone at the White House, "including Karl Rove", has the president's utter confidence, a statement so trite it deserves a spot on a corporate recruiter's mission statement list.

So let me get this straight. Your strategy is to divert attention away from yourself with an implied condemnation of the media reports, while letting your spokesman toss a few bones to appease the hounds at your door? Does anyone else see the hypocrisy here? But of course, the White House is hardly worried about hypocrisy when it's in spin control mode. If the tempest dies down, you can blame the media, but if Rove ultimately gets the royal flush, you can always backpedal and blame McClellan for a failure in communication. Redefine "confidence", redefine "every person", hell, just redefine the English language itself.

While Bush is keeping mum over the Rove scandal, his friends at the National Republican Senatorial Committee have absolutely no qualms about jumping all over Democratic criticism on this matter. These are "out of control and entirely inappropriate...accusations based on rumor and innuendo," Elizabeth Dole cries, apparently forgetting Cooper's e-mail from Rove specifically identifying Wilson's wife as an undercover CIA officer. If this isn't leaking classified information to a reporter, I don't know what is. It only remains to be seen whether our President will own up to his promise to fire the leaker in this case.

Meanwhile, the White House spokesman is still playing at childish games of I-said-you-said.

Q Well, the President has never been restrained at staying right in the lines of a question, as you know. (Laughter.) He kind of -- he says whatever he wants. And if he had wanted to express confidence in Karl Rove, he could have. Why didn't he?

MR. McCLELLAN: He expressed it yesterday through me, and I just expressed it again.

Q Well, why doesn't he?

MR. McCLELLAN: He was not asked that specific question, Terry. You know that very well. The questions he were asked -- he was asked about were relating to an ongoing investigation.

Q But, Scott, he defended Al Gonzales without even being asked --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'll come to you in a second. I'll come to you in a second. Go ahead.

Q Yes, he defended Al Gonzales without ever being asked. (Laughter.) Ed brings up a good point. Didn't he?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think he was asked about the Attorney General.

Source: The White House

Hey, Scott? If you guys had answered even a quarter of the questions the people posed directly to you over Iraq, we wouldn't be in the situation we are in now.