MCCLELLAN VS. BUSH VS. PLAME

My friend left another comment about the Plame case. He points out that Novak said his source was Richard Armitage. Interestingly, Armitage apologized to Plame for revealing her identity to Novak. He also said just this month that it was "foolish" for him to have revealed Plame's identity. Here's how CBS/AP puts it:

"(CBS/AP) Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage says he was foolish to have revealed the identity of a CIA employee.

Armitage's acknowledgment Sunday came in response to comments by Valerie Plame, who said the former Bush administration official had no right to talk to a reporter about where she worked.

A year ago, Armitage publicly apologized to Plame and her husband. The former No. 2 State Department official remains the only principal in the leak to have done so.

At least three one-time administration officials in addition to Armitage discussed Plame's CIA status with reporters. They are former White House political adviser Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney's ex-chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and former presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer.
Armitage and Rove were the sources for a 2003 newspaper column by conservative commentator Robert Novak that disclosed Plame's CIA employment."

It is true that Armitage was Novak's initial source, but it is also true that Novak called Rove for confirmation of Armitage's info, which Rove provided. Rove, Bush's closest adviser, also revealed info about Plame to Time's Matt Cooper before Novak's story appeared. David Corn sums it up thusly:

Novak neglects to note that Karl Rove was the source he used to confirm the leak he had received from Armitage--and that Rove also leaked classified information on Valerie Wilson to Matt Cooper of Time magazine before the leak appeared in Novak's column. Nor does Novak mention that Scooter Libby leaked information on Valerie Wilson to Judith Miller of The New York Times weeks before Novak entered Armitage's office--and also confirmed Rove's leak to Cooper. (A source close to Rove is quoted in Hubris saying that Rove "probably" learned about Valerie Wilson from Libby.) Like Armitage, Rove and Libby kept silent, even as the White House claimed they were not involved in the leak. Maybe it's time for all leakers to come clean and tell what happened.

And Rove is definitely a White House source, and unlike Novak's description of Armitage as "no partisan gunslinger," Rove is the pre-eminent partisan gunslinger.

Our Impeachable Connection--"...and misdemeanors"

So there's our impeachable connection--Rove, Libby, and Armitage all leaked info about Plame. How Rove beat the rap is a mystery to me, but apparently it had something to do with being ultimately more forthcoming than Libby.

And that's what McClellan's getting at--Rove was in fact one of the leakers that Bush said would be fired, and McClellan was told that Rove wasn't involved. Or McClellan was told to tell us that Rove wasn't involved. So the president, through his spokesman, lied to you and me.

And lying may not be a crime, but it is a "misdemeanor," which is given in the Constitution as an acceptable reason to impeach a president. Here's dictionary.com's 2nd definition for "misdemeanor":

"2. an instance of misbehavior; misdeed."

Let the impeachment begin!