WAITING FOR FITZGERALD….The latest meme emerging in the conservo-sphere is that liberals have been suckered once again. The case against Karl Rove is thin, they say, and when the truth eventually comes out in the Plamegate case, lefty obsession over Rove is going to look pretty foolish.
Oddly enough, I sort of half agree with this. I don’t really doubt that Rove was involved in Plamegate in some way, but it’s worth keeping in mind that the public evidence in the case so far is just the tippy-tip of the iceberg: a single, short email from Matt Cooper to his editor that says he spoke with Rove briefly. And the only reason we know about that email is because Cooper wisely decided that protecting Rove wasn’t worth rotting in jail like Judith Miller. It’s nothing more than an odd coincidence that this happens to be the only piece of evidence currently in the public domain.
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, however, has boatloads more evidence than just Cooper’s, which means that trying to figure out what’s going on based on this one email is like trying to predict a presidential election based on a poll in one state. It’s impossible.
I’d love nothing more than to see Rove frog marched off to wherever it is that people get frog marched off to, but it’s wise not to get too obsessed over trying to hyper-parse a single email and a couple of carefully phrased leaks from lawyers who obviously have their own agendas. One way or another, Fitzgerald will wrap this case up fairly soon, and then we’ll know. And I don’t think it’s going to be one guy talking to Karl Rove for two minutes. There’s much more to it.
