Lawrence O'Donnell is becoming a star in my mind. He is what all the media should be. I loved it when he called The Swift Boaters the lying scum they were.
Now he is checking in again today on our Nation's Birthday about another lying scum bag, Karl Rove. Here is some new analysis from his latest post this afternoon:
More below the fold
Karl Rove's lawyer, Robert Ruskin, had his holiday weekend ruined on Friday when I broke the story that the e-mails that Time delivered to the special prosecutor that afternoon reveal that Karl Rove is the source Matt Cooper has been protecting for two years. The next day, Luskin was forced to open the first hole in the Rove two-year wall of silence about the case. In a huge admission to Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times, Luskin confessed that, well, yes, Rove did talk to Cooper. It is a huge admission in a case where Rove and Luskin have never, before Friday, felt compelled to say a word about Rove's contact with Cooper or anyone else involved in the case.
Luskin then launched what sounds like an I-did-not-inhale defense. He told Newsweek that his client "never knowingly disclosed classified information." Knowingly. That is the most important word Luskin said in what has now become his public version of the Rove defense.
Not coincidentally, the word 'knowing' is the most important word in the controlling statute ( U.S. Code: Title 50: Section 421). To violate the law, Rove had to tell Cooper about a covert agent "knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States."
So, Rove's defense now hangs on one word--he "never knowingly disclosed classified information." Does that mean Rove simply didn't know Valerie Plame was a covert agent? Or does it just mean that Rove did not know that the CIA was "taking affirmative measures" to hide her identity?
In Luskin's next damage control session with the press, let's see if any reporter can get him to drop the word 'knowingly' from the never-disclosed-classified-information bit.
I love it. No way Rove gets away with this defense. Who is gonna believe he didn't know someone who he described as a covert operator to Novak was having their identity disclosed? Plus, the prosecutor can play up the motive here to shoot holes in the defense. Rove had the motive. If you don't believe he knowingly disclosed it, you have to believe the fact it ruined Plame's career at a time her husband was a political enemy is a big coincidence. No jury would buy that.
Rove is cooked. Stick a fork in him. He'll be indicted shortly and probably for lying to the Grand Jury and or to the FBI as well. That'll be an even easier charge to prove. He's going away folks. He just is and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Next question. Who gave him his marching orders? Mr. Cheney, care to answer THAT question before our friendly Grand Jury? Better hope those subpoened Air Force One records don't contradict you, by the way. Otherwise, you better admit it.
Oh, by the way, George? What did you know and when did you know it?
Drip, drip, drip.....
Its all gonna come crashing down on Bushco in the next six months. Indictments, convictions, dare I say....impeachment and/or resignations?
Drip, drip, drip.....
They can't stop it now.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/lawrence-odonnell/roves-ididnotinha_3637.html