erim.net

Joshua Micah Marshall sums up the whole Rove/Plame orgy of spin we’re witnessing quite nicely. In essence:

There’s a point that’s probably worth raising with our scofflaw Republican friends. All of their arguments now amount to excuses, like those of a small child caught stealing cookies: Joe Wilson’s a liar. Plame’s covert status wasn’t protected well by the CIA. It was just a short phone call. Rove really wanted to speak about welfare reform. Wilson said Cheney sent him to Africa. Plame sent Wilson to Africa. Rove leaked Plame’s identity in the interests of good journalism. Wilson went on too many TV shows. On and on and on.

The salient point is not that each of these claims is false. The point is that they’re irrelevant. It’s the mid-life version of ‘He hit me first!’ or ‘He called me a name!’ or other such foolery.

No presidential advisor should ever disclose the identity of a covert agent at the CIA. That doesn’t require elaboration.

That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? The really disturbing thing to me is how these supposedly hardline Republicans will participate in this travesty, when at the bottom of it is an act of incredible irresponsibility. This is supposed to be the party that can keep us safe, right? Tough on terror? And yet, they’re lining up like little sheep to protect a man who, the evidence strongly suggests, has breached national security in an act of cowardly retribution.

It’s a shameful display of partisanship over truth and decency, and it’s a sad day for democracy in this country. I can only hope that Pat Fitzgerald is as tough and dedicated as I’ve heard. If Rove skates out of this, with his fat ass and disgusting, arrogant smirk in place, it will be yet another blow to fairness and justice. And, most troubling at all, another nail in the coffin of political participation in this country, at a time when we need it most.