Res Ipsa Loquitur

Didn't Andrea Mitchell say that Plame's identity was common knowledge long before this "scandal" even appeared?

Plus, Joe Wilson certainly has an ax to grind.

I think so. It looks to me like pretty much everyone knew who she was before any of this started....and that she hadn't been 'covert' in years. So whomever the leaker was, I haven't seen any evidence yet that he or she committed a crime.

Joe sure seems to like media attention too, doesn't he?

Regardless of who leaked the information, my big problem is that Karl Rove admits that he discussed a CIA agent with Novak and Cooper. She may-or-may-not have been covert but, unless Rove checked with those who really knew the answer, he discussed an agent with two reporters who don't have security clearances. To me, that's a serious lapse in judgement and I think he should have his clearance revoked (at a minimum) or be fired.

I also think that argument that Plame may not have been covert at the time discounts the damage that could have been caused. She was covert at some point and worked somewhere with someone. The people with whom she worked would now be suspected by others to be covert agents, whether or not they really were. Any organizations in which she worked would now be suspected to be fronts for the CIA. All the money and effort spent to build her identity and that of others would be wasted, perhaps even endangering people.

To me, that's why all of this is a very important thing. Whomever leaked her identity, regardless of Democrat, Republican, or whatever, needs to be jailed for a _very_ long time.

But that's just it. She wasn't an agent, and hadn't been for years. No matter who 'leaked' her identity, it wasn't illegal.

Besides, I was reading somewhere this morning (and I'll post a link if I can ever find it again) that she had actually been outed to the Russians by that spy dude (Ansel, Anahiem whatever the hell his name was). So her cover had already been compromised by someone else years ago. Hence, I suspect, the desk job.

What was done by someone may not have technically been illegal, but doesn't it still show a large judgement lapse? I still think that, at a minimum, Rove needs to lose his security clearance until this investigation is over. One would assume that anyone else being investigated for a possible crime would temporarily have their clearance suspended until the investigation was over. Why would that not apply in this case as well?

Well, there's always that 'innocent until proven guilty' thing, for one. And two, I don't see how it was a judgment lapse to confirm what apparently just about everyone in DC already knew.

I mean jeez, her own husband outed her at an awards banquet years before this all happened. It's not like it was some big state secret that she worked for the CIA.

I agree. If she had been a covert agent, everyone who breathed her name should've been arrested. But she wasn't, and hadn't been for over 7 yrs. She was just an employee, like thousands of other employees.