Bush Flip Flops on Firing Aides Who Disclosed Plame Identity
Bush Says He'll Fire Any Aide Who 'Committed a Crime'
By DAVID STOUT
WASHINGTON, July 18 - President Bush appeared to change his stance today on his close adviser Karl Rove, stopping well short of promising that anyone in his administration who helped to unmask a C.I.A. officer would be fired.
"If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration," Mr. Bush said in response to a question, after declaring, "I don't know all the facts; I want to know all the facts."
For months, Mr. Bush and his spokesmen have said that anyone involved in the disclosure of the C.I.A. officer's identity would be dismissed. The president's apparent raising of the bar for dismissal today, to specific criminal conduct, comes amid mounting evidence that, at the very least, Mr. Rove provided backhanded confirmation of the C.I.A. officer's identity.
In the months after the name of the officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, was made public in July 2003, White House officials have said they believe that no one working for the administration was part of the disclosure, and that anyone found to have been involved in the disclosure would be dismissed.
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By DAVID STOUT
WASHINGTON, July 18 - President Bush appeared to change his stance today on his close adviser Karl Rove, stopping well short of promising that anyone in his administration who helped to unmask a C.I.A. officer would be fired.
"If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration," Mr. Bush said in response to a question, after declaring, "I don't know all the facts; I want to know all the facts."
For months, Mr. Bush and his spokesmen have said that anyone involved in the disclosure of the C.I.A. officer's identity would be dismissed. The president's apparent raising of the bar for dismissal today, to specific criminal conduct, comes amid mounting evidence that, at the very least, Mr. Rove provided backhanded confirmation of the C.I.A. officer's identity.
In the months after the name of the officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, was made public in July 2003, White House officials have said they believe that no one working for the administration was part of the disclosure, and that anyone found to have been involved in the disclosure would be dismissed.
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posted by Ron Chusid at 2:01 PM
6 Comments:
Hey BB!
It looks like many bloggers were thinking along the same lines. I note that a large number of blogs, and sites such as Salon, used flip flop in the titles of their posts on this topic.
Got to keep turning their own language on them!
Pamela,
I'm sure the parsing will continue and we'll be hearing from Bush next something along the lines of "Look, if anyone in my administration is in prison and can't finish the work of the American people while behind bars, they'll be fired."
Todd,
He won't go that far in saying that openly this way, but I wonder if he might stipulate conviction rather than just indictment. If convicted, I wonder if he would then keep Rove on until all appeals are completed. By then the term will probably be over.
Come to think of it, it would be a good thing politically if Rove was convicted but kept in office pending appeals.
Ron, precisely. I wonder, though, could the WH really keep an official under *indictment* working right next door to the Oval Office? Not that I'd put it past this gang, but...it is interesting.
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