Can Rove Be Impeached?

By Ron Brynaert

Friday, July 15, 2005 at 03:35 PM

The Brad Blog has just reported that Congressman John Conyers and Senator Barney Frank sent a letter to the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service to clarify whether or not Karl Rove qualifies as a civil officer who may be impeached.

The Brad Blog has just reported that Congressman John Conyers and Senator Barney Frank sent a letter to the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service to clarify whether or not Karl Rove qualifies as a civil officer who may be impeached.

The entire letter is viewable at The Brad Blog along with a press release issued by Rep. Conyer's office.

At the same time this is going on, the Republicans are beginning to have some success in getting their talking points into the mainstream media. The right wing blogs have latched on to a comment made by Joe Wilson in an interview with Wolf Blitzer of CNN.

Blitzer said, "But the other argument that's been made against you is that you've sought to capitalize on this extravaganza, having that photo shoot with your wife, who was a clandestine officer of the CIA, and that you've tried to enrich yourself writing this book and all of that."

"What do you make of those accusations, which are serious accusations, as you know, that have been leveled against you."

And Wilson replied, "My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity."

Wilson clearly meant that Plame was no longer clandestine after Novak outed her, so there was nothing wrong with her posing for pictures now. Perhaps later we'll find out more about whether or not she technically fits the statute regarding her status...but until then the fact that the CIA complained and that so much time is being spent on the investigation makes it a no-brainer.

But the right wing blogs are trying to use Wilson's response to suggest that he was saying that Plame was no longer an operative on the day that Novak wrote about her. Since The New York Times reported today that Rove spoke to Novak over a week before the July 14th column, I'm not sure that that matters.

But it does.

The Associated Press released a story taking this right wing talking point to use against Wilson.

They are all ignoring the fact that Wilson also said when Blitzer asked about the history of her covert status, "That's not anything that I can talk about." For the past two years, Joe Wilson has refused to talk about his wife's status, and he has been completely consistent on this.

More on this controversy can be read at this article on my blog: Right Wingers Lying or Stupid?.

The Associate Press article is travelling all across the Internet and throughout the mainstream media, and it is a dishonest account of what Joe Wilson said on CNN.