And so the spin begins...

I did a Google News search on Karl Rove, to see what was happening in the media regarding MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell's revelation Friday night that Rove was the source of the leak of the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity, an action that former CIA head and President, George H.W. Bush once said, makes him "the most insidious of traitors."

[For those of you who need background on this issue, see this excellent article on the Knappster.]

Some observations:

• The foreign media is covering this more than US media.
  This may be due to the coverage of Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation from the Supreme Court and speculation on her replacement; It may be due to it coming out on Friday night and not making an easy entry into the regular news cycle; Or it may be due to the noted reluctance of the so-called "liberal media" to publish anything critical of the Bush Administration.
  The major exception to this is an article published in Newsweek.
• The usual Bush team strategy of denial and attack mode has already shifted into gear.
  (A wire article by Richard Schmidt of the LA Times notes that
  ...the White House has dismissed questions about Rove's actions as "totally ridiculous.")
• Here's the main spin, and according to Lawrence O'Donnell it involves a very KEY word in the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. (The key word is "knowlingly").
  In the Newsweek article, Rove's lawyer Robert Luskin is quoted as saying that Rove "never knowingly disclosed classified information." And this 'knowlingly' is already being dropped. A wire story orginally written for the NY Daily News just says: Rove's lawyer Robert Luskin told Newsweek that Rove never revealed classified information.

So two things can be done:

1. Push for this story to be printed (like was done with the Downing Street Memo), and
2. Wait for the indictments.

Technorati Tags: politics, current events, indictment, treason, President, Bush, CIA, Plame, Rove, O'Donnell, news, media