Wednesday, July 13, 2005

A Timeline of Rove's Career



I had high hopes when I saw this AP article about Karl Rove's life, but it turns out to be almost totally whitewashed. Nothing about what he did as a college student to cause trouble for an opposing candidate, and though the bugging-his-own-office-to-cast-aspersions-to-his-opponents was mentioned, nothing about all the other people he destroyed in Texas. For those you need to go and see Bush's Brain.

Still, the last bits of the timelime are interesting:

--Sept 29, 2003: The White House dismisses as "ridiculous" the suggestion Rove was involved in disclosing the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

--June 10, 2004: Bush pledges to fire anyone in his administration found to have been a leaker in the Plame case.

--Oct. 16, 2004: Rove testifies before grand jury investigating the leak. Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, says prosecutors have assured Rove he is not a target of the criminal probe.

--Nov. 3, 2004: Bush wins re-election with Rove as his chief political adviser.

--July 10, 2005: Newsweek reports that in 2003 Rove talked to Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper about Plame, but did not identify her by name. Cooper later writes a story in which he uses Plame's name.

--July 11: Under intense questioning from reporters, White House spokesman Scott McClellan refuses to repeat claims that Rove had nothing to do with the leak.

--July 12: Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., say Rove should be fired. McClellan says Bush still has confidence in Rove.