"I Didn't Inhale"

I suppose it's possible that time itself might come to the aid of Red Faced Rove and his triple chin...after all, it's now a good two years or so since he made the fateful decision to fuck Joe Wilson "like no one has ever fucked him!"...

Time and the ultimate parsing of phrase--parsing that makes "I didn't inhale" and "what the definition of 'is' is" seem like chump change--are Rove's allies, and you can expect that the next few weeks at the Bush White House to resemble the Nixonian bunker mentality as they fervently hope the media has lost what little instinct they ever had for a feeding frenzy. After all, it's not like Rove blew the cover on someone working on, say, WMD issues...oh, wait a minute...

Right now, a quick, highly unscientific tour of various websites (including--gag--a quick trip to Faux News)--is bringing out the pessimist in me. While dutifully noting the fact that Roveweiler WAS at least one source who blew Valerie Plame's cover, it seems as if contortionism has become sort of a hobby for some reporters/editors/publishers. Hence, special consideration for whether or not Karl's lips actually uttered "Plame" or "Valerie" during the course of conversation with Matthew Cooper. Others emphasize the nature of the statute regarding exposure of agents:

...disclosure by a government official must have been deliberate, the person doing it must have known that the CIA officer was a covert agent, and he or she must have known that the government was actively concealing the covert agent's identity.

But, one stumbling block might be the White House itself--time and time again Bush went on record explicitly stating that he wouldn't tolerate "leaks." And, considering the Bush family stance towards this type of behavior, it's difficult to imagine Rove getting a free pass--unless the media decides to play whitewasher and spread a fresh coat--or two.

Which, sadly, is more than easily imagined these days. The "first rough draft of history" seems focused more on the agony of Matt Cooper than anything else, for instance. CNN and Faux, as you might expect, don't have anything today. And, with the passage of two years, or, in journalese think, some 730 lifetimes, it's more than possible to keep the lid on this--or at least minimize the damage. And with the public focused on things like the London train bombings--well, and being more realistic, Katie Holmes (PROMINENTLY featured at Faux's web site), there's a good chance this could become just another three day sensation along the lines of Richard Clark's book/public statements, which are shocking...IF you're paying attention.

Instead, though, it seems that, despite the fires all around, the public--and their representatives in the media--are more concerned with what's playing on the fiddle...