Rove: More "Fountain" Than "Leak"


Parsing hasn't been so fashionable since, oh, around 1998:

[Novakula] confirmed that Mr Rove and former CIA public information officer Bill Harlow had been two of his three sources for the column, but refused to name the primary source for the article.

He said he had named the individuals to the Fitzgerald inquiry after learning that investigators already knew the information, and he was writing publicly about the issue now because the inquiry had confirmed he was no longer of interest.

It was confirmed last month that Mr Rove would not be facing charges over the affair, although Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Mr Cheney's former chief of staff, is still facing criminal charges.

Mr Bush last year promised to fire anybody in the government shown to have leaked Ms Plame's name, but Mr Rove's continued position as his deputy chief of staff suggests that the pledge did not apply to those who confirmed the agent's identity.

That concluding paragraph is so...British, no?