It's Not Over 'Til It's Over

Steve Clemmons seems a little premature:

Perhaps the Bush administration is trying to send a signal to Mr. Bolton that he should withdraw his name.

TWN believes that time has come. There are better candidates to send to the United Nations, and Mr. Bolton can only harm American interests by going to the U.N. by way of recess appointment. This would send a tremendously negative message to the rest of the world.

Many Republicans in the Senate would be seriously disturbed as well because this really would harm the standing of America in a valuable international institution.

There are now so many complicating factors building that the White House can ill afford to allow this nomination-ulcer to keep bleeding.

The White House must deal with Karl Rove's complicity in the Valerie Plame outing. This issue could easily backfire on President Bush who -- at the time -- demanded to know who the villain among his staff was who would compromise American national security by this petty and vindictive exposure of Plame's CIA identity.

The administration also has three weeks to push through a mountain -- a real huge pile -- of important appropriations bills and other legislation that it hopes to get through before the August recess, which will probably mark the definitive beginning of Bush's lame duck presidency.

On top of that, the battle over Sandra Day O'Connor's seat is only just beginning -- and will dominate the news for the weeks ahead.

And yet on top of that drama, we have a major terrorist attack in London -- another tremendous tragedy. That too will take attention and time and calls for the White House to send a constructive, bridge-building personality to the U.N. to strengthen the league of those who stand against this type of violence and want to build an "ideology of hope," to use President Bush's words.

The White House's intense obsession with winning all battles at nearly any cost -- which so offends moderates in both parties -- will undo its larger goals, and Bolton is the most obvious battle for Bush to concede if he hopes to maintain support from moderates and not whip those Democrats who smell blood into a tenacious, obstructionist fury.

Are we talking about the same group of people? Headed by Joes Lieberman and Biden?

What you haven't learned about Bu$hCo is their realization there's no going back.

There have been serious crimes committed by this administration, and as long as Bolton remains a committed soldier, they will continue to push him through. As a matter of Principle, if unscrupulous scoundrels can be said to have principles beyond hoisting the Jolly Roger. They realize they have to have Total Victory or many of them will end up in jail. That, and the Blank Check for Endless War has to keep coming in to keep up the bar tab.

Similarly, there's a lot of joy among us about the revelation of the Rove-Cooper link in the Plame affair.

But look at what's being said here:

In a brief conversation with Rove, Cooper asked what to make of the flap over Wilson's criticisms. NEWSWEEK obtained a copy of the e-mail that Cooper sent his bureau chief after speaking to Rove. (The e-mail was authenticated by a source intimately familiar with Time's editorial handling of the Wilson story, but who has asked not to be identified because of the magazine's corporate decision not to disclose its contents.) Cooper wrote that Rove offered him a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson." Rove told Cooper that Wilson's trip had not been authorized by "DCIA"—CIA Director George Tenet—or Vice President Dick Cheney. Rather, "it was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip." Wilson's wife is Plame, then an undercover agent working as an analyst in the CIA's Directorate of Operations counterproliferation division. (Cooper later included the essence of what Rove told him in an online story.) The e-mail characterizing the conversation continues: "not only the genesis of the trip is flawed an[d] suspect but so is the report. he [Rove] implied strongly there's still plenty to implicate iraqi interest in acquiring uranium fro[m] Niger... "

In this communication Rove is simply advising caution about something Cooper and apparently many people in Washington already knew: of the Wilson-Plame marriage, Plame was the real Company cowboy, Wilson was simply the official front.

Note the communique itself works as dis information to insist the non existent weapons were there and that Plame-Wilson were acting on their own.

Even though Wilson had State Department orders to check it out, Rove is insisting Plame overran her course and acted outside of orders from Tenet.

Tenet, enjoying his Medal of Freedom and doubtless Company fringe benefits will doubtless testify in support of Rove, because these days the Group owns the Company.