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Bush didn’t steal Kerry’s flip-flops

Posted 22 Jul 2005 in Bill Clinton, Democrats, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, liberals

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I started out skeptical of this whole Rove fiasco. And it really looked bad for a while. Still may be for Rove, depending on what the final results of the investigation will be.

In the meantime, I keep seeing the Left trying to play “gotcha” with President Bush. I even got caught up in it a bit as I prepared a post about the Rove issue earlier this week. First it seemed as though Bush said he’d fire anyone who leaked confidential information, then it seemed he changed to say he’d only fire anyone who broke the law. But in looking back through White House transcripts, it turns out the only revision comes from those already seeking fault with the President.

The initial quote in question came from September, 2003:


“If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is and if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of.”


And then this Monday, he said:


“If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration.”


Take a look at those last two quotes. Both times, he seems to be saying that getting sacked will only be in the event of a crime being committed. Seems fairly consistent to me. All along, Bush has condemned the leaking of any kind of secret information. But has also been clear that only someone who’s guilty of a crime would be sacked.

Not good enough for the Dems. They want Rove to resign or be fired based on the idea that he might have committed a crime.

I guess if that’s how we are to handle things nowadays, we’ll also be seeing resignations from Ted Kennedy, Barney Frank, and Hillary Clinton (and yes, Lefties, that includes Tom DeLay, too). They’ll all do the right thing and step down based on shady, possibly criminal activities in their backgrounds.

Right?

Of course not. If members of Congress were all gonna suddently adhere to high standards of office, then we’d have nobody left on Capitol Hill! So everybody hold your horses and let’s see what the investigation results are. If what Rove did was unacceptable behavior, then step up and punish the man accordingly. If what he did was a crime, he needs to be convicted and sent to jail. Clinton showed the country that if you just stall and distract, you can stay in office and survive. Please, President Bush, show America that you aren’t like that.

Joe Scarborough wrote a great (and balanced) article about the double standards in Washington, especially as it relates to this story. Two quotes in particular put things in good perspective:


Imagine Bill Clinton’s top political advisor leaking a CIA agent’s identity because of the actions of the agent’s spouse. Republicans, including yours truly, would have been demanding that official’s resignation at once.


And then…


Apply the same test to the media that I applied to the Rove dust-up. How would the media respond to a Republican ambassador who wrote a campaign check to George W. Bush, lied through his teeth about a CIA investigation, got caught in his lies, and then wrote a book called “The Politics of Truth”?

There’s a LOT of mud on both sides of this one, folks. And Dallas Morning News columnist Mark Davis smacks both of them much better than I could have.

Interesting fact to consider, Valerie Plame is neither saint/victim nor secret agent. Read here. She was a desk jockey whose classification was neither covert nor overseas within 5 years of the supposed leak. So this whole big hoo-ha may be just a political smear after all. I don’t know yet.

Charles Schumer, ever a shining example of political absurdity, recently whined, “I am disappointed that the president seems to have changed his standard. The standard for holding a high position in the White House should not simply be that you didn’t break the law. It should be a lot higher and if Mr. Rove or anyone else aided and abetted the leaking of the name of an agent, even if they don’t meet the narrow criminal standard, the president should ask for their resignation.” Mr. Schumer, with all due respect, shut your piehole. Where was this call for decency when Clinton committed perjury? Did you vote to impeach him, or did you side with your Democrat buddies in allowing a felon to stay in the oval office? I agree with the basics of what you’re saying, but your history on issues like this have eroded your credibility.

If Rove committed a crime, then I think that Bush should call for his resignation. But the Democrats aren’t the ones to be crowing in the public square about the standards of high office.

Posted by FullMetalPatriot
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT

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