Sure. I'm a Democrat from new York. , I'll leave a comment.

Mr. Fitzgerald ran a careful investigation and did not believe that there was enough information to convince a jury of a crime. Job well done.

The sad fact remains that a agent who was focused on nuclear WMDs had her cover blown by at least two Administration officials, and no one has paid a price for it. Perhaps you could at least save some invective for those officials who played a role in this, or knew of it, "whoever" they may be. A treasonous crime was committed. It would be nice if you were at least a little outraged by it.

But, otherwise, our justice system generally works, and Mr. Fitzgerald (who I went to school with) is an excellent example of our system at its best. I trust his judgment.

“I can almost hear deranged liberals crying all around the country right now. I'm curious to see the liberal reaction . . . if you're a liberal and you're reading this quick post, please leave a comment... I'm interested to hear your reaction.”

Well, I’m a liberal and here is my reaction. If Rove was not indicted, given the public scrutiny and visibility of this case, then there was simply not enough evidence to indict him. He may or may not have committed a crime, but at this point, it seems disingenuous to further speculate, as none of us (on the left or the right) will likely ever know the true nature of events that took place regarding Wilson and his wife.

That being said, let me mention one other thing. The left (my left) will certainly be up in arms about this, and lament this publicly for weeks. This is a bad strategy, and we need to pay attention to how the right has won power in this country. For numerous reasons, the left is perceived as the party that whines about what is wrong, and wilts when faced with a challenge. The Rove incident will only further this perception. Simply stated, the left has lost its message, and for the most part, has relegated itself to a second tier position of responding to the frames and platform of the right.

Finally, even though it sounds like I am trashing the left, or more specifically the DNC, I am a leftist because historically it is the left that has supported the working class (of which I am very much a part). Minimum wage? 40 hour workweek? Benefits? Thank the left. However, at this point I am almost as loathe to my own party as I am to the right for the unabashed partisanship that has obscured the needs of the American working class. To put this in another way, it seems clear that both parties are willing to engage in criminal activity (and yes, the outing of Wilson’s wife was a crime) to further their narrowly defined ends of screwing the middle class and furthering the separation of the rich and the poor in this country. So as to Rove, good for him. As for the left, get over it and return to the issues that made you appealing and poignant for the (increasing) working class in this country.

wrw6 said:

(and yes, the outing of Wilson’s wife was a crime)

I was going to reply to more of your post, but I realized how pointless it would be once I read this sentence. Who are you to say a crime was committed? I take the word of the author of the law that says it wasn't. I also point to the fact that Fitzgerald has focused on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, simply because there was no "leak" law broken... if there had been, there would have been charges, no? That hasn't been at all the focus of the investigation because it was known, almost immediately, that there was no crime committed there.. but the left/media continued to shout about it, so Fitzgerald had to "investigate" to appease them or else they'd have cried foul. He made sure he was thorough, again because if he just said "this is ridiculous" and dropped the whole thing, can you imagine the outcry when the left had the momentum in the media? He was forced to investigate something, but again, it was all about "false statements", etc. not a leak because it wasn't a "leak" (in the sense it's generally used in this case)

I just noticed an earlier comment I missed, by Peter, who said:

The sad fact remains that a agent who was focused on nuclear WMDs had her cover blown by at least two Administration officials, and no one has paid a price for it.

See response to wrw6... and get real, we know that Wilson told people his wife worked for the CIA... Let's not even get in to the fact that Wilson lied, and we know that. Let's not get in to the fact that his politics clearly drove him. Let's not get in to the fact that Bush never claimed that Saddam bought anything from Niger (which is what Wilson claims was Bush's lie), he claimed that British intelligence said Saddam "sought" to buy it... The Brits stand by this, and it's confirmed by the former PM of Niger who says he chose not to make any deals with Iraq because he knew that would draw our attention, and possibly get Niger on our sh** list too. Let's ignore what non-investigation Wilson actually did in Niger, and what the 9/11 commission actually said the "findings" meant.... Ignore the fact that the administration had a legitimate reason to discredit Wilson when they were being publicly blasted by him. Hmmm, part of the Kerry campaign, used his wife to get a gig he wasn't qualified for, did a piss poor job and spun words to call the President a liar during a Presidential campaign.... Prove that a "leak" law was broken, or stop whining.

Randy responded in part to my note and obfuscates the point. Let me make it simple.

1) A CIA agent's cover was publicly blown, in a newspaper no less. I can't speak to who Wilson said what to, but I can safely say that Novak broadcasted it to the world. I can say that Plame was outed, as was the cover company she worked for. Every single agent who ever "worked" for that company was outed as well, and anyone who ever met with them was now under suspicion in the countries where they operated. Who are you to say who it is okay to out or not?

2) This was considered a serious enough offense for the President, who I would guess you hold in high esteem, to say that it was serious. He also said he would fire anyone involved. He's right: it was serious. And he fired no one. I'm sure you would condemn behaviour like that in your elected officials.

3) If a sitting Democratic administration had orchestrated a campaign to deliberately blow the cover of a CIA agent, and then failed to fire anyone, and failed to pay a price for it, you would most likely have suffered a massive cardial infarction after sputtering red for a while. You would have sputtered at protestations that they didn't know she was undercover. The fact is that no Democratic administration has ever perpetrated such a treasonous act, ever. And this President's has.

You can wrap yourself up in defamation of Wilson or Plame - the classic demonization of the victims - but the fact is THIS Administration blew the cover of CIA agents. Be proud of that.

Peter

Then why was no one charged with the "leak" then Peter?

I think it was clear that the President meant anyone involved in a criminal leak would be fired, but clearly no law was broken, so why should he? I know, I know.. he made two statements one about "anyone involved", but I think we know what he meant.

"Who am I to say" anything? Who are you to say? No "leak" charges, because the law wasn't broken... the only thing broken is you liberals' record players.

As for a "campaign" to deliberately "blow the cover"... Come on now... There was no campaign... At worst, even if it had been a "leak", it would have to have been a "campaign" to deliberately "blow the cover"... but there was clearly no intent to do any harm to Plame or anything of the sort... She was briefly mentioned in rightfully discrediting Wilson... Simply saying "look, this unqualified guy was sent by his wife, NOT CHENEY".... You think Rove and co. would have been stupid enough to have "leaked" as some sort of "campaign"?

I'm too tired to even think about this stupid non-issue.... But by all means, I hope your side continues to whine about it.

I won't be back on here until next week so you may just want to go hang out at some of your Kool Aid sites where they don't laugh at your ridiculous comments... Don't take this brief response as anything more than bordem and not wanting to waste my time when your responses get more predictible by the word.