We're Waiting...But Not Holding Our Breath

Remember back when Robert Novak published that article that blew Valerie Plame's cover, based on a leak from the administration? Remember how in June 2004, over two years ago, President Bush made a big show about how bad it was to leak such information, and how he would fire anyone in the White House involved?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Columnist Robert Novak said publicly for the first time Tuesday that White House political adviser Karl Rove was a source for his story outing the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Now, of course I realize that last year Bush hedged his position and said he'd fire someone who had committed a crime, which technically Rove might not have.

But still, when the guy who wrote the article comes right out and says "He was my source," can you ignore that? Don't you have to at least remove his security clearance? He may not be a criminal, but he's certainly violated the agreement he signed for clearance, even if all he did was confirm what Novak found out elsewhere.

How do you allow Karl Rove to go unpunished now that Novak himself says he leaked if you want to go on villifying the New York Times and others for publishing stories based on leaks? You'd have to be...well, you'd have to be George Bush.