Today on "Meet the Press," two segments concerned Karl Rove's disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity and the final segment had Woodward and Bernstein pushing their new book about Mark Felt/Deepthroat.
Below I compare and contrast the Rove and Felt cases:
- Both cases involve leaks and anonymous sources at the highest levels of government. However, in Mark Felt's case, he was exposing administration misdeeds while Rove was part of the cover-up of administration misdeeds.
- In the Felt case, the prosecutor wanted to find his identity so he could get information from Felt regarding the underlying crimes, but the prosecutor wanted Rove's identity because his statements to reporters which identified a covert agent is the underlying crime. I see this distinction as significant. In a Felt type of case, a reporter's disclosure of his source simply makes the prosecutor's job easier by pointing at the person who has the information. In Rove's case, Rove's statements are the crime so the reporter's testimony is essential to the prosecution.
(More after the jump)
Now given that Rove's disclosure is much more damaging to national security than Felt's, and Rove's disclosure was a criminal act while Felt's violations are questionable. I reviewed the expressed opinion of whatever pundits on the right that I could think of and could find definitive opinions therefrom.
Here are the results of my survey:
Pundit Rove Felt
G.Gordon Liddy Good Really Bad
Sean Hannity Good Bad
Pat Buchanan Hates Bush BAD
Rush Limbaugh Good Bad
I could make an exhaustive list but I make my point. Right wingers are hypocrites.