Rove-Plame is Officially Hysterical

Thanks to Newsmax I feel like an ass. How in Great Damian's beard could I have forgotten about this.

Questioning Bolton, Kerry asked: "Did Otto Reich share his belief that Fulton Armstrong should be removed for his position?" - according to a transcript excerpted by the New York Times.

"The answer is yes," the top Democrat continued.

In his response to Kerry, Mr. Bolton did his best to maintain the agent's confidentiality, reverting to the Armstrong's pseudonym.

"As I said," he told Kerry, "I had lost confidence in Mr. Smith, and I conveyed that."

Two years earlier, Armstrong had been identified in news reports on his dispute with other officials over intelligence involving Cuba. But he was operating in a different capacity and his identity wasn't secret at the time.

"When the Bolton nomination resurrected the old accounts, however, the C.I.A. asked news organizations to withhold his name," the Times said.

The general rule is, if the Democrats accuse you of something, there is always, always, a great example somewhere is recent history, some parallel issue, that illustrates the utter hypocricy of their outrage and hysteria. What can I say? Sandy Berger threw me a curve ball and I forgot to look past it.

Kerry outed an honest-to-goodness covert agent during the Bolton hearings, directly and in public, against the express consent of the C.I.A. The Rove-Plame scandal is officially hysterical. And when I say hysterical, I mean hy-ste-ri-ca-l.

Fast forward to the present and Kerry is calling for Rove's head just like everybody else on the left. This is from his official statement on the matter.

...the question is what are the White House's fundamental values? Is it the value of day-to-day politics, the value of political advice? Is the value of Karl Rove's position greater than the value of the national security of our country? Is he more important than the protection of the identity of CIA agents or even George Bush's own word?

"The White House's credibility is at issue here, and I believe very clearly that Karl Rove ought to be fired."

Wow. He sounds serious. But he defended his "outing" of Armstrong in April by with the "he did it too" defense, noting that Senator Richard Luger had made the same reply, and concluded:

...besides, said Kerry, the secret agent's name "had already been in the press."

Armstrong's name had been in the press a couple of years prior, much as Valerie Plame's has appeared. The difference is that Armstrong had officially changed tasks within the C.I.A and was working covertly at the time of the Bolton hearings.

Incidentally, Kerry's press release calling for Rove to be fired is titled "America's National Security - Not Karl Rove's Job Security - Should be Administration's Only Priority."

Oh, great irony.