How Far Down Does the Rabbit Hole Go?

Last night, Kate and I had dinner with a couple of friends up in Sunbury. Kate has been friends with B. for years now, having worked with her at a Columbus Non-Profit while she was finishing up her bachelor's degree at OSU. Kate's also always been close to B's husband as well. Both are middle aged, middle class, rural living, hard-working Republicans. Despite that, I've always held them in the highest regard.

After dinner, over some fine Maxwell House coffee, our discussion meandered into the political realm. This is dangerous territory, for as restrained as I am when debating political ideology, Kate is very much the polar opposite. She often goes in with her teeth bared, friend or not. She had asked B.'s husband what he thought about Scooter Libby being indicted, and the whole Valerie Plame Outing in general. After minor debate, B. brought into comparison the Clinton scandal in 1998, and indicated that she believed that was a much bigger and more serious breach of the law, in comparison with Libby's apparent doings. B. became very irate, claiming that because Clinton had redefined oral sex as not instituting actual sexual activity, and therefore his actions had influenced a generation of teenagers to become more sexually active because oral sex was suddenly 'ok' to do, according to the President. Clinton was in a position of great influence, and had thusly abused that position and ignored the repercussions of his actions.

First of all, I'm not a big Clinton fan. I've never been a big Clinton fan. I think his leadership was very questionable at times. His foreign policy decisions were terrible. After the botched operation in Somalia, Clinton all but ignored the mass genocide and suffering that was occurring in Rwanda, for fear that it would be politically bad to insert American influence and power into the region. The result was mass genocide, and could have been prevented. Clinton also gave in to big business interests and influence way too often. Most notably, he dropped the idea of a nationalized health plan when it failed to garner enough support. He didn't even fight for it. As a result, American's health care costs continue to soar, while for the most part, four large health care entities rake in the profits. He also supported NAFTA and the outsourcing of jobs and labor out of the U.S. Again, at the bequest of big business. It's amazing how quickly large factories closed here in the states and reopened in Mexico, where GM and other manufacturers could cut their wage overhead in half and not have to deal with the whole benefits issue anymore. Stockholders were pleased. The markets surged.

Clinton's legacy however, will forever be remembered for the Lewinsky scandal. After a six year fishing trip, Ken Starr finally cast long enough and deep enough ($10M deep that is) to catch him in an embarrassing personal discretion. However, it wasn't the affair that got Clinton impeached, it was, just as it is with Libby, the lie. I've always thought that dogs do a horrible job of covering their crap up. So do some politicians.

This is where I draw the line though. The disrespectful actions that Clinton performed were wrong. Sinful? Well, that's between him, Hillary and God, I would think. In opposition to that, however, what Scooter Libby alledgedly did, was outright traitorous and un-American. Joe Wilson was attacked and called a liar by the Rove Smear Machine, yet I've still not read one piece of evidence that proves Wilson lied about anything. Wilson never said that Cheney sent him to Niger, although that's what the Right says. Both the CIA and the American Ambassador in Niger both corroborate Wilson's report... that there was no Iraq/Nigerian Yellow Cake connection. Still, those in denial will try to connect dots that just do not exist. The CIA has since suggested that the Niger nuclear connection myth should have been left out of the 2003 State of the Union Address. It wasn't. The case for war was presented and sold to the highest bidder, the American people.

In return for not towing the party line, Wilson became a political target, with his wife being the ammunition. According to the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, any person who willingly discloses publicly the name of a covert American agent is guilty of a federal crime. The definition of a covert agent includes those who are active or retired. There is no statute of limitations on when a covert agent becomes 'unclassified', as some right wingers believe. Outing Plame put her life at risk, as well as the lives of those associated with her or who worked with her in the CIA. This doesn't just effect one or two people. This calls into question the ability of our intel agencies to operate without putting undue risk to it's employees and agents. This concerns our national security, something that in a post-9/11 world should be on the front burner of any administration occupying the Oval Office.

It makes me wonder how far down does this rabbit hole go? Will Scooter become the fall guy for an obviously corrupt and power drunk band of neo-conservatives? The investigation remains open according to Fitzgerald. Will Karl Rove, widely believed to be the original leak source to Novak, be next? Or will it be Cheney?