Rove Over

Cafepress.com

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within." Marcus Tullius Cicero

There's a Nixonesque stench pervading the White House these days.

The illegal actions of a top Bush administration official--and possibly others--have tainted the self-proclaimed squeaky clean Christian Values image of the President and his administration. Criminal activities were undertaken for political gain. An eerily familiar scenario to all who suffered through Watergate and it's aftermath.

It's past time for the President to fire Karl Rove for outing a CIA operative, and other potential crimes. At the very least, to allow him to "retire" and face criminal prosecution without administration cover. Or was George W. Bush involved? Did he know what his most trusted advisor--the architect of his Presidency--was doing or had done? If so, we're in much bigger trouble than even Bush's most vociferous detractors could have imagined.

Stonewalling won't work. That kind of self-deluded hubris brought Richard Nixon and his administration to their knees, and signaled arguably the most egregious betrayal of public trust in modern political history.

One must ask, has the President learned nothing from the criminal activities and subsequent downfall of the Nixon Administration? Regardless of whether or not he knew about Karl Rove's actions, it is his sacred obligation as our country's leader to stop shielding him and anyone else involved. In fact, to assure they face the full legal consequences of their treachery.

The first President Bush understood the critical necessity of protecting covert operatives, as shown in this widely circulated quote by George H.W. Bush, from his perspective as former Director of the CIA, "I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors."

This President has been trying to fill Daddy's shoes for most of his life, one suspects -- and certainly for the past five years. He must step into them now and squash Karl Rove for the insect he has shown himself to be.

This isn't about freedom of the press anymore, it's about American freedoms, and a traitor in our midst who has sullied them in the most heinous way -- from a position of ultimate power.

How many more promises will George W. Bush break before he breaks our country's back? If the President doesn't get out in front of this scandal, and fast, the country will have no choice but to assume he supports such treasonous behavior. And that he too is willing to betray America in the name of partisan politics.

MoveOn PAC: President Bush, keep your promise: Fire Karl Rove

The DemocraticParty: Tell the administration to come clean