Whoops, 'Plamegate' Back on Page One

Whoops, 'Plamegate' Back on Page One
Pundits predicted the White House gambit of moving forward a Supreme Court pick would knock Karl Rove's involvement in the CIA leak case off page one for days. That became "day," thanks to the Washington Post this morning.

By Greg Mitchell

(July 21, 2005) -- It was almost as if the Washington Post was saying, "So there."

When the White House rushed its decision on a new Supreme Court justice forward to get top aide Karl Rove's involvement in the Valerie Plame affair off the front pages, most pundits dutifully hailed it as a brilliant tactical move that would surely bury the "other" story for days if not weeks.

Hello John Roberts, goodbye Karl Rove.

Actually, the Supreme scheme started falling apart within hours, thanks to a fair amount of attention on the poorly planned (for the White House) testimony on the Hill about a federal shield law. One of the recipients of Rove's CIA leak, Matt Cooper, got some face time on TV for that.

Now along comes the Washington Post this morning, led by top guns Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei, trumpeting on A1 (ouch) a story that brings attention right back to Rove, not to mention to Ari Fleisher and, possibly, a cast of thousands. So let's score this News Values 1, Pundits 0...