Frog-Marching Time for Rove?

"2.) The ensuing grand jury investigation dramatically weakens the news media and future leakers, as reporters must decide whether to testify or go to jail, and even turns Rove's foes in the public against the reporters involved because they are seen as protecting him.

"In other words, by making himself a protected source who loses that protection, Rove makes it easier for the government to use federal courts to target all leakers. This would give Machiavelli a migraine."

John Hinderaker of Power Line explores the legal liability question:

"A violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act seems highly unlikely. It is doubtful whether Rove or any other administration source knew of Plame's affiliation with the CIA through access to classified materials; it is further questionable whether Rove or any other source knew that she was a 'covert' employee, or that the government was making an effort to keep her affiliation with the Agency a secret. (In fact, it is unclear whether the Agency did make such an effort.) As to the third situation covered by the statute, neither Rove nor any other administration source identified Plame as part of a 'pattern of activities intended to identify or expose covert agents' for the purpose of impairing national security.

"It is hard to see how Rove could be indicted for violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, and it is very unlikely that he would have been foolish enough to testify falsely before the grand jury about his conversations with journalists. None of this will matter much, though, when it is publicly acknowledged that Rove was one of the sources of the Plame 'leak.' (This isn't, by the way, the sort of communication that is ordinarily referred to as a 'leak.') We can expect a media feeding frenzy or potentially unprecedented proportions.

"Rove presumably told the President that he was one of the sources of the Plame information long ago. It is interesting that Bush didn't take the path of least resistance and ease Rove out of the administration at the end of his first term. The President's reputation for loyalty to has aides is certainly well-deserved."

Almost obscured in all this is the fact that Judy Miller is sleeping on a foam mattress on the floor of the Alexandria Detention Center. The Dallas Morning News gives Judy a standing O:

"Your decision to pay a personal price to protect the confidentiality of professional conversations sends powerful signals. It tells authorities that an ardor exists among journalists equal to the force of subpoenas. It tells would-be sources, who may want to reveal an awful truth, that it's still possible to speak in confidence.

"And it tells the public that an uncowed press -- the founders' desire -- still exists 214 years after the Bill of Rights was ratified."

David Kidwell of the Miami Herald measures the Time/Times fallout:

"It seems like such a simple concept that any 10-year-old can easily grasp. You make a promise, you keep it.

"But some in journalism's executive offices -- Norman Pearlstine among them -- are having a difficult time with it.