The Argument: The Second Primary Issue on Rovegate

There are now two primary issues here:

1. The White House outed a CIA agent in order to protect its discredited case for war in Iraq.

2. In it’s coverup, the Republican leadership has shown contempt for the truth and contempt for the American people.

 

The second issue is no longer secondary. And if it is framed correctly, it does not divert attention from the issue, but rather refocuses and amplifies the essential point – Republican contempt for facts, for truth, and for the American people.

Here’s the attack on the second issue (to be made after the attack on the first issue), in a nutshell:

“In covering up the White House’s outing of a CIA agent, the Republican leadership has shown contempt for the truth and contempt for the American people.

“In this coverup, Republican leaders have attempted to distract attention from the outing of a CIA agent by telling outright lies about the agent’s husband. One example: They say that the husband claimed to have been sent on a mission by Vice-President Cheney. It’s a lie. The husband never said that, never implied that, never hinted at that. The Republican leaders know the truth. But they don’t care about the truth. And they expect journalists and the American people to fall for these obvious, childish lies. They play the American people for fools.

“In this coverup, Republican leaders have said that up is down, black is white, day is night. And they expect journalists and the American people to fall for it. They think the people are stupid. The Chairman of the Republican Party says [on Meet the Press, 7] that the political operative Karl Rove confirmed the identity of a CIA agent for one journalist and then volunteered the identity of a CIA agent for another journalist, but that this doesn’t count as being “involved” in outing the CIA agent.

“The White House outed a CIA agent in order to protect its discredited case for war. Now, in covering up the outing of a CIA agent, the Republican leadership has shown contempt for truth and contempt for the American people. For the Republican leadership, truth doesn’t matter, and the American people can be played for fools.”