DRAMA IN THE NEWS

"Just 25% of Americans say the White House is fully cooperating with the federal investigation into the leak of [Valerie Plame] Wilson's identity, The Wall Street Journal reports, according to a new ABC News poll. That's "down from about half when the investigation began nearly two years ago. Moreover, 75% said [Karl] Rove should lose his job if he leaked classified information." Naturally King Georgie Boy has renegged on earlier declarations that he'd fire anyone involved in the leak.

Bear in mind, this report by the Los Angeles Times: "Regardless of Rove's legal liability, a description of his role [to prosecutors] runs contrary to earlier White House statements" that he and Cheney Boy's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, "were not involved in the unmasking of Wilson's wife, and it suggests they were part of a campaign to discredit Wilson." Also:

A source directly familiar with information provided to prosecutors said Rove's interest was so strong that it prompted questions in the White House. When asked at one point why he was pursuing the diplomat so aggressively, Rove reportedly responded: "He's a Democrat."

Meantime, The New York Times replied this morning to Greg Palast's argument about Judy Miller's refusal to reveal the sources who leaked to her. And finally, if you haven't read Frank Rich's take on all this, do so now. He begins: "Well, of course, Karl Rove did it." And concludes: "Seasoned audiences of presidential scandal know that there's only one certainty ahead: the timing of a Karl Rove resignation." In between he offers a more beguiling analysis than anyone else's. If his prediction turns out to be right, Rich can chalk it up to his familiarity with the minor Shakespearean characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in "Hamlet," not to mention Tom Stoppard's play, during his many years as a drama critic.

Postscript: Leon Freilich cites Title 50, Chapter 15, Subchapter IV, Section 421 of the U.S. code on "Protection Of Identities Of Certain United States Undercover Intelligence Officers, Agents, Informants, And Sources." Skipping the legal technicalities, his commentary boils down to this:

KING KARL

The law's the law,
By Bush and by Jove!
But there are exceptions
For royals like Rove.

July 19, 2005 9:49 AM |

Categories:

Me Elsewhere

'WILD SIDE' STILL ROCKS 

Nelson Algren was one of the great American authors of the 20th century, it is no exaggeration to say, and among the most neglected. Consider his underrated classic, "A Walk on the Wild Side." The title -- popularized and co-opted as an idiomatic phrase by Hollywood and Madison Avenue (institutions Algren loathed) -- is familiar to most anyone who speaks English or knows Lou Reed's lyrics. But the novel itself? Hardly.

BUSTER KEATON REVISITED 
Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat is not a biography. "This book is merely a fan's notes," Edward McPherson writes in the introduction, although his publisher ignores the disclaimer and calls it a biography on the cover. In fact, the book is a bit of both, a difficult combination to bring off unless you're David Thomson, who set the standard with Rosebud, his penetrating rumination on the life and career of Orson Welles, which was nothing if not a distillation of every obsessive thought he ever had about the myth and the man and all his movies.
LAUREN BACALL, STILL SALTY AT 80 
When Lauren Bacall writes that her singing voice ranges "somewhere between B minus sharp and outer space," she's being candid and funny. It's not every stage star with two Tony Awards for best actress in a musical whose vocal talent offers so little promise. (OK, Harvey Fierstein excepted.) Still less would one admit it.
THE STARS ACCORDING TO BOGDANOVICH 
Peter Bogdanovich's superb collection of movie-star profiles and interviews -- a sequel to Who the Devil Made It, his interviews of top film directors -- begins with an affectionate tale about Orson Welles that reminds us just how intimate the author's connection to Hollywood's greatest has been. But contrary to what we've come to expect from dime-a-dozen celebrities and celebrity interviews not worth two cents, the tale avoids bromidic egotism and journalistic platitudes.
SAMMY'S WHITE DREAMS 
Four decades ago Lenny Bruce sentenced Sammy Davis Jr. to "30 years in Biloxi," stripping him of "his Jewish star" and "his religious statue of Elizabeth Taylor." Now we have two new biographies of Davis that spring him from ridicule, if not from doubts about his legacy, and restore a measure of dignity to a black entertainer whose huge fame and success never overcame his devout wish -- indeed his lifelong effort -- to be white.
more picks

Sites to See

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Straight Up | published on July 19, 2005 9:49 AM.

THE ULTIMATE SHOW was the previous entry in this blog.

KING GEORGIE BOY EXPLAINS IT ALL FOR US is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Creative Commons License
This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.