Is it just me or does this Petraeus business reek of Rove?

[Fridays Child]

Maybe I'm behind the curve here and others here have already discussed this but doesn't it seem precisely like the sort scandal Karl Rove would attempt to manufacture? Is there any circumstantial evidence pointing to him? Should Rove be scared?

[MADem]

1. There's definitely more going on than we know. Where this will lead, who knows? nt

[Fridays Child]

4. I think Dems should be very careful not to accuse Rove prematurely because, if he is involved...

...that's exactly what he wants. If he can convince the public that even the smallest detail of any accusation against him is in error, we lose all credibility. That's his M.O.

That being said, if it turns out that he's behind this, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

2. Don't think it's too far a stretch

The Iranian hostage crisis kept Jimmy Carter tied down and consumed till the day Reagan walked into the white house.

Romney said something strange when they were putting on the relief effort for Sandy victims at a critical point in their campaign-he said it reminded him of his volunteer efforts to clean up a field.

It was something odd Romney said.

So they waited until election day to spring it.

Imagine just imagine.

Yes he took off the mittens and put it all out on the field.
Left it there too !.

Utter trash.

[malaise]

12. Is it not possible that they had no choice when they realized that they

had lost the election?

[amywalk]

3. Well, pics with Broadwell prove relationship. I did think it could have been a calculated attempt

by Rove to blow up the election. October surprise that went sideways.

[Fridays Child]

7. If he is involved...

Even though he didn't achieve the desired outcome, if laws were broken, if intelligence breaches imperiled American lives, maybe he'll receive the frogmarching he has deserved for so long.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. I think they wanted Benghazi to be their October Surprise. It failed. So, the question is,

how far up the GOP food chain does the whole thing go, and how involved were they?

[bluedigger]

6. Rove's a busy guy, but he isn't under every bed and in every closet.

It's a big country with lots of independent actors in it. I haven't seen any evidence of Rove's fingers on the puppets' strings regarding this affair.

Doesn't mean it won't turn up, of course.

[Fridays Child]

8. If it turns out that this has anything to do with attempting to influence the election...

...you know he just about has to be in it somewhere.

[bluedigger]

9. The whole thing has an air of tragic inevitability to me.

More along the lines of a Greek tragedy than an elaborate conspiracy. The Fates are harsh mistresses. But I'm always open to new evidence, and every day seems to bring a new angle and depth of depravity to the story, so we'll see, I guess.

[Live and Learn]

10. All I know is where there is smoke there is fire.

And the smoke here is pretty darn thick.

[marions ghost]

14. Yep

There are some strange things going on here, and I don't mean turtle sex.

[SoCalMusicLover]

11. Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

13. That does seem to speak

And she did tell her father the whole thing is a smoke screen.

But somehow I suspect by it's design the thing was meant to be a after the election surprise.

After all Romney believed the presidency was his for the taking.

[magical thyme]

19. I don't think it was meant to be an after election surprise

I think Benghazi was supposed to be an October surprise that spun out of control and blew up in their faces. I think Rove was behind the youtube release and 'promotion' of that vile movie that was intended to spark unrest in the ME. But events didn't follow their script and Sandy wrecked their plans to install Mitt. With Mitt installed, everything would have been easily buried.

I think their backup plan was to use Bengahzi to impeach, and Patreaus' testimony would have been part of that. I think that while President Obama left certain Bush boys in place, he may also have carefully placed a few internal spies to keep their eyes on them. His team were just figuring it out in Debate 1, which is why he was so exhausted, distracted and extra cautious. By Debate 2 he was punching back. And by Debate 3...the stare....glare?

Everything now is their attempts at damage control, blowing up in their faces.

The affair is a smoke screen. A DUer posted not too long ago that Rove goes to a coffeeshop where a friend works. These days, Rove looks like

I think they are cornered, or nearly so, and running for their lives. This is when things will get particularly nasty. They will be throwing every clump of their own shit they can get their filthy hands on and try to smear the President with it.

[Berlum]

16. Kute Kouple (R)

not

[randome]

15. Rove has been humiliated and disowned.

And you guys STILL want to believe he is a super-villain! It's incredible to me that so many want to believe in Rove. After the Palin debacle and now the Romney debacle, what more proof do you need that Rove and the GOP are incompetent!

[Live and Learn]

17. You are 'misunderestimating' (GWB reference)

Remember when we thought we had the toad frog marched to prison for the Plame treason just to see the slippery reptile slip from justice and abscond and reemerge as a Faux News fork tongued, highly paid spokeserpent.

Course, he had never wasted the KB money before. Could be a rude awakening for him.

[randome]

18. 'We' did not think Rove was going to be frog-marched.

A few DUers thought that and they were quite adamant that it was a certainty. Not everyone believes what they see on the Internet.

He did not 'slip' from justice. Nothing happened.

Back-to-back debacles is, however, enough proof for me that both Rove and the GOP are incompetent.

[Live and Learn]

20. Well I guess I was just naive back then when I believed in real justice

like lying about a reason for war and outing a CIA agent for political purposes would result in justice.

If he is relegated to the 99% now, it will not be due to any form of justice but because he dared to fail on an investment.

I didn't need back to back debacles to know Rove and the GOP were nothing but bullies (and they were and are quite competent at that). Unfortunately for Rove, bullies often turn on each other. Don't think we can really take any kudos for bringing Rove down if he is other than standing up to the bullies this time and letting them take each other out.

[randome]

21. I agree with you. We did not bring Rove down.

His own incompetence brought him down and I think that's a good enough reason to celebrate.

[Coyotl]

22. NO. But Rove might be part of how the Patraeus Affair is reeking a lot!

This is the sort of scandal that Rove, et. al., have to worry about happening TO THEM.
This is happening to a bunch of hard-core neo-con Bush leftovers in the Obama Administration.
Good riddance to them and let the world see who they really are on their way out.

This will lead to an investigation of the Tampa Scene, to what went on at the Republican Convention in Tampa, to who knows who and sleeps with whom all, to extravagant spending by the military high command, to which woman is flying to Paris with which general, etc. These are Rovian hob-nobbers and Bushies, make no mistake about it.

The whole Benghazi thing might be their defense mechanism, trying to realign the focus of what they know is coming, the unveiling of THEIR can of worms.

[Mc Mike]

23. It's not just you, FC. +1, nt.