Clear And Present Danger

Juan Cole has an excellent summation of the background on the Plame Affair:

What I would say is that Karl Rove should be made to resign if he said the words attributed to him, "Joe Wilson's wife is fair game." He was condoning the breaking of US law and the endangering of US intelligence personnel and assets, especially in the field of Ms. Plame's specialty, the tracking of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

And that is the greatest irony of all. Ms. Plame, who really was working to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction, has been ruined by persons who only pretended to do so for political gain, and whose invasion of Iraq did nothing to make the US one whit safer.

Juan puts his finger on it. Even if Rove did not authorize the initial leak he apparently spoke approvingly of it after the fact. That alone is sufficient reason for Rove's ass to be out of there. This is not just a story of political intimidation. It is a story of a political machine that cares more about destroying its critics than it does about protecting the security of the American people.

Karl Rove is a clear and present danger to the safety of America and the sooner he is removed from the halls of power the sooner we can all breathe easier.