The New York Times is reporting that the White House Silence on Rove’s Role in C.I.A. Agent Leak. Until the unraveling of the man behind the leak, the Bush Administration repeatedly assured the public its seriousness in punishing the source of this life-threatening leak. But now Bush all of a sudden is quite and has nothing to comment?
“Are you going to fire him?” the president was asked twice in a brief Oval Office appearance with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore. Both times, the president ignored the questions.
Then a White House aide signaled that the session was over. “Out those doors, please,” the aide told journalists. “Thank you very much.”
When it comes down to punishing others, even without a shred of evidence, Bush’s administration was all over the place and showed “resolve”. But when it comes to punishing one of their own, where’s the “resolve” and strong stance now?
I have no sympathy for the jailed journalist as well. It’s one thing to cover a sensational story for the sake of journalistic creativity. But when someone else’s life can be in danger because of your story, especially that of a public servant in a sensitive position, journalistic integrity should take a back seat and allow the human side of the journalist to take control. Everyone’s a human first; all other roles we play in our lives are secondary and are simply labels we carry with relatively meaningless substance.