remember PLAMEGATE?

where the revenge of karl rove ran into obstacles, like outting a CIA undercover agent, a federal crime? it all started with some phone calls, and karl's bed partner bob novak whispering sweet revenge nothings one night before bob proceeds to out her in his column.

well, it seems to get more ludicrous every time there's a new story about the case, which is over 2 years old now.

Mr. Novak offered a possible explanation for the disconnect on Monday, suggesting in his column that he could have obtained Ms. Wilson's maiden name from the directory Who's Who in America, which used that name in identifying her as the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador.

--source

well, i couldn't have put the same reaction a friend of mine over on DU had, into better words:

He could well have figured out that Joseph Wilson's wife was named Valerie Plame. So could have their neighbors, their insurance broker, their pool cleaner, and the maitre'd at a local restaurant. That is, needless to say, all very much beside the point. Mrs. Wilson claimed to work as a consultant with a company named Jennings Brewster. As far as their neighbors, their insurance broker, their pool cleaner, the maitre'd or Mr. Robert Novak could have known, this was a legitimate company that drew revenue for consulting services rendered. What none of these people could have determined from "Who's Who in America" or any other public source was that Jennings Brewster was in fact a CIA front company gathering intelligence on weapons proliferation, or that Mrs. Wilson or Ms. Plame, or whatever, was a covert operative for the Central Intelligence Agency. No public source said that. The CIA tried desperately to prevent Mr. Novak from printing that. And the fucking New York Times should stop pretending that this point isn't obvious to any child who looks into the matter with a shred of honesty. Are they fucking kidding me?

The lengths of absurdity that these scumbags will go to to backtrack on their criminal behavior is directly proportional to their culpability and criminal exposure. And this story is a doozy of bad logic and laughable premises, so I'm betting that they're expecting rather severe indictments. He could have figured it out by himself? How? How on earth could he have done that? If any public source made any such claim, that public source should be added to the investigation. As it stands, the FIRST public source to state that Valerie Wilson was a CIA employee was Mr. Novak's column, which is why he's at the center of the shitstorm. As well he should be.
--source

the dog ate my homework excuse only a republicon could get away with using.