BURN, ROVE

For all the ways presidential political adviser Karl Rove will be able to beat the rap for his tratorious actions — the rampant cronyism and corrupted values of the Bush administration still count for something, after all — it was still fun to watch White House spokesman Scott McClellan squirm in front of the press, which has apparently grown a tooth in its dogged questioning:

You stood at that podium and said that Karl Rove was not involved. And now we find out that he spoke about Joseph Wilson's wife. So don't you owe the American public a fuller explanation. Was he involved or was he not? Because contrary to what you told the American people, he did indeed talk about his wife, didn't he?

McCLELLAN: There will be a time to talk about this, but now is not the time to talk about it. ...

QUESTION: You're in a bad spot here, Scott... because after the investigation began — after the criminal investigation was under way — you said, October 10th, 2003, "I spoke with those individuals, Rove, Abrams and Libby. As I pointed out, those individuals assured me they were not involved in this," from that podium. That's after the criminal investigation began.

Now that Rove has essentially been caught red-handed peddling this information, all of a sudden you have respect for the sanctity of the criminal investigation?

Too little, too late, perhaps. But fun to watch nonetheless.