The latest melodrama that politicians and bloggers alike are throwing themselves into is “Rovegate,” the stupid, inconsequential, and highly boring scandal wherein covert CIA agent Valerie Plame has her identity revealed to the media. It’s called Rovegate because, well, it’s a scandal, and because Bush advisor Karl Rove seems to have had some role in the affair. Karl Rove is, of course, a favorite object of liberal hatred, since he’s so close to Bush, and since he’s an apparent egghead genius who controls Bush like a sock puppet from behind the scenes.

Rather than totally not caring (my inclination), since there will always be scandals like this, and there will always be criminal investigations, and since all the discussion is nothing more than pointless speculation infused with a liberal amount of partisan bias, most political bloggers try to morph themselves into investigative journalist/oracle-at-delphi hybrids, the unrecognized wise men of our time. Determined to pretend they know more than they do about what REALLY happened, and about how this just confirms what they suspected all along, they pontificate in post after post over all the newest information, choosing to tackle this oh-so-important bit of partisan warfare rather than anything with any lasting import. Rovegate — while meaningful in the same way as any criminal investigation — is best left to investigators and courts, not know-nothing Congressmen who want to throw in their two cents about how awful the whole thing is, and how this is just so typical of Republicans (or Democrats), and what should be done.

Here’s my official stance: If Karl Rove outed Valerie Plame, an act which, if done knowingly, is a criminal offense, fire him and throw him in jail. If it was another government official, arrest that person instead, whether it’s a Republican, Democrat, or Independent. I’ll allow the investigators, police, and courts do THAT part, since it’s their job. WOW, that was hard. Glad we got to the bottom of it, though.

Gullyborg has a post along the lines of my overall characterization of this media catastrophe. I think it’s hard to claim that Rove is a genius for taking a chance with losing his job, criminal charges, providing fodder for media and Democrats, and discrediting the administration on the whole (he may not have any true authority, but he’s a huge figurehead). Gullyborg is right on, however, about this dumb issue sucking up its unfair allotment of liberal hot air.

For your convenience, here’s but a brief list of other blog entries from people asinine enough to follow Rovegate assiduously, all the while parading their naked partisan volleys as an honest search for the truth.

The Daily Kos - July 15, 2005
No kidding, Congressman Conyers was able to find *91* other Congresshumans to sign this letter? Must be serious! This must mean something! Oh wait, every…single….one… of them is ALSO a Democrat? THIS is news. To Kos, I guess it is.

Independent Report - July 13, 2005
“It’s important to remember that Rove and Novak go way back.” Okay, thanks, we’ll remember that. Of course, remembering it won’t really do much, will it? Suppose we should let the case play out? I suspect that even if Rove isn’t found to play a part, liberal blogs will tell us that it’s due to shielding by the President, etc. etc., leveling it as just one more piece of evidence that Republicans are corrupt. Of course, seeing as how it’s just an ongoing hate-fest against the right, anyway, why not focus it at ideals and philosophies and larger practices, instead of just this microcosmic inflammation? At least use your biased time wisely. (For recent evidence of IR’s objective-minded coverage of Rove, see: this.)

Crooks and Liars - July 17, 2005
“The NY Post ran an editorial praising Rove and calling Wilson a low-down, dirty dog. I didn’t even bother linking to it.” Well, thanks for protecting us from dissenting opinions. We did, on the other hand, get rewarded with a link to all the letters to the editor criticizing the initial article that took too much effort to link to. I wonder what the difference is. And a dash of putting down the entire character of the paper never hurts: “Nobody takes [NYPost] seriously as a real journalistic publication.” Of course, this same principle leaves us with no reason to read C&L, either, unless ridicule counts.

The Fly Trap - July 14, 2005
Here we learn more about: the “Republican lie machine” and its “desperate” attempts to evade the law; Rove “executing a vendetta” against Wilson; the Republican “smear campaign” against Wilson/Plame; and a whole lot of (objective and fact-based, of course) certainty about things that no one on The Fly Trap could possibly know.

Isn’t it interesting how every single controversy that bursts onto the scene only seems to confirm everyone’s already-held political perceptions? It’s gotta be an undiscovered law of physics or something.