Bush's sudden interest in facts!

Now that its come out that Karl Rove pretty apparently broke the law by outing a CIA operative, Bush's promise to fire anyone having anything to do with the Plame scandal has been changed to anyone getting convicted about it. Which is mealy-mouthed, but pretty par for the course.

What interests me is Bush's sudden hesitancy not to act before all the facts are in. He's going around saying that the facts aren't all in, so we should reserve judgment and not do anything until they are. This, of course, is just a boondoggle. Rove has functionally admitted he outted Plame; he didn't do it by name, no, but when you say that Joe Wilson's wife is a CIA agent -- given that this is publicly available information -- the fact that her actual name wasn't used doesn't mean much. There is only one person Rove could have been discussing: Valerie Plame, on account of he being Wilson's sole wife. So, the facts are in -- facts enough to know that Rove outted Plame. Which should first get him indicted and, second, if Bush's promises mean anything, get him fired. The tactic here is to muddy the waters; the facts are in -- Rove did it. Now begins the relentless campaign of naked lies ("The facts aren't in") which will be repeated until a fairly large segment of the population believes them. Behind the scenes will be a lot of pressure, of course, not to indict Rove. Because, y'know, in court the excuse "wait, all the facts aren't in" isn't seen as a really good defense. The whole point of a trial, after all, is to determine if enough of the facts are in to convict.

But I find it interesting that an administration that was willing to go to war over, at best, flimsy evidence and more likely just outright lies is suddenly so concerned with getting "all the facts". It is something of a first.