You can’t know the players
If you don’t have a program. Here (in my humble opinion) is the best concise summation of events in the Wilson/Plame/Rove affair.
If you need further clarification of the topics involved, he follows with this, a refutation of the selective minimization of the issues that People Who Want This Thing to Just Go Away are screeching to the media.
Of course, the gold standard long form analysis continues to be Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo, and you can always count on Atrios for a link to every single freakin’ story about it on the web.
UPDATE: Josh Marshall must be brewing something big- he hasn’t posted anything since 9:30 this morning.
Atrios has linked to a Guardian Radio Report that has Julian Borger naming Karl Rove. The quote is “Several of the journalists are saying privately ‘yes it was Karl Rove who I talked to.'” This is in reference to the six reporters that the White House reportedly talked to before getting Novak to run with the story. (Here’s the webpage where that link can be found.) Unfortunately, it’s going to take more than private admissions to get Karl Rove handcuffed and frog-marched out of the White House. If the Justice Department is worth its weight in salt, though…. there’s a bird in those Bushes- let’s see if that dog will hunt.
Taking a second to consider the variables- The NeoCons control the Justice Department… they control the paper shredders and the phone logs at 1600 Pennsylvania. They control the White House press room… However, they do not control the “Top Administration Official” that leaked the story to light a fire under Justice and force them to 1. go public and 2. get the lead out. Most folks think that T.A.O. is Tenet. Assuming he’s the man, there’s no way to know how many cards he still holds that he can legally play. (or leak.)
As Atrios says, “pass the effing popcorn!”