NYT: Rove 2nd Sr. WH Official in Novak's 'Plame' Article

In the wake of Bob Novak's stormy outburst on CNN, speculation has begun as to the real motivation behind a tired-looking Novak screaming, "Bullshit," in response to James Carville.  Was he just responding to the ascerbic Carville?  Or did it have more to do with Ed Henry's next question - about the infamous LEAK?

Or perhaps he finally realized that the price of being in bed with Karl Rove was high.

With his suspension, Novak's reputation is in tatters.  He's too old to make a comeback now.  And for all intents and purposes, his career was ended by doing what he has mostly always done - faithfully serving as an errand boy for the far right.

"They've known each for a long time, but they are not close friends," said a person who knows both men and who asked not to be named because of the investigation into a conversation by Mr. Novak and Mr. Rove in July 2003 about Ms. Wilson...

The two men share a love of history and policy, as well as reputations as aggressive partisans and hotheads

So it really comes as no surprise that Bob & Karl have a history, beginning in the mid-1980's when

Mr. Rove regularly had dinner with Mr. Novak when the columnist went to Austin

And love blossomed...

Karl would give Bob a scoop and Bob would give Karl a mention in his column.  In fact, in 1992 Karl used Bob to go after his boss on the Texas re-election campaign of George H.W. Bush:

In 1992 in an incident well known in Texas, Mr. Rove was fired... on suspicions that Mr. Rove had leaked damaging information to Mr. Novak about Robert Mosbacher Jr., the campaign manager and the son of a former commerce secretary...

...Mr. Novak wrote the words that got Mr. Rove into such trouble.

"A secret meeting of worried Republican power brokers in Dallas last Sunday reflected the reality that George Bush is in serious trouble in trying to carry his adopted state," the [Novak]column began.

The column said that the campaign run by Mr. Mosbacher was a "bust" and that he had been stripped of his authority at the "secret meeting" by Senator Phil Gramm, the top Republican in the state.

And that's not even the best part.  Let's revisit the Times article once more to learn why Karl might do this:

Mr. Rove was so angry, Texas Republicans say, that he[Rove] retaliated by leaking the information about Mr. Mosbacher to Mr. Novak.

Karl Rove - you dirty dog!  And here I thought Valerie Plame was your first.

Maybe that's why Bob Novak didn't want to answer any questions about her; afterall, as Elisabeth Bulmiller's article points out,

People who have been officially briefed on the case have said Mr. Rove was the second of two senior administration officials cited by Mr. Novak in his column of July 14, 2003, that identified Ms. Wilson by her maiden name, Valerie Plame, and said she was a C.I.A. operative.

Is it possible Bob put the screws to his old friend Karl, realizing that his involvement, in what essentially amounts to treason and has undermined America's intelligence gathering capabilities in the wake of 9/11, has also brought his career to an end? Whether it was Novak or not, it seems clear that Karl Rove has been fingered as one of Novak's sources.

Maybe Bob just can't believe that his affair with Karl Rove is over...and that it ended tragically, the two star-crossed conservatives, no longer feeding each other poisoned words, but embracing as they each drove a knife into the other's back.

As for Karl, the writing is on the wall - foregoing any underhanded attempts by the Bush Administration or the Rubber-stamp Republicans in Congress to stall or "unnaturally" end the investigation by U.S. Attorney P. Fitzgerald.

But this stain runs deep and straight to the Oval Office.  And it's hard to know if anyone serving in the Bush Administration is not a pathological liar.