Anyone? Anyone?

The Rove-Plame affair marches on, and gets curiouser and curiouser every day. As I mentioned previously, I see this issue only as ancillary to the greater scandal of the Bush Administration's lying about the need to go to war, but it appears to be the only scandal attached to Bush that has any traction in the mainstream media, so it's worth another mention. And every day another lackey comes out of the woodwork to offer a new nugget of stupidity in defense of Bush and his henchmen. The latest in the hit parade - Ben Stein.

Yes, THAT Ben Stein. Stein is incredibly intelligent, and has a wonderful sense of humour. He was terrific in Ferris Bueller, and his game show was must viewing. But in case you don't know his background, he is an economist and lawyer by trade, and was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon. He is extremely conservative in his economics, an anti-choice activist and a self-described friend of Dubya, but is perfectly comfortable hobnobbing with the Hollywood community. According to Wikipedia, "Stein eventually became a Hollywood consultant, helping liberal writers portray a conservative family on television."

Stein appeared this past weekend on CBS' "Sunday Morning" and offered his Commentary on the Plamegate scandal. To me it is very sad to see someone as bright as Stein present such a dumb message. But it is also scary that he seems to have learned nothing from his experience in the Nixon White House. After offering a lame defense for Rove's actions (based on information he can't possibly know and that has been refuted by people who would know), he advised Bush not to give in to the political pressure to fire Rove. On what does he base this advice?

...I worked for a president named Richard Nixon who was an extraordinary genius but who handled this kind of thing totally wrong, so maybe we can learn from him...

I saw this happen with Mr. Nixon when I worked for him decades ago. Whenever Mr. Nixon tossed an aide off the sled for the wolves to eat, the wolves just got hungrier. Nixon's enemies' target was Nixon, not his aides. Once they devoured his helpers, the enemies just got stronger and Nixon got weaker. There's a lesson there for you: Chuck Schumer's after you, Mr. President, not Karl Rove.

In other words, the biggest problem with Nixon and his aides wasn't that they committed crimes, but that they didn't "handle" the situation in the right way. So what is Stein trying to say? Does he truly believe that Nixon didn't do anything wrong and was brought down only because of unjust persecution by political enemies? I find that absolutely incredible. He is obviously trying to convey to the audience that this whole Rove affair was concocted by the Democrats, and they should not be appeased for political expediency. The trouble with that is it was the CIA who requested the investigation. But it goes along with the pattern of Right Wing leaders and their apologists - deny, deflect, demonize the whistlebolowers, and come up with a different story every day. (What is today's reason for the war? How many communists are working in the defense department today?) The Republicans should change their name to the Revisionist Party.

As for Stein, loyalty might be blind, but to deny reality over thirty years after the fact might require a thorough psychiatric examination. It's a good thing that he probably knows a lot of Hollywood shrinks.