Karl, Karl, Karl (Updated)

The Republicans claim that Rove is in the clear. The Democrats are backing down. What will happen to our (anti)hero?

In an article in this week's Time magazine, Cooper claims that Rove was the first person to tell him that Wilson's wife was a CIA agent. The article does confirm that Plame's identity was not common knowledge in the media circles as Rove would have wanted us to believe.

There are other very interesting tidbits in the above article. Here are my favorites:

Time correspondent Matthew Cooper said he told a grand jury last week that Rove told him the woman worked at the "agency," or CIA, on weapons of mass destruction issues, and ended the call by saying "I've already said too much."

Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes.

Rove's credibility "is in shreds," said [former White House Chief of Staff] Podesta, who appeared ... [on "Meet The Press"].

Back in reality, what do you think Rove's punishment will be?

Update: Despite the Republican's gloating, Fitzgerald's investigation has not yet concluded that Rove learned Plame's identity from the media. Another anonymous source has stepped forward and "said Sunday that Rove learned about the CIA officer either from the media or from someone in government who said the information came from a journalist (ref)."

Imagine this game of Telephone in the halls of the West Wing:
Source: "I read that confidential memo and it said Plame was undercover and married to Wilson, pass it on!"
Rove: "Wilson's wife works for the agency, she's not covert and I learned that from the media, pass it on!"

Obviously Karl Rove went to preschool with me because all of my games of Telephone went like this:
First Student: Puppies are cute, pass it on.
Rove: I hate dogs and Will wets the bed!

UNFAIR!

Update 2: Today President Bush changed his mind. Previously the President said that he would fire anyone who was said to have leaked the name of a CIA operative. Now, however, he claims that he will fire anyone found to be criminally responsible for leaking the name of a CIA operative. This shift seems to signal that he concedes that Rove was one of the leakers. During today's briefing, the White House press corps was all over Scott McClellan pushing him to clarify the change in Bush's statement. McClellan refused to clarify and urged reporters to avoid reading anything into the comments that isn't there.