Karl Rove, Puppetmaster

One of my liberal readers posted a comment in regards to the Newsweak story that I think deserves more attention. He wrote:

Funny. The White House feeds Isikoff the story and when it blows up in their face they blame Newsweek.

I'd faint if W and his staff ever grow a backbone.

Of course, this is pure conspiracy theory nonsense and the comment is hilarious on many fronts, so let's dissect this a little bit. There's a running meme on the left that says that Karl Rove is some sort of devious puppetmaster who can magically control world events to suit the needs of the White House. Too bad that isn't true - I think Karl would do a fine job.

But all that aside, if the White House had been the source of the Newsweak story, would Newsweak be reacting the way they are, with retractions and apologies and such and taking body blows from Press Secretary Scott McClellan? Heck no! They'd either be out naming names as to who their source was, or they would have leaked the name to another media outlet in order to put the spotlight back on the White House. They wouldn't be groveling all over the place as they are now.

My personal guess is the source was a Dem member of Congress who heard a juicy rumor and decided to pass it on in his capacity as a "government official". With the judicial nomination fight heating up at the same time, this might have been a good way to take some steam out of the GOP and the White House in the filibuster battle. Since Newsweak won't name the "government official" who gave them the information, my guess is as good as anyone's.

As far as the comment about "getting a backbone", the comment implies that the White House masterminded this whole thing and then stuck the knife in Newsweak's back. If that's true, it looks like they've already developed the backbone my liberal friend was hoping for.