Rove's New Book is Compared to a "Hoax"

Former Bush White House strategist Karl Rove has a new book coming out, and it is drawing a strong response from several quarters.

One of those quarters belongs to former ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson. The Wilsons contend that Rove played a central role in outing Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert CIA officer, and they say Courage and Consequence is a poor attempt to rewrite history.

State the Wilsons:

Karl Rove’s book “Courage and Consequence” is less memoir than hoax. The chapters that relate to the CIA leak scandal are yet another attempt to deflect attention from his central role in the betrayal of Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity as a covert CIA officer. His distortions and fabrications are consistent with his approach throughout this sordid and criminal affair. Wasting his opportunity to tell the truth, he offers absolutely nothing new, and his selective use of facts and quotes are a transparent effort to continue his long campaign to confuse people, unfortunately consistent with his past behavior.

The Wilsons also take Rove to task for his role in shaping Bush-era foreign policy:

His book is a pathetically weak defense of the disastrous policies pursued by the Bush administration, involving our country in a war of choice based on false intelligence and badly tarnishing the good name of the United States of America. Nothing in Karl Rove's book refutes those facts.

The Wilsons do say that Rove's book has some value--it says a lot about Rove as a "man." In short, the Wilsons say Rove knows nothing about "courage" and has faced virtually no "consequences" for his actions:

His book, however, is illuminating in further exposing his political methods, especially his reliance on personal insults, not simply towards Valerie and myself, but also towards all those who opposed his unprincipled behavior. If any additional proof to the irrefutable historical record were needed, Rove's book demonstrates once again the actions of a vindictive, angry and petty man. Karl Rove betrayed his nation; now he has betrayed history.