Who fingered Joe Wilson's wife?

Who was behind the White House leak that is now the subject of a Justice Dept investigation? According to James Moore, co-author of a book called "Bush's Brain", nothing ever comes out of the White House without the prior approval of Bush's machiavellian top advisor, Karl Rove.

"Rove is probably the most powerful unelected person in American history," says Moore. "He is co-president of the United States, just as he was co-candidate for that office and co-governor of Texas. "

Rove has a long and close association with Robert Novak, the reporter who leaked the CIA agent's name. He also has a fiery temper and a penchant for vindictiveness.

The Houston Chronicle reports that "in 1992, Rove was fired as a consultant for the Bush-Quayle Texas campaign, after officials suspected that he was the source for a column by Novak and Roland Evans that portrayed the Texas presidential operation as in disarray. Rove was accused of making up the story because of a feud with the campaign's chairman..."

As Moore says, "the circumstantial evidence is already in. And it points at Karl Rove. "

Will this be enough to nail Bush? Probably not. The investigation is led by Bush's civil-rights-destroying buddy and former GOP senator John Ashcroft. It looks like a repeat of the UK Hutton enquiry, which was set up with a narrow focus designed to ignore the real issues.

But Bush's '04 election campaign is looking extraordinarily complicated already. I wonder what Bush thinks of his genius advisor Rove today (he calls Karl his "turd blossom")? Get ready for a VERY dirty campaign, folks...