A Standard to which we can all aspire...

Now, you know that I think the Karl Rove/Valerie Plame/Scooter Libby "scandal" ("RoPlambygate?") is the kind of non-story - or better put, "Beltway" story - that makes the eyelids of the average centrist American get very heavy.

Nonetheless, surely I am not the only one who found the President's Monday press conference less than inspiring: "if someone commited a crime, they will no longer work in my administration." That's it? If they've commited a crime, while working at the White House, they'll be fired? Be still my little good-government heart!

Rove is being treated unfairly, and I think most Americans know that. It ought to be possible for the President to stand by his man, and still set the bar a little higher - i.e. closer to where most Americans think it should be set.

Speaking of the President's News Conference Monday, don't you agree with India Globe and Asia Today reporter Raghubir Goyal that the U.S. press corps is an embarrassment? Here stands the President with the Prime Minister of India, the world's most populous democracy and a major U.S. ally in a crucial region, and not even for a minute can the U.S. press forget about current scandal politics and ask some real questions about foreign policy.