Can Bush pardon Rove before he's convicted?

The east coast is suffering a heat wave. And so are the Keystone Kops in the White House.

When one reporter, David Gregory of NBC News, said that it was "ridiculous" for the White House to dodge all questions about the issue and pointed out that Mr. McClellan had addressed the same issues in detail in the past, Mr. McClellan replied, "I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said, and I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time."

A moment later, Terry Moran of ABC News prefaced his question by saying Mr. McClellan was "in a bad spot here" because he had spoken from the same podium on Oct. 10, 2003, after the Justice Department began its formal investigation into the leak, and specifically said that neither Mr. Rove nor two other officials - Elliot Abrams, a national security aide, and I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff - were involved.

Mr. McClellan disputed the characterization of the question but did not directly address why the White House had appeared now to have adopted a new policy of not commenting on the matter.

The Times then goes on to quote Victoria Toensing, chief counsel to the Senate when the law making it a crime to uncover a CIA operative was enacted:

"We made it exceedingly difficult to violate," Victoria Toensing, who was chief counsel to the Senate intelligence committee when the law was enacted, said of the law.

[...]

"She had a desk job in Langley," said Ms. Toensing, who also signed the supporting brief in the appeals court, referring to the C.I.A.'s headquarters. "When you want someone in deep cover, they don't go back and forth to Langley."

First, where she worked has nothing to do with her covert status. Second, the Times fails to mention that Toensing is a Republican hatchet gal and friend of Robert Novak's, and she's been peddling various defenses of the Plame outing for months.

It's fascinating watching Republicans, who support the most secretive White House in history, suddenly become champions of a free press.

As for the question in my headline, the Rude Pundit says, yes, oh yes he can.