Last week, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) was the only one calling for Karl Rove to explain or resign, and 16 other House members had joined him by the end of the week.
Today, after a flurry of press activity this weekend and in the White House briefing room, the Democrats' leader in the Senate added his voice, albeit slightly more tempered.
“I agree with the President when he said he expects the people who work for him to adhere to the highest standards of conduct," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said in a statement this afternoon. "The White House promised if anyone was involved in the Valerie Plame affair, they would no longer be in this administration. I trust they will follow through on this pledge. If these allegations are true this rises above politics and is about our national security.”
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And Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) also jumped in.
"It is time for the President to keep his word. Karl Rove should be fired and prosecuted to the full extent of the law," Slaughter said. "There can be no gray area here, regardless of how he phrased it, regardless of how much detail he provided, he revealed the identity of an undercover CIA agent. What Mr. Rove did is reprehensible. Putting the life of an undercover CIA agent in jeopardy can not be tolerated. He clearly deserves his pink slip."
The White House was mum Monday.
"The prosecutors overseeing the investigation had expressed a preference to us that one way to help the investigation is not to be commenting on it from this podium," White House Press Secretary McClellan said.
But this didn't stop the press. At various points reporters remarked, "Scott, this is ridiculous," and "You're in a bad place, here, Scott."
McClellan had previously denied Rove's role, and the mainstream press, unable to use the word lie in print, were fed up.
