Aye there's the rub.
We all think we are reasonable and prudent - it's everyone else that is wrong. :-)

Your R+P man lives in a very different town from, say, Tom's.
(Prob in at least the same state as mine though....)

Thanks for re-iterating the reasoning behind your points.
I'll still disagree with most of em for now, until more "truths" are uncovered.

Cover-up? While everything you said stands up, I still think it is incompetence, an unwillingness to admit to being wrong, and probably a fervent hope that it will go away. Disastrous all around, but not yet a conspiracy to keep it concealed.
Heck, they knew CBS was going to run with it. While delayed by a couple of weeks, the story still got out. If this was a cover up, it has to rank as one of the least successful in history.
If the admin had any balls at all, it would have broke the story itself - Here is what is wrong, here is our apology to all concerned, here is what we are doing to fix it.
Rove musta been out of the loop, or else he's going senile.