The mysterious response

Mike Dougherty is city editor of the Benton Courier. His column appears Sunday and Thursday.

Some people say that when trouble comes, it comes in bunches. President Bush has had his share in this second term, but the recent spate may exceed anything his administration has experienced before.

If we just begin the recent era with the crumbling of the Karl Rove mystique, as evidence mounted that Rove had, in fact, talked with Robert Novak, who "outed"

Valerie Plame as a CIA operative, Bush's woes have piled up considerably.

Did he fire Rove as he promised he would if it was disclosed that anyone in the White House had been involved in the leak? Of course not. He changed his guidelines to "if anyone is convicted of a crime" - and hoped that no one would notice.