And it was completely uncalled for when the commission asked him, under oath, homosaywhat?
At first I was skeptical of these rumors that the White House's next smear campaign against Richard Clarke ("They're also suggesting that there are some weird aspects in his life as well." — Wolf Blitzer) would involve outing him. Put aside the fact the administration probably does not want to stand on the principle that homosexuals can't conduct foreign policy (I'm alluding to this, not this). It's just such a blatantly desperate and slimy move, so completely irrelevent, that the Bush team would have to know it would backfire them.
That's when I remembered Gersh's Law of the Bush Campaign: Karl Rove wants to stir up controversy over tactics. If we spend a week debating whether the White House crossed a line by raising an opponent's sexual orientation, even if we all decide that he did, that's one week we didn't spend debating Bush's handling of 9/11 and terrorism. Karl Rove would much rather take a hit on the little issues than have an honest debate on the big ones.