Today’s Times picks up on a theme discussed here several days ago: Given his involvemenent in disclosing Valerie Plame’s status as a CIA agent to at least one reporter, how can Karl Rove remain an employee of the White House?

The newspaper adds something that I’d forgotten—that President Bush had, on two occasions, promised to fire anyone involved in the Plame matter.

As the Times nicely puts it, “Nearly two years after stating that any administration official found to have been involved in leaking the name of an undercover C.I.A. officer would be fired, and assuring that Karl Rove and other senior aides to President Bush had nothing to do with the disclosure, the White House refused on Monday to answer any questions about new evidence of Mr. Rove’s role in the matter.”

Given that Rove has already admitted some involvemement in the matter—though whether he mentioned Plame’s name is unclear—Bush has cause to fire him now. So what’s the hold-up?

Obviously, it’s that Rove is a vital figure in this White House. “In private,” the Times’ Richard W. Stevenson writes, “several prominent Republicans said they were concerned about the possible effects on Mr. Bush and his agenda, in part because Mr. Rove’s stature makes him such a tempting target for Democrats.”

Just one question: What agenda?