Monday, February 12, 2007
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Drink Every Time Joe Wilson's Hair Shimmers!
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Posted by:
Mary Katharine Ham at
1:49 PM
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I've never followed the Plame/Libby story closely, but Tom Maguire and Clarice Feldman have, and they continue to do so.
Feldman pointed me to this run-down of the whole affair, which is helpful for those who, like me, haven't been following it for three years. 25 Questions about the case, asked and answered.
The Media Blog notes that some journalists-- those whose stories were less likely to corroborate Fitzgerald's theories-- were treated much more lightly than others.
Post Watch takes-- who else?-- the WaPo to task for its coverage of Tim Russert's testimony.
And, Ann Coulter pieces together the stories Joe Wilson told, the stories the press told about them then, and the stories they're morphing into now. The press coverage on this is bound to be a boondoggle, since they're covering themselves, and no one cares about it anymore but them. Press vanity + public apathy is always a recipe for disaster.
And, Ari Fleischer's back in the news. I think there's actually a six-degrees-of-Plamegate kinda thing going on, here. We're all somehow involved. I'm gonna turn it into a drinking game. It's jus what this trial calls for.
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Lynne writes:
" Kimberly: When are you going to get it
THROUGH YOUR THICK HEAD??????
V-A-L-E-R-I-E P-L-A-M-E was N-E-V-E-R O-U-T-E-D!
The 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act provided protection for "covert" agents operating overseas, and for, UP TO, BUT NO MORE THAN, FIVE **5** YEARS after they returned to the US.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT, SO FAR?"
Aha Lynne, you know more about who's under cover in the CIA than the CIA does. The CIA thought an agent's cover had been blown - that's why they requested the investigation into the leaking of Plame's identity. They should have just checked with you; problem solved!
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So Armitage is non-existant?
It seems that "outing" a CIA "operative" is only important if Bush and Co. did it...
If G.Gordon Liddy is right, she's nothing but a desk job.
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--it can be hazardous. Several days after Libby's attorney revealed in the trial that Russert had spoken about the Libby situation with the FBI, all manner of Posties continue to write in complete innocence of that fact. Ignorance about it--studied or honest--colors the analysis.
Howard Kurtz, both in his CNN show and it today's live chat, keeps talking about how well Russert fared on the stand and I might think that too based on the way this has been reported. The Post's Amy Goldstein also has a handy feature today on witnesses contradicting Libby, and while it includes Russert's "it's impossible that I told Libby about Plame/Wilson because it never came up," it doesn't include the contents of that hitherto unknown FBI interview--according to the FBI report, Russert said he couldn't rule out that she came up in that conversation (which Russert denies, but it's still important).
Oh, and the *original* notes to that previously unknown FBI/Russert interview? Lost. Insert contrived-movie-plot-device joke here.
Yeah, I get a headache trying to follow this too.
Thanks for the link! Chris Fotos/PostWatch |
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The whole concept is kind of like Beer Trek without the entertainment aspect. |
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Can "covert" status be secret more than once? I don't think so. Especially a "secret" so poorly kept. Finding out where Valerie Plame worked was about as difficult as following her from home to work on any given weekday. Somehow, I don't think that's the true CIA standard for "covert."
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From the list:
# 19.) Was Plame’s CIA status an open secret in Washington before Novak’s column?
Sworn testimony has documented that Bob Woodward learned about Plame’s CIA background nearly a month before Robert Novak did. National Review Online writer Clifford May reported that he had also learned of Plame’s CIA tie before Novak’s column, from a former government employee who mentioned it in an offhanded manner as if it were no big secret. NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell once stated that among reporters Plame’s CIA association was generally known, though she later retracted this claim. New Republic editor Martin Peretz, former TIME White House correspondent Hugh Sidey, Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes, and Watergate figure G. Gordon Liddy have also stated that Plame’s background was widely known. Military historian Victor Davis Hanson and FOX News commentator Major General Paul Vallely have reported that Wilson boasted to them about his wife’s job.
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