Something Requisitely Witty and Urbane

Miller Owed Lunch

eRobin brings up a point that is so obvious I can't believe it never crossed my mind before:

Of course we were all way off on the timeline thanks to Miss Run Amok's dogged refusal to expose her pals in the WHIG.  If it hadn't have been for that diversion, Fitzgerald said about an hour ago, he would have been having today's press conference a year ago.  Imagine if this press conference had happened in October of 2004.  The WH owes Miller lunch.

Amid all the speculation about Judy attempting to protect Libby, about if she was asked to do so, and about whether she had received a release of her promise to hold his anonymity, the idea that a reporter, who's entire reputation resided on her previous assertions that Sadaam had WMD, might be further protecting that administration's chances of winning the election is as good as any.

Act Two

Michael Kinsley has one of those great columns that you appreciate at the same time you are jealous that you didn't write it:

Confused? Sure. Who isn't? One entertaining aspect of the story that is expected to reach some sort of climax today is the struggle of the media to summarize or label it. Once upon a time someone went to Niger, which is not Nigeria, and off we go in time and space. Even Fox News has been driven to compound sentences.

Read the whole thing.

Fitzgerald

The internets are about to blow up, I'm sure, as the Patrick Fitzgerald press conference has just ended.  I'll leave the legal ramifications to those more qualified, but my one over-riding thought is simply this: He has more.

Though Fitzgerald was reserved and succinct, it was clear that he felt these crimes were important.  It wasn't so much that he didn't think the crime of leaking a CIA agent's name occurred, it's that he doesn't know because of Libby's obstruction and perjury.

About Fitzgerald, his endearing nervousness mixed with just the right degree of toughness was refreshing.  After this presser, it is going to be difficult for the "overzealous prosecutor on a partisan witch-hunt" meme isn't going to fly.  This is a guy who is doing the job he was asked to do, and is doing it with professionalism.

One thing that became clear to me was that Tim Russert had a much larger role in this, if only that his testimony was partially responsible for getting the perjury rolling.  Tim Russert, today, spoke on the air that he told the Grand Jury that he and Libby never spoke about Wilson's.  This, apparently, directly contradicted Libby's own initial testimony that he found out about Wilson's wife from Russert.

Secondly, Ari Fleisher appears to have testified that he found out, from Libby, about Wilson's wife.  Unfortunately, it appears to have been days before Libby testified that he found out from Russert.

The crimes that Libby has been indicted on (2 counts of perjury, 2 counts of false statements, 1 case of obstruction) are incredibly stupid.  It's yet another indication that, in national politics, you can often get away with the crime but you can rarely get away with the cover-up.

Chris Matthews asked an interesting question just before the Fitzgerald press conference began:

I wanna know a couple of things from the special prosecutor.  One is, I'd like to know why he was able to convince Judge Hogan that he should put a reporter, a top reporter, Judy Miller, in prison.  What was so important to this case: Catching Scooter Libby for Obstruction?

Chris meant this, I think, as an indication that there wasn't much of a case there on the leak charge, but I think it's an important one to think about from the other perspective.  Perhaps it is wishful thinking, but Libby's lies underscore the fact that a cover-up was in full swing, and if there was a cover-up to this degree, what were they covering up?

 

Apropos

Today's Dictionary.com Word of the Day is "malediction", which means "a curse or an execration."  Even better is the quote they chose as an example:

A conspiracy of infamy so black that, when it is finally exposed, its principals shall be forever deserving of the maledictions of all honest men.

The quote is by Joe McCarthy. 

Scriptural Reading

Today's Scriptural Reading is a little different.  The Daily Show pointed out, both in its headlines and its Moment of Zen, Trent Lott's quote, when asked who the President should pick to replace Miers:

I want the president to look across the country and find the best man, woman, or minority that he can find.

Ok... The Trent Lott episode happened before I joined the realm of the blogger, but I know that it is one of the crowning moments which invested import upon the blogosphere.  My only point is, if you are a guy who was so decimated by a controversy surrounding some fairly racist statements, and those statements led to you losing your position of leadership within your party, priority one should be learning to talk about race without sounding like you just returned from a trip to your 1960's Alabama.

The Phrase I Don't Want to Hear About Liberals, Upon Harriet Miers' Withdrawal

"Democrats can't contain their glee."

Pesky Perjury

Just so we're all clear, we've been given a sneak preview of how the Republicans plan to fight whatever comes out of the Fitzgerald investigation this week:

I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn’t indict on the crime so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation were not a waste of time and dollars.

That was Texas' own Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, yesterday on Meet the Press.  We've come a long way from "it's not about the sex, it's about the lying."  The idea that Perjury (helpfully defined here, by TalkLeft) is a pesky and irrelevant little crime is laughable, and a good indication of just how far the Republican Party is will to go to protect Dear Leader.

All The King's Horses

This strikes me as an important story, if only for the fact that I'm sure it isn't isolated, but is rarely talked about.

A soldier in Iraq, who wrote the blog "All the King's Horses", has apparently been shut down.  His last entry says this:

For the record, I am officially a supporter of the administration and of her policies. I am a proponent for the war against terror and I believe in the mission in Iraq. I understand my role in that mission, and I accept it. I understand that I signed the contract which makes stop loss legal, and I retract any statements I made in the past that contradict this one. Furthermore, I have the utmost confidence in the leadership of my chain of command, including (but not limited to) the president George Bush and the honorable secretary of defense Rumsfeld. If I have ever written anything on this site or on others that lead the reader to believe otherwise, please consider this a full and complete retraction.

There's more to the story over here.  I'm not in any way qualified to speak to the legalities involved when it comes to what boundaries there are for enlisted men when it comes to speech, but it should be noted that there are soldiers who are serving, and they aren't sure about their mission anymore.  That those voices are silenced is sad and demoralizing, even if it is legal.

Something I Don't Know

During the always interesting, but rarely important segment, "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" on Chris Matthews' Sunday morning show, David Brooks said this:

If Harriet Miers comes to President Bush and says, "This is too much trouble... withdraw my nomination," Bush has indicated in meetings he will tell her, "No."

This came on the heels of a discussion about how Miers' is a lose-lose for the President.  If her nomination fails, it is an obvious defeat, but if she makes it through, the entirety of the Senate and the general opinion of the American people is that she is incredibly unqualified for the position, and will be an albatross for the Bush legacy.  In other words, Bush has potentially ruined his legacy by merely nominating Miers.

This strikes me as the best indication we've had yet of the political weakness of the President.  There are, apparently, no options by which he can redeem himself from this situation, and we haven't even made it to the hearings yet.

The political capital is gone.

Fitzmas

It occurs to me that the hemispheric-wide happy dance that is going on the left about the Plame investigation is probably not well-served if all the right has to do is point to our overzealous, and premature, celebration.

"Fitzmas" just makes it seem like Fitzgerald is our own personal attack machine, and that could backfire heavily.