The Withdrawal Method
What can I possibly add to the clickety-clack over the anticipated announcement of indictment/s Friday by Plamegate prosecutor Fitzgerald?
I guess, at a minimum, I can disagree with my Nation magazine colleague John Nichols who muses that the Harriet Miers withdrawal was part of an “elaborate PR strategy” by the Bush White House – a shrewd move to distract us from another day of negative stories about the impending indictments.
I don’t think so. The Miers withdrawal is anything but a pro-active, genius-like move by the Bush White House. It’s rather part of the elaborate, ongoing train-wreck of this administration. Joe Scott comes a lot closer to the mark, saying, in the wake of the Mier’s fiasco, “George Bush, more than ever, is a political tower of jelly.”
Take a gander, as well, at former Clinton minion Paul Begala’s account of just what it feels like to be in a White House under siege.
So, before the Plamegate bombshell hits, I’ll sneak in one more little tidbit. My profile as a member of the Pajamas Media editorial board is now posted. David Corn and Eric Umansky are among the few lefties within the new consortium. We expect more to join.
One lefty blogger who is thinking about signing on to Pajamas quipped to me today: “This could be an alliance as interesting as the Hitler-Stalin pact.”
Poland, beware!
October 28th, 2005 at 12:31 am
Dang this thing remembers me. Oh well I still hate the new look.
Marc — If Maureen Dowd is right about an affair with Scooter Libby and Judy Miller, doesn’t that pretty much throw any perjury charge down the drain (NYT predicts Libby perjury and no charges Rove)?
I mean come on, Martha Stewart had testimony from her assistant to changing diary entries and such, along with phone logs to her broker and her broker’s testimony. He-said she-said with an affair mixed in (or allegations of one) plus the world’s biggest game of telephone and inexplicable actions by Plame and Wilson and nine different kinds of Rashomon make this without evidence pretty tough.
Would YOU as a Prosecutor want to go into court and cite Matt Cooper as a witness, and have him cross examined on his marriage to Mandy Grunewald (Hillary’s top staffer?)
Given Iran’s threat to complete Hitler’s final solution (and apparently nuke the Great Satan too); the Oil-For-Bribes scandal; and the battle over a non-crony non-corrupt Supreme don’t you think the reaction will be “Scooter who?”
Particularly if Scooter’s “defense” is “Judy Miller and I had sex and I wanted to keep that a secret from my wife” … hey JUST like Bill Clinton! Remember Sex and Perjury about Sex are not CRIMES. We know this from Democrats. Heck his lawyer would LOVE to call Valerie Plame herself to the stand since in her Vanity Fair interview she admitted outing herself to her husband on their third date.
I did find Bill Keller’s “entanglement” comment to be pretty odd.
Best bet: the degree to which the press, including Tim Russert, Kristof, and others are in bed with various leakers figuratively and literally would be pretty ugly if anything goes to trial. Any good defense lawyer could make celebrity journalists the issue for a jury.
Aside: “Fitzmas?” Any FDR style Democrat would laugh at that; simply propose a good old FDR style program to fight and win the war on terror, and rebuild the country into the world’s most advanced nation, technically and economically. The argument “Our Party is marginally less corrupt” is not IMHO a winner; particularly since Dems have identified themselves almost completely with urban interests (carry Salt Lake City in 2004 btw).
October 28th, 2005 at 12:34 am
why do u hate the new site?
October 28th, 2005 at 12:34 am
Sorry to add one more thing: YES without a doubt Bush is a tower of jelly. He stands for nothing really other than a minimal response to the war on terror and not much even there. Dems if they responded even basically to voters concerns would walk all over him.
WHAT did Bush run on in 2000? Remind me again? People on Redstate don’t like him either.
Paul Begala’s record of winning speaks for itself btw. Smart man. Great link Marc.
October 28th, 2005 at 1:01 am
Marco,
Lefty. Sure you might be that, but what I would call you is confused. The peak of your confusion existential problem was brought to reality with the Nation debacle that almost had you running their Iraq coverage, and wounded you’ve been ever since, even resorting to functioning as Christopher Hitchens’ underpants. But you go there because you don’t know what else to do.
Corn isn’t confused. His problem is that he’s too wedded to DC, and for reasons either economic, or purely narcissicistic, he promotes himself as much as the object he writes about.
But both of you guys are cooked… done.
October 28th, 2005 at 1:11 am
Poised.. when the meds wear off and u feel better and think a tad more clearly, try again! LOL
October 28th, 2005 at 3:49 am
The Miers thingy was a cleverly crafted distraction for the Plame investigation and its resulting report and indictments?
My goodness, someone has way too much time on their hands and needs to spend more of it with other people, rather than alone.
October 28th, 2005 at 3:51 am
This might be a shallow analysis, but isn’t it good strategy to nominate an easily-assailable, sure-to-possibly-go-down-in-flames nominiee the first time, and then go for the submariner, or better choice, the second time? I can’t remember a time when two nominations in a row have been turned down/rejected – couldn’t this be the B. Admin’s way of softening up the Dems and the process so whoever’s next can sail through, regardless?
October 28th, 2005 at 3:52 am
OH and the Rashomon reference is priceless.
October 28th, 2005 at 7:03 am
too many steves: “My goodness, someone has way too much time on their hands and needs to spend more of it with other people, rather than alone.”
He’s not alone. He’s got his guns, his computer and his sweat to keep him company.
Such an FDR Democrat, he is.
October 28th, 2005 at 7:58 am
Matbe the Miers withdrawal was a “brilliant” Pro-active gambit that went awry. I am told the Administration thought indictments were coming down yesterday and the Miers bit would soften the blow by taking up space. Still it has brought joy to Right-Wing Mudville as they brace for Fitzmas. I suspect an allout assault with a united wingnutery ready to slime the Special Prosecutor. Also, if the NYT is to be believed, only “Scooter” takes the the fall today and that will be spun as a huge victory over those nasty Liberals persecuting poor Karl. Anyway we’ll find out at 11:00AM PDT today who is right.
October 28th, 2005 at 8:01 am
Oh, and Marc. Remember what happened to Stalin after a few years. Watch your back!
October 28th, 2005 at 8:11 am
Marc…is Judy Miller the keynote speaker at the PJMedia launch, or is that a bad joke ? And did you ever fancy yourself on the board of a media venture with the likes of Michael Ledeen? Would you join a board that had, say, Henry Kissinger on it? Ledeen was an active conspirator in some of the worst Iran-Contra shit and is undoubtedly deep in the WMD scandals. I fear that you and David are no match for these guys and will be used as window dressing…ponder this name: “Colmes”.
October 28th, 2005 at 8:16 am
I think that Wolcott may be right.
Scooter’s not gonna take the whole weight.
I don’t think Fitz is lining up with a ruler to slap these guys on the wrist. What’s coming down is going to be a whole lot heavier.
And if Scooter is every bit the slimy, weasely little prick that he’s made out to be, he’ll rat. He’s not going to go down alone.
(keeping my fingers crossed and trying to find something wooden)
October 28th, 2005 at 8:57 am
Yeah, looks like Rove will get a warning only.
October 28th, 2005 at 11:15 am
Marc…I just want to amend my last comment to make clear that when I say you and David “are no match for these guys”, I’m talking about shaping the PJM enterprise, it’s direction and impact…not that you and David aren’t these guys betters as journalists and analysts many times over.
October 28th, 2005 at 11:30 am
They’re outnumbered for sure.
October 28th, 2005 at 2:00 pm
Marc just looked at the new PJM site….hey is that ever going to be interesting! Just book marked it – good photo and good bio of you, wish you would add a photo here….
Anyhooooo, gonna enjoy the new site for sure and that “joint” should make for some very interesting exchanges to say the least! Kudos on your expansion.
October 28th, 2005 at 4:16 pm
Am I crazy ? (Don’t answer that…) Am I wrong in having read Michael Ledeen’s name on a list of PJM board members. I hope so.
October 28th, 2005 at 4:19 pm
Abbas: “Are you talkin’ to me? ARE YOU talkin’ to ME?”
But, I especially enjoy the statement of the senior Senator from Massachusetts:
http://kennedy.senate.gov/index_high.html
Mary Jo Copechne couldn’t be reached for comment.
October 28th, 2005 at 6:20 pm
Ah yes, let’s trash Teddy! Yesterday on HARDBALL a GOP hack asserted, with a straight face, that Clinton’s blowjob lies were far worse. Its silly season folks.
October 29th, 2005 at 10:08 am
Word is that the first GOPer pundit who manages to get Mary Jo Copechne, Monica Lewinsky and Plamegate in the same sentence at least 3 times on a national cable talk show wins a weekend at Camp David. Bonus for getting “Criminalizing conservative politics” in as well – a ride on Air Force One.
October 29th, 2005 at 11:25 am
Perhaps my point was abit obtuse.
Ted Kennedy has yet to pay a price for his involvement in the July 1969 death of Mary Jo Kopechne. That “Teddy” would see fit to comment on the alleged misdeeds of Scooter Libby – bad as they are – demonstrates a brazen impudence that is all to common in the bloated bloviator from my home state.
Libby should go to jail for a long time if he is convicted of the charges against him. Ted Kennedy should just as certainly shut his pie hole unless it is to finally come clean on exactly what happened the night of July 18, 1969.
Sorry for the rant, but there is no other human being that disgusts me as much as Kenndy, there just isn’t.
October 29th, 2005 at 1:30 pm
Everyone knows what happened that night, an accident. Unless you have intent nailed down with facts? This is an appeal to emotion fallacy that wore out a long time ago.
October 29th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
Right, an accident.
October 29th, 2005 at 4:04 pm
But, back to Libby. If we put the Volker report on the UN OFF scandal next to the White House “selling” of the war, what do we get?
October 29th, 2005 at 5:07 pm
Yes that’s right an accident, or did he deliberately drive off the bridge to, you know, get rid of MJK?
October 29th, 2005 at 5:09 pm
A lop-sided comparsion, against your wildest hopes that one justifies the other.
October 29th, 2005 at 5:30 pm
Too many steves:
After Kennedy, let’s go after Laura Bush [he writes in his best Bela Lugosi voice]
October 30th, 2005 at 5:16 am
Lopsided, sure, but in our political world of the “end justifies the means” I think it is useful to consider that knowing about, or, at least, seeing the effects of, vast corruption of the UN and its member States by Saddam, the Bush Administration resorted to hyped up selling of the case for the war. Doesn’t make it right but, given the context and the rules of modern politics, does make it understandable.
And what of the UN? Where’s all the outrage about the now documented corruption of the famed “international community”? Remind me why our calling to account of that vast collection of bribers and bribe-takers is a bad thing.
October 30th, 2005 at 9:31 am
“I think it is useful to consider that knowing about, or, at least, seeing the effects of, vast corruption of the UN and its member States by Saddam, the Bush Administration resorted to hyped up selling of the case for the war.”
Nonsense, such a focus would have forced the Bush administration and prowar types of the US role in supporting Iraq through the 90′s with all kinds of backdoor corporate dealmaking by the US with the explicit help of European allies, including the Brits, French, Germans,…Russians…It woulda made the already plainly weak case for invasion and US occupation even weaker.
October 30th, 2005 at 10:06 am
American companies were involved as well whcih goes to show busisenss is business. That’s the corporate business mentality at work here. Sure it’s wrong, and the embargo system was bound to attract this sort of thing. So is invading and getting huge contracts while leaving the locals adrift.
October 31st, 2005 at 5:16 am
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