Ummm….I told you so. Two weeks ago when everyone was buzzing about The National Journal report that Rove lied to George Bush, I wrote:
I don’t doubt for a second that Murray Waas’ sources are correct about what the grand jury has been told, but let’s be serious here. What’s the more likely scenario? Karl Rove lying to the Patrick Fitzgerald or George W. Bush?
And it turns out, Rove didn’t lie to Bush after all :
Other sources confirmed, however, that Bush was initially furious with Rove in 2003 when his deputy chief of staff conceded he had talked to the press about the Plame leak.
Bush has always known that Rove often talks with reporters anonymously and he generally approved of such contacts, one source said.
. . .
A second well-placed source said some recently published reports implying Rove had deceived Bush about his involvement in the Wilson counterattack were incorrect and were leaked by White House aides trying to protect the President.
“Bush did not feel misled so much by Karl and others as believing that they handled it in a ham-handed and bush-league way,” the source said.
But here’s something to chew on. What if both stories are correct? On the surface, they seem contradictory, but let’s look at that National Journal piece again (emphasis added) :
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove personally assured President Bush in the early fall of 2003 that he had not disclosed to anyone in the press that Valerie Plame, the wife of an administration critic, was a CIA employee, according to legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the accounts that both Rove and Bush independently provided to federal prosecutors.
Isn’t it equally plausible that both of these stories tell different sides of the same story? Let’s assume for a moment that Murray Waas’ sources didn’t lie to him about what Bush and Rove told Fitzgerald. If that’s the case and today’s story is also true, then we’ve got a President who’s in “cover your ass” mode. Regardless of whether or not the President was under oath, lying to federal prosecutors seems like a pretty clear case of obstruction of justice.
Of course, proving the President’s involvement is another matter entirely. Can Fitzgerald prove that the President lied? If the rumors are correct that someone in the Administration has “flipped”, then there’s a good chance that the President’s “displeasure” towards Rove was well known within the White House. After all, this is a President who wears his heart on his sleeve getting pissed at his most trusted advisor over an issue that everyone was talking about. This wouldn’t just get the rumor mill buzzing, but would likely lead to some communications within the White House about the President wanting everyone to get their shit together. Remember, the big news out of today’s scoops isn’t just when the President found out but his anger that his team “did a clumsy job”. A single saved email along these lines and some fibbing by the President about what he knew and when he knew it could be all the rope Fitzgerald needs to hang Bush out to dry.
Ummm….I told you so. Two weeks ago when everyone was buzzing about The National Journal report that Rove lied to George Bush, I wrote :
I don’t doubt for a second that Murray Waas’ sources are correct about what the grand jury has been told, but let’s be serious here. What’s the more likely scenario? Karl Rove lying to the Patrick Fitzgerald or George W. Bush?
And it turns out, Rove didn’t lie to Bush after all :
Other sources confirmed, however, that Bush was initially furious with Rove in 2003 when his deputy chief of staff conceded he had talked to the press about the Plame leak.
Bush has always known that Rove often talks with reporters anonymously and he generally approved of such contacts, one source said.
. . .
A second well-placed source said some recently published reports implying Rove had deceived Bush about his involvement in the Wilson counterattack were incorrect and were leaked by White House aides trying to protect the President.
“Bush did not feel misled so much by Karl and others as believing that they handled it in a ham-handed and bush-league way,” the source said.
But here’s something to chew on. What if both stories are correct? On the surface, they seem contradictory, but let’s look at that National Journal piece again (emphasis added) :
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove personally assured President Bush in the early fall of 2003 that he had not disclosed to anyone in the press that Valerie Plame, the wife of an administration critic, was a CIA employee, according to legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the accounts that both Rove and Bush independently provided to federal prosecutors.
Isn’t it equally plausible that both of these stories tell different sides of the same story? Let’s assume for a moment that Murray Waas’ sources didn’t lie to him about what Bush and Rove told Fitzgerald. If that’s the case and today’s story is also true, then we’ve got a President who’s in “cover your ass” mode. Regardless of whether or not the President was under oath, lying to federal prosecutors seems like a pretty clear case of obstruction of justice.
Of course, proving the President’s involvement is another matter entirely. Can Fitzgerald prove that the President lied? If the rumors are correct that someone in the Administration has “flipped”, then there’s a good chance that the President’s “displeasure” towards Rove was well known within the White House. After all, this is a President who wears his heart on his sleeve getting pissed at his most trusted advisor over an issue that everyone was talking about. This wouldn’t just get the rumor mill buzzing, but would likely lead to some communications within the White House about the President wanting everyone to get their shit together. Remember, the big news out of today’s scoops isn’t just when the President found out but his anger that his team “did a clumsy job”. A single saved email along these lines and some fibbing by the President about what he knew and when he knew it could be all the rope Fitzgerald needs to hang Bush out to dry.
I wanted to put a “Buy It Now” price on the art I’ve got up for auction, but eBay won’t let me do that til I’ve got a feedback rating above ten. To expedite that process, I’ve just put up five postcards. These are just quickie bullshit auctions to run up the feedback, and I don’t expect anyone should have to bid more than a quarter on each of them–but if there are five kind readers willing to do me this favor, I’d be grateful.
…okay, a couple bucks each. But these are just postcards, not worth a bidding war.
I wanted to put a “Buy It Now” price on the art I’ve got up for auction, but eBay won’t let me do that til I’ve got a feedback rating above ten. To expedite that process, I’ve just put up five postcards. These are just quickie bullshit auctions to run up the feedback, and I don’t expect anyone should have to bid more than a quarter on each of them–but if there are five kind readers willing to do me this favor, I’d be grateful.
…okay, a couple bucks each. But these are just postcards, not worth a bidding war.
I think Alterman points out something crucial in l’affaire Miller–the impact of social striving in the government/media nexus of the Northeast Corridor. When you live in these worlds, it’s all about the parties.
The big question in The New York Times cafeteria yesterday was how did it happen that Arthur Sulzberger and Bill Keller let so dishonest and slippery a character as Judy Miller hijack the institution of the New York Times for her own nefarious purposes and humiliate its entire echelon of top leadership; the publisher; the editor and the editorial page…
Again, the answer is ultimately unknowable, but I?ve always felt it was a matter of social power. Judy is married to Jason Epstein, who is one of the most widely admired and well-liked people in all of New York. Jason is a legend of an editor, and was widely referred to for decades, almost every time you heard his name as ?the smartest man in New York.? He practically invented the trade paperback book, and played key roles in the founding of The New York Review of Books and the Library of America. He is also the editor to some of our greatest fiction and non-fiction writers. What?s more, he is a charming raconteur and a famous amateur chef. Maybe he?s got some bad qualities, but I?ve never heard any mentioned. Anyway, Jason and Judy are famous hosts, at their apartment in the Police Building downtown and their Sag Harbor House, and they sit at the nexus of an extremely important social network that nobody wants to be thrown out of. (I saw Jason, whom I like and admire, at a party the night before Miller?s last testimony and did not know what to say to him, given what I?ve written about his wife. I?m sure a lot of people don?t want that problem.) The fact that Judy was also close to Arthur Sulzberger made her nearly untouchable, no matter what she did inside the paper. As Keller admits in the long take-out, he could not control her. She had more power to get her reporting in the paper than he felt he did to keep her out.
I think Alterman points out something crucial in l’affaire Miller–the impact of social striving in the government/media nexus of the Northeast Corridor. When you live in these worlds, it’s all about the parties.
The big question in The New York Times cafeteria yesterday was how did it happen that Arthur Sulzberger and Bill Keller let so dishonest and slippery a character as Judy Miller hijack the institution of the New York Times for her own nefarious purposes and humiliate its entire echelon of top leadership; the publisher; the editor and the editorial page…
Again, the answer is ultimately unknowable, but I?ve always felt it was a matter of social power. Judy is married to Jason Epstein, who is one of the most widely admired and well-liked people in all of New York. Jason is a legend of an editor, and was widely referred to for decades, almost every time you heard his name as ?the smartest man in New York.? He practically invented the trade paperback book, and played key roles in the founding of The New York Review of Books and the Library of America. He is also the editor to some of our greatest fiction and non-fiction writers. What?s more, he is a charming raconteur and a famous amateur chef. Maybe he?s got some bad qualities, but I?ve never heard any mentioned. Anyway, Jason and Judy are famous hosts, at their apartment in the Police Building downtown and their Sag Harbor House, and they sit at the nexus of an extremely important social network that nobody wants to be thrown out of. (I saw Jason, whom I like and admire, at a party the night before Miller?s last testimony and did not know what to say to him, given what I?ve written about his wife. I?m sure a lot of people don?t want that problem.) The fact that Judy was also close to Arthur Sulzberger made her nearly untouchable, no matter what she did inside the paper. As Keller admits in the long take-out, he could not control her. She had more power to get her reporting in the paper than he felt he did to keep her out.
My friend Jack Hitt, who is one of the most engaging storytellers I have ever known, will be sharing some of his stories at the Quinnipiak Club in New Haven this weekend, along with Andy Borowitz, Jonathan Ames and Mike Daisey. It’s an event held regularly in NYC and in New Haven, by a group called The Moth. More details here.
–This is the original art I’ve got up for auction. I don’t think I’m going to put another one up at Christmas, so this is probably it for the foreseeable future. If you’re interested, I wouldn’t necessarily suggest waiting til the very last minute to bid.
–Some sort of technical snafu is delaying the switch to a new server. At some point in the next day or two, I expect we’ll have a little downtime. Bear with us.
–As previously mentioned, haven’t had a lot of time for blogging lately. To keep up with the latest in the Plame scandal, check in on Americablog and Firedoglake, and of course the Huffington Post.
–This is the original art I’ve got up for auction. I don’t think I’m going to put another one up at Christmas, so this is probably it for the foreseeable future. If you’re interested, I wouldn’t necessarily suggest waiting til the very last minute to bid.
–Some sort of technical snafu is delaying the switch to a new server. At some point in the next day or two, I expect we’ll have a little downtime. Bear with us.
–As previously mentioned, haven’t had a lot of time for blogging lately. To keep up with the latest in the Plame scandal, check in on Americablog and Firedoglake, and of course the Huffington Post.
