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Sunday, July 24, 2005

TraitorGate Roundup





A digest of interesting bits for those whose O/C disorder is currently focused on TraitorGate:

-- Lawrence O'Donnell says that the reason Camp Rove have been in leak city is because they want to be able to claim "old news" by the time Fitzgerald releases his indictments. But according to a post by Al Rogers, Gloria Borger of CBS News reported that the Grand Jury convened again on Friday to question someone. Methinks perhaps they leak too much.

-- The NYT has a pretty good rundown of the events leading up to the smear Wilson campaign, and they make it clear that Rove and Libby were the ones left to orchestrate it because everyone else was on Air Force One bound for Senegal at the time. Sort of like High Noon starring Gomer and Goober, who go straight into fuck-up mode.

-- Frank Rich lets us know that right after Novak's column appeared, ABC's "World News Tonight" broadcast those soldiers in Falujah who were seriously hacked off that their tours of duty were being extended yet again. Soon Matt Drudge announced that the ABC correspondent, Jeffrey Korman, was gay -- based on information he got from the White House. Wait -- hold on to your chairs -- Scott McClellan denied it. It had all the hallmarks of a Rovian smear campaign, except this time Korman actually was gay, and quite out of the closet. Ooops.

-- The next time some wingnut bobblehead starts chattering about the memo Valerie Plame wrote "recommending" her husband, please quote Larry Johnson:
"The Senate Intelligence Report is frequently cited by Republican partisans as 'proof' that Valerie sent her husband to Niger because she sent a memo describing her husband’s qualifications to the Deputy Division Chief. Several news personalities, such as Chris Matthews and Bill O’Reilly, continue to repeat this nonsense as proof. What the Senate Intelligence Committee does not include in the report is the fact that Valerie’s boss had asked her to write a memo outlining her husband’s qualifications for the job. She did what any good employee does: she gave her boss what he asked for. The decision to send Joe Wilson on the mission to Niger was made by Valerie’s bosses. She did not have the authority to sign travel vouchers, issue travel orders, or expend one dime of U.S. taxpayer dollars on her own."
Not that it will make a damn bit of difference. But at least you will be entitled to moral superiority and self-righteous indignation, which is always a good time.

-- Let the smear campaign begin: They're dragging out a parade of (*choke*) "legal ethics experts" to challenge Patrick Fitzgerald's recent hiring of a (supremely qualified) woman who helped recommend him for his job. Talk about a tempest in a teapot. Or a brainstorm at the Corner. What's that noise? Why I think it's the sound of Ken Mehlman scribbling away like a bug-eyed fiend...

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