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Dawn of the Dead

Somewhere a tomb lies empty and several virgins no doubt bloodless. Robert Novak walks again.

What is that crafty old fucker up to saying yesterday that his source and Woodward's might be the same (good on Redd for sorting that out this morning), and that the President no doubt knows so why not ask him?

Number one -- Novak does not lob a grenade like that casually, despite Kate O'Bierne's protestations tonight on Hardball to that effect. Anybody catch that, by the way? Matthews damn near cut her head off. (And if that should happen Chris make sure you stuff the mouth with garlic and bury it at least a thousand yards away from the body, we don't want a repeat on our hands.)

Number two -- Novak knows who he works for, Karl Rove. Why would Rove want that out there and Bush on the hot seat like that? Well the answer of course is that I have no idea. But the best guess came from Frank Probst today in the comments:

I think Rove is nervous, and he's prodding Bush (via Novak) into saying something like, "I don't know who the leaker was." Or "Karl Rove has my complete support." Bush knows damn well that Rove leaked this. This is Rove fishing for a public defense from Bush. He has to tie himself to Bush in order to save himself. Because he knows that if he doesn't, his career--and possibly his freedom--is about to end.

And -- voila! -- today, like a trained monkey:

In an interview with Fox News, Bush said his relationship with Cheney had "only gotten better," and he remained "very close" to Rove, who could face charges in the criminal investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

"We're still as close as we've ever been," Bush said of Rove, brushing aside reports he was angry at his deputy chief of staff, who initially denied any role in the Plame leak. "We've been through a lot. You know, when we look back at the presidency and my time in politics, no question that Karl had a lot to do with me getting here, and I value his friendship."

Swopa reminds us that Novak in an egregious, habitual, bold-faced liar and argues that it is unlikely he was chatting up the same source as Woody, but thinks Bob's source could quite likely be Armitage.

Digby says if Woody and Novak have the same source it sure ain't Armitage, and notes that somebody in the administration took the trouble to program the WoodyBot to run in "Fitzgerald is out of control" mode. Does he realize he's been played for a fool now? Unlikely.

And if there is one don't-miss post today it is emptywheel's argument against Woodward's source being Armitage. I know Armitage is the favorite Woody leaker amongst the DC journalist set, but I'm not buying it and I think emptywheel thinks these things through a lot better than any of them do anyway. If any of them are thinking of taking the rings out of their noses, this is an excellent place to start.

posted by Jane Hamsher @ 12/14/2005 10:40:00 PM