Comments on: D- D- D- Defense

By: alkali

alkali — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 23:12:31 +0000

Atrios points out that Novak is saying that the White House didn’t contact him, which is not the same as saying that the White House was not the source (e.g., if Novak called them up and they said it in the course of the conversation).

By: Brett Bellmore

Brett Bellmore — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 22:54:50 +0000

You’re clearly confused. Gingrich was the one who shut things down, Dole was the one who kept things moving smoothly by helping to defeat Republican filibusters.

By: brayden

brayden — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 22:33:15 +0000

Bob Novak’s claim that the senior officials were not from the White House was made only an hour ago on CNN. He said he was saving the story for his network, although he’s been harrassed by phone calls from reporters all over the world today. To be on the safe side, I should add that he may have said something like, I never said the sources were White House officials, which could mean something else entirely. I’m not sure I believe Novak. He seemed very testy (testier than usual) during the show, and at times he looked flustered. Even if Novak’s sources weren’t from the White House, the Washington Post is claiming that one source has identified the White House as the original source of the leak. Keep in mind that six other journalists failed to report on the story after being contacted.

By: John Cole

John Cole — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 22:25:17 +0000

Not only did he invoke Godwin’s Law, but he confused the Gingrich Republicans with the Dole Republicans. Fool.

By: Keith M Ellis

Keith M Ellis — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 22:22:55 +0000

Brayden, that’s extremely interesting information—no one seems to be discussing it yet. It would explain a lot of things if it wasn’t actually the White House that leaked the info. It would explain the White House’s inaction on this coupled with their apparent lack of preparation for the questions about it. It wouldn’t explain why Wilson says that he’s been told by other journalists that the White House contacted them, nor why Andrea Mitchell has said that she was contacted. (Did she affirm that she was contacted by the White House?) I mean, I’m a bit at a loss here. As much as I want to, I’m having trouble believing that Novak is lying because, if it is a lie, it will quickly become apparent that it is.

By: Brett Bellmore

Brett Bellmore — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 22:19:55 +0000

Why waste time? ;) Anyway, I’ll point out that “German train conductor” is a time honored metaphor for somebody more concerned with making the system work, than with what the working system will produce.

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 22:05:55 +0000

Six comments and time to invoke Godwin’s Law already – that was quick!

By: Brett Bellmore

Brett Bellmore — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 21:50:22 +0000

Two points: First, if this Plame story is legitimate, whoever leaked her identity should rot in jail. In the cell next to Bob Novak’s. Somebody told him, he told the WORLD. Who did more damage? Second, the problem with the Bob Dole Republicans is that they’re rather like German train conductors: Obsessed with the trains running on time, and not at all concerned about where they’re going. Maybe the Gingrichites aren’t concerned enough about the schedules, but at least they understand that getting the cattle cars to Auschwitz on time isn’t an accomplishment to be proud of. Dole never did understand that avoiding bad accomplishments was as important as achieving good ones.

By: brayden

brayden — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 21:45:57 +0000

I just posted on my site that Bob Novak says on CNN’s Crossfire that his sources are NOT part of Bush’s White House. He also claims that Plame was not a spy but an analyst. Seems to contradict what he said earlier doesn’t it? Looks like Novak is getting a little defensive.

By: Tom Runnacles

Tom Runnacles — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 21:41:31 +0000

Blimey. The Plame story is, at the time of writing, the lead story on the BBC’s World News site. International feeding frenzy ahoy, one can only hope, and not before bloody time.

By: brayden

brayden — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 21:08:59 +0000

I just want to point out that it doesn’t matter how you justify the actions of “senior administration” officials, what they did was illegal and unethical. I’m interested in seeing what kind of smear strategy WH officials will use to get even with Tenet, since he is clearly no longer on Bush’s favorite-person list.

By: pj

pj — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 20:39:01 +0000

I would add to your evidence that Tom Brokaw has publicly stated that a White House official contacted Andrea Mitchell about Plame back in July, and that NBC news discussed the story and decided not to use it. So Brokaw and Novak have to be liars.

By: Tom Runnacles

Tom Runnacles — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 19:55:17 +0000

On Prof Delong’s review of ‘The System’ rather than on the Plame business: That piece is as informative and interesting as one would expect from DeLong, and given his personal involvement in the whole affair and well-established general brilliance, I’d be damn silly to attempt disagreement with him about the substance, but still… I’m not sure it matters terribly much that Johnson and Broder aren’t policy experts in the field. I took the purpose of ‘The System’ to be to document the workings of the sausage machine, to describe the way in which the politicians, lobbyists and interests ended up dancing their dance. J and B are, after, political journalists, and from my reading of the book, very gifted ones. As a Brit with an amateur interest in US politics, I found ‘The System’ absolutely fascinating.