A Peek Under the PR Mask

"He points out the door in the well of the presidential desk, placed there by President Roosevelt to hide the fact that he spent his presidency in a wheelchair. 'FDR was in a wheelchair and nobody knows. I choke on a pretzel and the whole world gets to hear about it.' "

Roland Watson writes: "President Bush will celebrate his 59th birthday in Scotland on Wednesday, the first US President to go north of the border since Eisenhower.

"But when asked if he would be tempted to try haggis, he was blunt. 'Yes, haggis, I was briefed on haggis . . . No.

" 'Generally, on your birthday, my mother used to say, 'What do you want to eat?' and I don't ever remember saying, 'Haggis, Mum'.'

"Nor did he plan to wear a kilt."

But here's my question: Why didn't Baker or Watson ask a single question about the Downing Street memos -- published and championed by their colleague at the Sunday Times, Michael Smith?

Intel Watch

Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus write in The Washington Post: "President Bush ordered another shake-up of the nation's intelligence services yesterday, forming new national security divisions within both the FBI and the Justice Department and, for the first time, putting a broad swath of the FBI under the authority of the nation's spy chief. . . .

"Civil liberties advocates immediately criticized the changes at the FBI, arguing that they represent a radical step toward the creation of a secret police force in the United States. Many Justice prosecutors and FBI agents had also fiercely opposed the changes but were overruled by Bush's homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, officials said."

Douglas Jehl writes in the New York Times: "The changes ordered by Mr. Bush are among the most far-reaching yet taken by the Bush administration and Congress to overhaul an intelligence structure whose deep flaws have been exposed by major failures on terrorism and Iraq. . . .

"The broad outline of the White House plan for the restructuring had been previously known. But the tone of Mr. Bush's memorandum to his deputies and the tenor of the White House announcement made clear that the White House was determined to override any lingering misgivings within the F.B.I., on grounds that 'further prompt action' was intended 'to meet challenges to the security of the United States.' "

Elisabeth Bumiller profiled Townsend yesterday in the New York Times.

And Townsend spoke at length at yesterday's press briefing .

So, the White House accepted 70 or the 74 recommendations from its WMD Commission. Which ones didn't they accept? Here's one: "The Director of National Intelligence should hold accountable the organizations that contributed to the flawed assessments of Iraq's WMD programs." That one gets "further study."

Today's Calendar

Bush made remarks before the upcoming G8 summit this morning at the Freer Gallery.

Jennifer Loven reports for the Associated Press: "President Bush on Thursday called for a $1.2 billion U.S. effort to cut deaths from malaria in Africa in half over five years, part of a range of new initiatives targeted at the continent's problems."

Valerie Plame Watch

Carol D. Leonnig writes in The Washington Post that Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan yesterday chided Matt Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of the New York Times for keeping a promise not to identify a confidential source.

"In appellate court filings, [special prosecutor Patrick J.] Fitzgerald has indicated that he knows the identity of Miller's source and that the official has voluntarily come forward.

" 'The sources have waived their confidentiality,' Hogan said. 'They're not relying on the promises of the reporters. . . . It's getting curiouser and curiouser.'

"Attorneys for Miller and Cooper did not respond directly. They have said the investigation appears to have changed from a probe of whether officials identified a covert agent to whether they perjured themselves in testimony to prosecutors. The latter, they said, does not justify jailing reporters.

"Fitzgerald declined to comment, but in court papers unsealed yesterday he said the case remains unchanged and focuses on potentially serious criminal misconduct."

Pat Milton reports for the Associated Press this morning: "Time Inc. said Thursday it would comply with a court order to deliver the notes of a reporter threatened with jail in the investigation of the leak of an undercover CIA officer's name."

Jacques Steinberg writes in the New York Times: "Robert D. Novak, the columnist whose unmasking of a C.I.A. operative prompted an investigation of who had given her name to him and others, expressed disappointment yesterday that two other reporters faced going to jail for not cooperating in the case.

"But Mr. Novak, in an appearance on 'Inside Politics' on CNN and in a subsequent telephone interview, once again refused to answer questions about what contact, if any, he had had with the federal prosecutor conducting the investigation or about what extent he might have cooperated in the case."

Here's the transcript of Novak's interview on CNN with Ed Henry. "My lawyer said I cannot answer any specific questions about this case until it is resolved, which I hope is very soon," Novak said.

"HENRY: Do you understand why in general there's frustration among fellow journalist after 41 years of distinguished work, where you've always pushed and been a fierce advocate of the public's right to know, you're not letting the public know about such a critical case, and two people may go to jail.

"NOVAK: Well, they are not going to jail because of me. Whether I answer your questions or not, it has nothing to do with that. That's very ridiculous to think that I am the cause of their going to jail. I don't think they should be going to jail. . . .

"HENRY: No, but some people feel if you would come forward with the information that you have, that maybe they would not go to jail.

"NOVAK: But you don't know -- Ed, you don't know anything about the case. And those people who say that don't know anything about the case. And unfortunately, as somebody who likes to write, I'd like to say a lot about the case, but because of my attorney's advice I can't. But I will. And there might be some surprising things."

OK, a couple thoughts. First, Novak says his lawyer has told him not to comment. This is either preposterous or highly suggestive.

Presumably, Novak has spoken to Fitzgerald's grand jury. And while it is illegal for prosecutors or grand jurors to disclose grand jury testimony, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a witness repeating his testimony word for word on the courthouse steps.

So why would his lawyer tell him not to comment? Could it be because Novak himself is now a target of an obstruction of justice investigation?

And if in fact as Fitzgerald suggests the official in question has voluntarily come forward (presumably with an explanation of why his conduct wasn't illegal) isn't it safe to assume that the official has also told his or her bosses at the White House?

So why not just ask Bush who it is and get it over with?

Evacuation

The Associated Press reports: "President Bush was hurried from his residence to a safer location Wednesday evening and people were evacuated from the White House and U.S. Capitol when a private plane ventured into restricted airspace.

"The all-clear came within minutes when two fighter jets intercepted the small twin-engine propeller-driven plane eight miles northeast of the Capitol. The alert ended before evacuations were complete at the White House."

Julie Hirschfeld Davis of the Baltimore Sun recounted in her pool report that although no general alarm was sounded, senior staffers including deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch, counselor Dan Bartlett and Vice Presidential chief of staff I. Lewiss "Scooter" Libby were spotted rushing out of the West Wing, and that McClellan was starting to move toward an exit when the alert was lowered.

Gibberish on the White House Web Site

Looking for signs of renewal in Iraq? Don't look at this page on the White House Web site.

Blogger No More Mr. Nice Guy found the page, which ostensibly is a "news archive" of stories about Iraqi renewal, but in fact contains Latin phrases traditionally used by typographers as "filler" -- sort of an elegant way of saying "content here."

For instance, one link says: "lorem ipsum, quia dolor sit, amet, consectetur."

As the Lorem Ipsum Web site explains: "Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. . . .

"Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of 'de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum' (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance."

Translated, the full text apparently reads something like this: "Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure."

Froomkin Watch

I am taking tomorrow off, so no column until Tuesday morning.