Miller Time

Fitzgerald's theory "that war-mongering, Bush-administration neocons were so furious that Joseph Wilson had written a July 2003 New York Times op-ed retrospectively criticizing their case for war that they embarked on a campaign of vengeance" later evaporated, says Lowry. "Unfortunately for this theory, the original leaker of Plame's identity was former Secretary of State Colin Powell's aide Richard Armitage. He was an internal enemy of the neocons, and he told columnist Bob Novak about Plame for innocent reasons."

Joe at Americablog is disgusted by D.C. journalists:

"The Libby trial has been fascinating and disturbing on many levels. Ari Fleischer and Cathie Martin have re-confirmed that practically the entire Washington press corps had been leaked the name of an undercover CIA operative for partisan political reasons. This was back in 2003. Yet, that entire Washington press corps dutifully reported the repeated denials from the White House -- including those from Bush -- about the leak. And, this same press corps helped push the 2004 campaign spin that Bush and Cheney would keep us safe and were stronger on national security. And, they also reported on the White House outrage over other leaks that would hurt national security. No wonder the White House had such disdain for the media. They were playing the press all the time -- and the press let it happen. The press corps should be ashamed. They enabled the Bush war machine, too. They were almost as bad as the Republicans on the Hill -- never asking questions, just doing what they were told. Pathetic."

Practically the entire Washington press corps? No one leaked it to me, and I'm feeling mightily left out.

Arianna Huffington is rather irritated at Ari Fleischer's testimony that he punted at one briefing about Libby and the leak:

"Does anyone in the press corps -- not to mention the planet -- not know that Tony Snow is still up there 'punting,' day in and day out? Why, then, do they still play the game? Why don't they call the punting what we all know it is: deliberate deception -- even . . . gasp . . . lying?

"The media's willingness to take punt after punt, and allow the administration to 'control' its 'message,' is part of what got us into this historically disastrous debacle, and what's still allowing Bush to punt this entire war down to the next president.

"It would be a lot harder for the administration to play games with the lives of other people's children if the press refused to play along."

Perhaps she is unaware that Clinton White House spokesmen also punted at briefings--and that journalists often point out when they're not getting straight answers?

Big media news: Dean Baquet, dumped by the L.A. Times for refusing to carry out Tribune-mandated budget cuts, is rejoining the New York Times as Washington bureau chief. I talk to the key players here.

Joe Klein defends David Broder over a WashPost column in which he criticized Hillary Clinton for speechifying instead of questioning the new Iraq war commander at a Senate hearing:

"I know it's become common practice to slag David Broder in the blogosphere. But let me say this in David's defense: he is not an armchair pundit. Even now, at the age of 236, or thereabouts, he goes out and really does his homework, riding the buses and hitting the living rooms of voters in the crucial states. If you've ever wondered why people like me revere Broder, it's his work ethic--and not just his kindness, civility, judiciousness and institutional memory. And given Broder's civility, it is really noteworthy when he hauls off and delivers a column like this about Hillary Clinton.