A Ludicrous Attempt at Spin

Scooter Libby Watch

Amy Goldstein and Carol D. Leonnig write in The Washington Post that the Scooter Libby case went to the jury yesterday.

Evan Perez and Jay Solomon write in the Wall Street Journal: "The case has added fuel to calls for a broader examination of how intelligence was used in political arguments in the past six years.

"Moreover, some current and former administration officials say, the trial's airing of the use of intelligence -- especially over the Iraq war -- threatens to further undermine confidence in American claims on other sensitive matters. That could be a particular problem in the U.S. campaign to convince the world to curb Iran's nuclear program. . . .

"[T]he trial has provided congressional intelligence officials with extensive information on how the vice president's office functioned semi-autonomously in pushing foreign-policy initiatives. These officials said the information could prove helpful in continuing investigations into how public statements made by the president and vice president differed from the underlying intelligence provided by the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

"Richard Ben-Veniste, former Democratic counsel to the Senate Whitewater Committee and head of the Watergate special prosecutor's office, says the trial has served 'to reveal the inner workings of the vice president's office, and particularly the willingness to declassify information to assist in the damage control effort that appeared to be entirely political in nature.'"

Perez and Solomon also report that the "Senate Armed Services Committee seeks further interviews with Mr. Libby."

Keith Olbermann talks to Dana Milbank on MSNBC, and Milbank declares: "What does get interesting here, if there is a conviction, is the question of a pardon. . . . The president will be under a lot of pressure from Vice President Cheney, and the president who relies on a sense of loyalty will feel an awful lot of pressure to give Libby that pardon."

Olbermann asked if that would be politically damaging to Bush.

Milbank: "When you've got 35 percent of the American public supporting you, what's the harm in losing another percent or two? The president is well into his lame duck years here. . . . So sure, he can take that kind of hit."

Jane Hamsher blogs for Firedoglake about the overarching narratives that emerged from the case:

"1. The administration lied us into war and tried to abuse its power to punish the whistleblower who told the American public the truth.

"2. Scooter is the firewall to Shooter. ["Shooter" is Hamsher's nickname for Cheney.]

"3. Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby and other members of the administration conspired to keep federal investigators from uncovering their crimes.

"4. The media was complicit in spreading administration propaganda rather than doing investigative journalism, and are now helping to set the table for a pardon.

"5. The journalistic standards that have been exposed in the case (witness Tim Russert, Judy Miller, Andrea Mitchell, Robert Novak and others) are reprehensible, and have undermined the public trust in the media.

"6. The degree to which this story about the lies that lead to war has been ignored by the media (relative to the feeding frenzy over a Clinton [sex act]) left a huge opening that the blogs have filled."

Bush on Health Care

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times from Chattanooga: "President Bush's plan to expand health coverage by revamping the tax code has been pronounced dead by leading Democrats on Capitol Hill. But Mr. Bush, ever the optimist, forged ahead Wednesday, conducting a chat session here in Oprah Winfrey style with people who are uninsured.

"Mr. Bush held forth for nearly an hour, cracking jokes about everything from the age of one of the participants -- 'You don't look a day over 34,' he said after learning that she was 35 -- to 'the hair follicle benefit,' a wry reference to what he views as luxury health plans. The participants had been carefully selected, the tone was confessional, and the president, describing himself as the 'educator in chief,' sounded more like talk-show host in chief."

Back in D.C., however, Rep. Pete Stark of California, chairman of a subcommittee overseeing health policy, called Bush's proposal "'a farcical move' that was 'primarily designed to encourage employers to drop group coverage.'"

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post: "Many health economists say they think Bush is overstating the impact of the tax code changes, but they say he might have a bigger bang if he were to give low-income people tax credits to buy insurance, an idea the White House considered and rejected. A study released this week by the Community Research Council of Chattanooga concluded that very few of the uninsured in Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga and its suburbs, make enough money to benefit under the current Bush plan."

On Tuesday, Bush held a photo op after a closed-door discussion on his proposal with a group mostly made up of friendly health-care executives.

And the Wall Street Journal reports on its latest poll: "When asked much they trust the president to come up with good policies for improving and reforming the U.S. health-care system, 49% said 'not at all,' while 16% said 'not much,' according to the online survey of 2,482 U.S. adults. By comparison, 18% said they trust Mr. Bush 'to some extent' and only 9% trust him 'a great deal' on the issue. The survey was conducted Feb. 7-9."

Pit Stop

Stolberg of the New York Times filed a pool report yesterday on Bush's "surprise halt in downtown Chattanooga outside Porker's Bar-B-Que, a two-story brick place that evoked memories of the 50s, with Coca-Cola signs and some neon decor. As the name implies, it's a barbecue joint. The hand-painted picture on the glass front window shows a pig reclining atop flames, above the motto: 'We don't squeal.' (Your pooler could make the obvious joke about squealers and leaks, but she will refrain.)

"POTUS was in full campaign mode inside . . . 'Sorry to interrupt your dinner,' he said to several diners at one wooden booth, seeming not sorry in the least. . . .

"Then Mr. Bush threw his arm around a pink t-shirted waitress, Becky Roden, 35, for a quick snapshot. Ms. Roden, to put it delicately, amply filled the pink t-shirt, and smiled happily as she and POTUS squeezed in close for their photo. POTUS smiled happily too. Ms. Roden promised to bring the diner-in-chief some food, to which he replied: 'Go get it. I'm starved. I'm hungry. I do want food.'"

Bill Poovey writes for the Associated Press: "Roden, 35, said she boldly asked for the peck when Bush and his entourage rushed in to eat a buffet that included ribs, smoked chicken, potato salad and slaw.

"'He ate a whole lot,' Roden said afterward."

Seth Seymour reports for WTVC-TV in Chattanooga: "Some found it funny Bush was here for a health care summit, then had a meal like this," Seymour writes.

"But to his credit, the servers said he did have a Diet Coke."

Snowapalooza

Dana Milbank writes in The Washington Post about the National Press Club event Tuesday night at which press secretary Tony Snow was given the chance to turn the tables on a panel of White House correspondents.

See yesterday's column for previous coverage.

As Milbank writes, it was billed as "man bites dog." But "the hour turned into a mutual rehabilitation session. Snow argued that reporters are not the jackals that the public supposes them to be. The reporters reciprocated with warm tales about covering the Bush White House. . . .

"The New York Times' Sheryl Stolberg smiled sweetly at Snow as she confided to the crowd, 'I often tease Tony and tell him that he's the most useless press secretary ever.'

"'Thank you,' Snow responded with an aw-shucks look."

Milbank, who was anything but a White House favorite when he covered the president's first term, seemed to feel something was missing from the cloying love fest.

He concluded: "Will somebody please release the hounds?"

Abuse Watch

Jeffrey H. Smith, a former general counsel of the CIA, writes in a Washington Post op-ed: "Congress should reconsider the detainee legislation passed last fall. Last-minute changes rammed through by the White House watered down many of the bill's key provisions. On the treatment of detainees and interrogation techniques it created two standards -- one for the military and another for the CIA. The standards for the military are in an Army Field Manual, but the CIA standards are to be enumerated in a presidential executive order. Rumors suggest that the White House is struggling to develop those rules. Congress should relieve the president of that task before he makes a bad situation worse.

"If Vice President Cheney has his way, a good dunking may be among the approved CIA techniques, even though 'waterboarding' is prohibited by the Army Field Manual. Cheney's October remarks that dunking a detainee was ' a no-brainer' were irresponsible and added to the confusion in the field (and around the world) about the rules for treatment of detainees."

Tom Shales writes in The Washington Post: "'Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,' a new HBO documentary produced and directed by Rory Kennedy, daringly approaches a scandal that hardly anyone wants to see reexamined -- least of all, one can safely assume, the Bush administration and the Pentagon.

"The reason is not just that what happened at Abu Ghraib is, to understate in the extreme, unpleasant. The documentary says it's also because this breakdown was not so much nervous as inevitable -- and not so spontaneous, having been sanctioned by the top brass, including former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld."

Bush's Loyalists

Sheryl Gay Stolberg wrote in Wednesday's New York Times: "Six years into Mr. Bush's presidency, the corps of loyal Texans who accompanied him to Washington from Austin remains a powerful force inside the administration, a steady source of comfort for an increasingly isolated president. No matter how grim the polls or dire the news in Iraq, they have stood by Mr. Bush -- and been rewarded with plum jobs -- as their lives have grown increasingly intertwined with one another's and with his. . . .

"[T]hese Texans are increasingly angry at criticism leveled at him. . . .

"Scholars say Mr. Bush has been more strategic than most presidents in sprinkling loyalists throughout the administration. Paul C. Light, an expert in public service at New York University, says it has created an 'echo chamber' in which the president gets advice he wants to hear."

Cartoon Watch

Pat Oliphant on how the British are leaving; Stuart Carlson on Bush's Iraq plan; Tom Toles on Bush and Walter Reed.

Late Night Humor

Jay Leno, via U.S. News: "The British announced they were pulling their troops out of the Iraq. Dick Cheney immediately called it good news. He said, 'It's a sign that we're winning.' How come when our allies pick up and leave, that's a victory for us? But when we leave, it's a victory for al Qaeda? How does that work?"