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Don't want to miss out on the latest buzz in politics? Start each day at wonk central: The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 a.m. as a member of The Washington Post's team of White House and Congressional reporters answers questions about the latest in buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.

Washington Post Congressional reporter Shailagh Murray was online Monday, Oct. 24, at 11 a.m. ET .

The transcript follows.

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New York, N.Y.: Hi!

If either Rove or Libby are indicted by Patrick Fitzgerald, it marks the first time that a sitting White House official was indicted in over 100 years.

How can the White House spin this so that it doesn't look like the most criminal administration of the century?

Shailagh Murray: Well, we may be about to find out. The best case scenario for the White House, if indictments do happen, is for the charges to be restricted to technical violations like perjury before the grand jury -- Republicans believe those will be easier to wave off.

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Oxford, Miss.: Bill Frist's plan has been to retire at the top of his Senate game as Majority Leader and leap full speed ahead into the 2008 presidential race. How bad do you think the current investigation into him is going to hurt his presidential chances?

Shailagh Murray: It's hard to tell where this stock story is going for Frist. But whatever the outcome of the legal case, this is Frist's first big personal public relations challenge, and how he handles it will do much to determine how excited Republicans become about his presumed presidential ambitions. At the moment, they don't seem particularly enthusiastic about the good doctor.

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Kay Bailey Hutchinson's Comment...: I almost gagged on my brunch when I heard Rep. Hutchinson's comment about (paraphrasing) some silly little perjury or obstruction of justice charge that have nothing to do with the original Plame charge. That statement alone from her, as a Republican, reaffirmed why I will forever be a political independent. I'm sure she didn't have those feelings when Clinton was charged or if it were any other Democrat. That's what "regular folks" hate about politics. The concept of right or wrong doesn't change dependent upon if you are a Democrat or a Republican. What were your thoughts?

Shailagh Murray: I could not agree more. This may be why teenagers think adults are so stupid.

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Bethesda, Md.: Shailagh--Can we talk? What's the Post's reaction to The Troubles at the NYT? Quiet glee? Please give us the real dish.

Shailagh Murray: I think reporters tend to see this as a blight on all of us, not just the NYT. It's very depressing.

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New Jersey: Will the Republicans in Congress be able to distance themselves from a Rove/Libby indictment or a DeLay conviction?

Shailagh Murray: Only if they start trying.

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Washington, D.C.: You wrote: "The best case scenario for the White House, if indictments do happen, is for the charges to be restricted to technical violations like perjury before the grand jury -- Republicans believe those will be easier to wave off."

They'll certainly be helped if they can convince reporters to describe perjury as a "technical violation."

Shailagh Murray: Several people have commented on this. Let me clarify. At the root of this investigation is whether White House officials broke the law in order to discredit a person who challenged their case for war. If they are charged with perjury, rather than conspiracy or something else directly related to the leaks, that would make it easier for their supporters to claim they didn't do anything wrong. I'm am NOT saying we reporters will buy that, but that it's a line that Republicans are now practicing, should this turn out to be the case.

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New York, N.Y.: I was surprised to see on the Chris Matthews show that 7 of the 12 political reporters included in his "Matthews Meter" did not believe Karl Rove would be indicted. Nearly all believed Libby would be. What information would suggest Rove will get out of this one?

Shailagh Murray: There are theories that Libby will take the hit for everyone, Rove included. But that's just speculation -- no one knows for sure what's happening inside this investigation.

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Houston, Tex.: I bet the people in prison for perjury and obstruction of justice will be glad to know that it was just a technicality when they lied to judges, juries, and investigators. Whoops... Just read Ms. Hutchinson's comments during President Clinton's impeachment. She sure sang a different tune about perjury then. A much different tune.

Shailagh Murray: I can see by the blizzard of comments I'm getting about Republicans trying to downplay perjury that it is not likely to prove a winning strategy for them.

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Pittsburgh, Pa.: How do you see the political debate being affected in 2006 by the Iraq war vets like Paul Hackett running mostly as Democrats?

Shailagh Murray: It's an interesting question, and one of the factors that makes the midterm elections hard to predict at this point. We can see on the news right now that a well-known Baghdad hotel was just hit by three car bombs -- but still the news of the day will be the Fed announcement and Wilma. Without a doubt, there is a perception gap between Washington and the rest of the country over the war -- day to day, it's a much bigger concern the Miers nomination or the Rove case. Whether Democrats can capitalize on that is another question. As may recall, quite a few of them supported going to war.

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Brooklyn, N.Y.: What do you think of the announcement (early it seems) of a new Fed Chairman, just as the reports are coming that indictments will be brought out this week?

Shailagh Murray: Probably the same thing you're thinking -- wow, what a nice distracting coincidence!

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New York, N.Y.: Could you please comment on balance and accountability in the media? Quite often, I supposed 'pundits' make outrageous statements without any challenge from the interviewer .As a recent example, this past week Bill O'Reilly made the following statement on the today show: "...if you are a evangelical Christian in this country, you're demonized right away on the left. I mean, you're a bad person, fanatic and crazy. And that--and that's the truth..." Despite the absurdity of this statement, the interviewer (whose initials are KC) politely moved on, implying that the statement was acknowledged fact. Shouldn't there be a higher level of responsibility and accountability in our news media?

Shailagh Murray: Ummm, can't argue with you on this one. For starters, "evangelical" is not synonymous with "Republican." Maybe even less so these days!!

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Boston, Mass.: What do you think of retired Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson's recent comments about the Bush administration?

Shailagh Murray: I think it's a good thing his wife isn't a CIA agent, because they'd have to blow her cover, too. Seriously, it was pretty powerful stuff, and way overshadowed by less relevant political speculation stories.

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Ames, Iowa: I can see the Democrats and possibly Independents might not buy dismissing perjury as much ado about nothing, but poll after poll seems to show that the Republican base DOES buy all of this stuff. Do you think anything will shake their (as I see it, blind) faith in Bush?

BTW, you have a "good Irish name" as my Irish mother would have said.

Shailagh Murray: You raise a good point in this question because the fact is, the Fitzgerald investigation, and the DeLay case for that matter, could be interpreted by Republican supporters as loyalists doing their duty, and just coloring outside the lines a bit. They weren't stealing money from the safe. I would imagine Republican voters being far more discouraged about the war, spending, and the Miers nomination, than about these two legal cases.

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Boston, Mass.: More on Colonel Wilkerson: How do news stories like this come to get overshadowed by, as you say, a lost less important political news. Is it because papers think that people don't care?

Shailagh Murray: It's because television reporters prefer windy sea coasts to boring hallways for their live shots, and we stupidly follow their lead too often.

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Piscataway, N.J.: One thing that has always puzzled me about all these Congressional Democrats who supposedly supported the war... if I remember correctly, what Congress did back before the Iraq war was to vote to give Bush the authority to decide to go to war, the vote was not actually to go to war. And that a vote against that was portrayed as not trusting Bush and thus being unpatriotic etc etc. Why don't Democrats or others bring up that difference now? Or does that seem too much of a nuance? Seems like Democrats could say, we gave you the authority but you abused it, no?

Shailagh Murray: Why Democrats haven't figured out what to say about Iraq is one of the truly perplexing questions right now. I think that's what happens when you compromise your principles from the outset, but hey -- that's just me speculating.

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Wichita, Kan.: Quoting you - "no one knows for sure what's happening inside this investigation."

Given that this is true, what would be wrong with waiting until we hear from Fitzgerald? Would we really suffer if there were fewer speculation, non-news, Karl's garage type stories?

Shailagh Murray: Wow -- what's wrong with Kansas? Too much perspective out there!!!

Thanks to all for writing, and sorry I couldn't answer everyone. Stay in touch, Shailagh

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