Back To I. Lewis Libby

Many things can be and have been said of Jason Leopold of the Rove indicted/TruthOut debacle, but do not fault him for lack of persistence.  Mr. Leopold continues to do the homework, and has a new article up on the Libby pre-trial prep.  A key bonus - he also provides a link to the 129 page hearing transcript from May 16.

Let's pluck this from the transcript (no, we have not read the whole thing yet.)  The theme is the credibility, or lack thereof, of Mr. Cooper as a prosecution witness.  Since he also would have been an important witness against Karl Rove, we are doubly interested.

Here are two interesting excerpts:

First, on the subject of just what Cooper and Libby discussed, Matt Cooper's notes and emails are surprisingly silent on the matter of Joe Wilson's wife:

25 NOW, YOUR HONOR, MR. COOPER TOOK NOTES -- HE SAT

1 THERE AND TYPED ON HIS COMPUTER AS HE TALKED TO MR. LIBBY -- 2 OF EVERYTHING THEY TALKED ABOUT. WE HAVE THOSE. THERE IS 3 NO REFERENCE TO THE WIFE WHATSOEVER. 4 IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CALL WITH MR. LIBBY,
5 MR. COOPER SENT TO HIS EDITOR AN E-MAIL DESCRIBING THE
6 IMPORTANT THINGS THAT MR. LIBBY HAD SAID. THERE IS NO
7 REFERENCE TO THE WIFE. NONE WHATSOEVER.
8 THE COURT: YOU HAVE THAT E-MAIL, TOO, I ASSUME.
9 MR. JEFFRESS: YES, WE DO. THAT'S WHAT THEY
10 PRODUCED TO THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR AND WHAT THE GRAND JURY
11 HAD.
12 THERE IS ANOTHER E-MAIL. AGAIN, WE HAVE THIS ONE.
13 THERE IS AN E-MAIL BY MR. COOPER, AGAIN TO HIS EDITOR, ON
14 JULY 16, FOUR DAYS AFTER HIS CONVERSATION WITH MR. LIBBY AND
15 FIVE DAYS AFTER HIS CONVERSATION WITH MR. ROVE, ABOUT THE
16 ARTICLE THEY ARE PLANNING TO WRITE IN WHICH THEY ARE GOING
17 TO MENTION THE WIFE. AND THE E-MAIL SAYS -- TALKS ABOUT HIM
18 HAVING AN ADMINISTRATION SOURCE FOR THE INFORMATION ABOUT
19 MS. WILSON.
20 AND I SUBMIT TO YOUR HONOR THERE IS -- AS YOU CAN
21 SEE, THE CREDIBILITY OF MR. COOPER WITH RESPECT TO HIS
22 DESCRIPTION THAT MR. LIBBY CONFIRMED MR. PLAME'S EMPLOYMENT
23 BY THE C.I.A. IS GOING TO BE VERY MUCH AT ISSUE IN THIS
24 CASE. AND THAT IS WHAT CASES ARE ALL ABOUT. AND WE SHOULD
25 BE ENTITLED TO ANYTHING THAT MR. COOPER HAS SAID OR THAT
113
1 OTHERS HAVE SAID OR DONE, SUCH AS MR. MASSIMO TALKING TO
2 MR. WILSON ON THE BASIS OF WHAT COOPER SAID.
3 AND THAT KIND OF INFORMATION IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT
4 TO THE CROSS-EXAMINATION, AND WE SUBMIT THAT IT SHOULD BE
5 ENFORCED. AND CERTAINLY WE HAVE ESTABLISHED SPECIFICITY
6 WITH RESPECT TO THAT.
7 THE OTHER THING I WOULD SAY IS THIS IS THE FIRST I
8 HAVE HEARD THAT TIME HAS A DOCUMENT THAT REFERS TO
9 MS. PLAME. NOW, PERHAPS, THAT'S MR. COOPER'S COMMUNICATION
10 WITH MR. MASSIMO, OR PERHAPS IT IS MR. MASSIMO'S NOTES WITH
11 MR. WILSON. I DON'T KNOW, BUT CERTAINLY IF THERE IS A
12 DOCUMENT THAT DOES REFER TO MS. PLAME PRIOR TO JULY 14, WE
13 SUBMIT THAT THAT'S RELEVANT AND SHOULD BE PRODUCED AS WELL.
14 THAT'S ALL I HAVE ON TIME AND COOPER, YOUR HONOR.

Second, on a possible defense angle - did Libby confuse his chats with Tim Russert and Matt Cooper?

5 YOU WILL RECALL THAT TIM RUSSERT -- MR. LIBBY'S
6 DESCRIPTION OF THE CALL WITH TIM RUSSERT -- HE SAYS, "IT IS
7 MR. RUSSERT THAT RAISED IT WITH ME." THE CONVERSATION, AS
8 COOPER TESTIFIES, SOUNDS VERY MUCH LIKE THE CONVERSATION
9 THAT MR. LIBBY DESCRIBED TO THE GRAND JURY AS HAVING COME
10 FROM RUSSERT.
11 DID HE GET THE TWO CONFUSED? THAT IS A
12 POSSIBILITY THAT THE JURY WILL CERTAINLY CONSIDER IN THIS
13 CASE.

The defense notes that that possibility of confusion may explain one of the perjury counts, but it raises lots of questions as well.

Flipping back to the new Leopold story, apparently the defense made much of the fact that, based on her notebooks, Judy Miller may have known of Ms. Plame, or Victoria Wilson, or somebody, even before she spoke with Libby on June 23.  This is not really news - let's go to Ms. Miller's personal account of her grand jury trstimony (which the judge eventually noted was a reliable proxy for her grand jury testimony):

The First Libby Meeting [June 23, 2003]

...Soon afterward Mr. Libby raised the subject of Mr. Wilson's wife for the first time. I wrote in my notes, inside parentheses, ''Wife works in bureau?'' I told Mr. Fitzgerald that I believed this was the first time I had been told that Mr. Wilson's wife might work for the C.I.A.

The Second Libby Meeting [July 8, 2003]

...Mr. Fitzgerald asked me about another entry in my notebook, where I had written the words ''Valerie Flame,'' clearly a reference to Ms. Plame. Mr. Fitzgerald wanted to know whether the entry was based on my conversations with Mr. Libby. I said I didn't think so. I said I believed the information came from another source, whom I could not recall.

Mr. Fitzgerald asked if I could recall discussing the Wilson-Plame connection with other sources. I said I had, though I could not recall any by name or when those conversations occurred.

Ms. Judy is keeping secrets.  Oh, dear.  That said, her testimony seems to have been that, as best she recalls, she first learned that Ms. Plame might be at the CIA from Libby on June 23.

ANDREA MITCHELL WATCH:

Per the transcript, Andrea Mitchell spoke with Lewis Libby in roughly the relevant time frame, but no one can pin down the date; Libby has testified about this, but it seems that Ms. Mitchell has not.  Ms. Mitchell has one page of barely decipherable handrwitten notes that do not indicate that Wilson's wife was discussed, and the defense would like these notes.

The defense wants to play "heads I win, tails you lose" - either Ms. Mitchell did not get a Plame leak from Libby, in which case the defense can argue, gee, look at all the reporters he talked to without leaking, maybe he got confused.

Or, if he did leak to Ms. Mitchell (in apparent contradiction of his own testimony), then  perhaps Ms. Miitchell mentioned it to her boss, Tim Russert.  That might explain how Russert learned of it, and later told Libby, who by this time had clearly forgotten his leak to Andrea and was surprised to learn of Plame from Tim.  Confusing?  Wait until the defense hires a Russian novelist to explain it.

SOMEONE AT TIME KNEW SOMETHING ABOUT PLAME:  From p 102 of the .pdf, we pick up a discussion between the judge and an attorney for TIME as to whether a particular document is producible under the defense subpoena.  The TIME attorney has the floor:

1 ...WHETHER OR
2 NOT A TIME, INC. REPORTER KNEW ABOUT VALERIE PLAME PRIOR TO
3 ANY CONVERSATION ABOUT -- OR AROUND THE TIME OF A
4 LIBBY/COOPER CONVERSATION IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT.
5 EVEN IF OTHER TIME, INC. REPORTERS KNEW ABOUT
6 MS. PLAME, THAT WOULD IN NO WAY SUPPORT MR. LIBBY'S GRAND
7 JURY TESTIMONY, WHICH WE HAVE TO GO BACK TO.
8 THE CHARGE IS THAT HE ADVISED MR. COOPER THAT HE
9 HAD HEARD FROM OTHER REPORTERS THAT THEY WERE SAYING THAT
10 VALERIE PLAME WORKED FOR THE C.I.A.
11 AND A DOCUMENT THAT SIMPLY REFERS TO VALERIE PLAME
12 IN NO WAY CAN SUPPORT OR WOULD SUPPORT MR. LIBBY'S TESTIMONY
13 THAT HE TOLD COOPER THAT HE WAS HEARING ABOUT VALERIE PLAME
14 AND HER EMPLOYMENT AT THE C.I.A. FROM OTHER REPORTERS, AND
15 IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T SUPPORT MR. LIBBY'S ASSERTION,
16 ACCORDING TO THE INDICTMENT, THAT HE WASN'T SURE WHETHER OR
17 NOT THAT WAS TRUE.
18 THE DOCUMENT WOULD SHED NO LIGHT ON THAT, UNLESS
19 IT WAS THE CASE THAT MR. LIBBY KNEW ABOUT THIS OTHER
20 REPORTER, AND HE HAD SPOKEN WITH THIS OTHER REPORTER, AND HE
21 HAD TALKED WITH THIS OTHER REPORTER, AND HE KNEW ABOUT THIS
22 OTHER REPORTER, AND THAT'S WHY HE WAS REFERRING TO THAT IN
23 HIS CONVERSATION WITH MR. COOPER.
24 BUT THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE OF THAT. SO
25 WE WOULD SUBMIT THAT THE DOCUMENT THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT,
103
1 ARGUABLY RESPONSIVE TO CATEGORY ONE, IS SIMPLY NOT RELEVANT.

Well, if there is no evidence that this other TIME reporter passed the leak around, whose fault is that?  Wasn't Fitzgerald investigating this leak?  Did he, or anyone, actually look for evidence about this mystery reporter whose name does not appear in Fitzgerald's list of five who knew (but how about the one who might?)  I refer of course to Bob Woodward, Judith Miller, Bob Novak, Walter Pincus and Matthew Cooper, and then-TIME's own John Dickerson, who has moved to Slate and denied prior knowledge of the Plame leak.

Comments

[patch]

My theory is that the way Judith Miller learned of Valerie Plame/Wilson is that she was asked to do some background checking on a story Nick Kristoff was working on about the Joe "Ambassador" Wilson's trip to Niger.

Using her many resources (Dick Armitage, Marc Grossman), she discovered that Valerie was over at the nationally know group of Clowns, Incompetents, and A_ _ H_ _ _s.

Well, I'm off to Intrade to sell some more contracts on the Libby case to moronic liberals.

[Carol Herman]

Shame on Reggie Walton for not pulling the plug on this disgrace, otherwise known as a soap opera from the Clowns, Incompetents, and Ash-hats Agency. Perhaps the judge has confused 'da law with Oprah? There really is no excuse; considering that Libby was forced to resign from his job. Instead of being allowed to continue his work. (And, ya know what? He won't even be able to ask for back pay.)

Why is it, IF judges aren't advocates (for lawyers earning money on their warped speed clock), that the plug wasn't pulled long ago?

Until our "justice system" finds a way of fixing this outrage; plus it then fixes the outrage of less-than-grand-juries functioning without the Constitutional guarantees that prosecutors can put you in Star Chambers; and PERsecute ... I don't know how else the law will ever regain any momentum towards decency.

In other words, it's a whore house, now. "Love" went out the window, baby, bathwater, and all.

And, if you want to say "well, judges couldn't explain WHY something is so unfair that they'd be able to justify the loss of a soap opera with the mob. Or worse, with congress critters ... then why bother to study for the law?

Set up a computer, where you push buttons. Train the folks who use the computers to use algorythms. Because that's the keys you use to direct search engines. You coulde even build in a bullshit meter; and stuff would get tossed right out on their face.

When did the court house become such a joke?

When did men lose their nerve to sit, like Oliver Wendell Holmes did, as opininated as all get-out?

Why would anyone train to have Socratic debating skills, without ALSO knowing time would not go awasting. And, listening to good debates would be exciting?

Oh, well. At least this piece of transcript hearings IS REALLY EASY TO FOLLOW! Yes, exciting. But not for Fitzgerald. Who looks like a man in any fair universe who would lose his case. Lose the argument. And, would have been sent packing long ago.

[Carol Herman]

If there is a "Presser" that is going to live on in infamy, it's Fitzgerald's coming forward, in the press, and smearing Libby, without one iota of evidence to back him up.

And, oh, boy. Idiots serve on grand juries. There's no other explanation for putting people on juries who are dumber than ham sandwiches.

[clarice]

It's a tru;y gorgeous day here, and Tom picks it to post 2 important stories in a row. *thwack,thwack*

[Jeff]

No, Dickerson did know, from Cooper.

[clarice]

Do you think it curious that so far two of the co-authors of the Time Plame piece are no longer with the mag? Or is that the usual reward for creative newswriting--a kick out the door before the shyte hits the fan in court?

[vnjagvet]

I haven't read the transcript, but from Tom's excerpts, it sounds to me like TIME's attorney was doing a passable imitation of a prosecutor in this case, and not merely an advocate for a "neutral", "objective" newsmagazine with no stake in the outcome of the prosecution.

[clarice]

Well, he lost. The judge asked to see the docs exparte, resolved that no matter how Matt testified the Time docs would impeach him, and , therefore, ruled Libby could get those docs before Matt takes the stand.

[vnjagvet]

Perhaps the nuance I mentioned was not lost on the good Judge.

[clarice]

Heh..perhaps not..He seems to have a shyte from shinola detector that is working.

[Kate]

Both are off Time? I had heard Cooper was fired from Time, don't know if that's true. He apparently is with a new magazine here in DC.

Didn't know about the other guy, though.

I had heard that Calipressi (Sp?) had called Wilson and was always curious about it. It wasn't undisclosed as Leopold said, but not fully disclosed. Sounds again like a coordinated effort by Wilson and the media - a hit on the White House.

[clarice]

I'm not sure Dickerson ws bounced, but he was quickly off the Time payrlll and on Slate's and I think Time pays more. Cooper was quickly pulled off the WH beat and given the online version. Then it was announced he was leaving to become editor of Conde Nast's Portfolio, a business publication not due to have its first issue out until April of 2007. I'm just reading tea leaves, I suppose, but I don't think so.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Walton really opened himself to having any conviction overturned with that crack about trying O.J. in three weeks.

Especially since it was in denying Libby the opportunity of presenting evidence that Wilson lied to Kristoff. If this isn't a case about who is telling the truth and who isn't, why is Libby charged with perjury?

[vnjagvet]

Bingo, Patrick.

[Patton]

Any chance they are referring to something written by Vivica Novak??

[Patton]

Isn't she also gone from Time.....

[clarice]

Vivica is also gone from Time.She didn't coauthor the story which, as you will recall, was substantially different than Cooper's contemporaneous notes. As I recall the reports were that she gave Luskin info about office scuttlebutt.
Why is Massimo still there? He was on the phone to Wilson before and after the Cooper call to Libby?

[lurker]

Guess this doesn't bode well for anyone writing stories about Plame / Wilson - once written, they're on their way out of a prestigious job.

[Kate]

I bet the Libby defense team is looking forward to getting the Time team on the stand.

Prediction: watch for more and more media types to predict a Bush pardon for Libby before the trial. They will say that the trial will be so embarrassing for Cheney. But it will really be embarrassing for the media.

[Patton]

It is starting to appear that everyone who
was aware Wilsons wife was CIA had talked to JOE WILSON or talked to someone who had talked to Wilson.

It was David Corn that first brought up the idea that Novak had 'outed' Plame and that was based on discussions with JOE WILSON.

[clarice]

Isn;t that curious, Patton. (HEH)

[vnjagvet]

The "outed" meme has taken a big hit.

Only the die hards are now still in a spouting mood. The bell curve prevents a complete erasure of the meme.

[lurker]

So instead of 60 - 40% of the population where 60% believed in Libby's innocence and 40% believed in Libby and Rove's guilt, we are now seeing something 80% believing that Libby's innocent versus 20% Libby's guilt?

[brenda taylor]

YES PUZZELING DAVID CORN JUST KEEPS POPPING UP EVERYWHERE.WITH ALL HIS SECRET SOURCES.

[vnjagvet]

Lurk:

As you know being a regular here, Libby is not even accused of outing Plame. Still the "Plame was outed [by the administration]" meme survives. Libby's guilt has nothing to do with it.

But now even that is just hanging on. Regrettably, the diehard group is probably at least twenty percent of the population, as implied by the bell curve.

I believe, as a rule of thumb, in any political matter, the left in this country can always count on at least roughly twenty percent of the population for any proposition, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. The "true believers".

Likewise for the right. It is the sixty percent in the middle where the battle is fought.

[JM Hanes]

vnjagvet

I'd put the left & right percentages a little higher. Outside of a brief spasm of approval post 9/11, you can count on a solid 29% to oppose Bush's very existence in virtually every poll. My own rule of thumb is that the "middle" is more like 40%, of which only 20%, if that, is realistically up for grabs. The fundamental problem for both parties is that in order to win you've got to get your base to the polls AND you've got to persuade the most confirmed of centrists to join them.

[vnjagvet]

JMH:

I do not disagree with your analysis so far as elections are concerned.

My comments were directed towards such specific issues as the Plame matter which, I suspect, have smaller interested groups than elections.

My impression is that the "true believers" on particular issues or particular news events (regardless of objective facts) are not as large a percentage
as the group that adheres to a political party in an election.

I may be wrong about this. It is based purely on my observation and intuition.

What do you think?

[maryrose]

JMHanes:
you are absolutely correct in your poll numbers. 29% is dems vehemently against Bush so I automatically discount that group. They show up in every poll.
Clarice:
How are Kim and Larwyn doing?
I hope both are well;please send them my best-I miss them.
This whole Libby case has been exposed and the turning point was Rove not being indicted. We can thank Leopold for forcing Fitz's hand by publishing his lies and then clamming up about his sources. Also remember Miller is out of a job too. Looks like this Libby case is the kiss of death for reporters. We have had a beautiful weather week here in Ohio and I love being outside and enjoying the sunshine. Vacationed at a resort place on Lake Erie last week with some high school and college friends-absolutely delightful! Of course we totally disagree about politics-hence it is not discussed.

[maryrose]

Pardon for Libby from Bush comes after 2006 elections.

[nidkerk]

Dickerson, Cooper, Novak all out. Duffy who wrote some of the stories is no longer bureau chief. Um, there's not a pattern of Time firing or harming these people?

[clarice]

maryrose, I heard from Larwyn the other day. She's better but her computer isn't and she hopes to be back posting soon. I miss her, too.

[Sue]

Kim is around. Causing grief for our friend Scary. I would say she is fine and in fine form. ::grin::

[Javani]

I, for one, am impressed with Mr. Leopold's journalistic integrity exampled by his maintaining interest in covering this story.

All the other reporters and bloggers "in the know" and of the left-wing tendencies have dropped interest once their grand bete-noire, Rove, was taken off the chopping block.

Further close interest in this story might compel the public to ask about UGO. The revealing of UGO will be a disaster to the Bush/liar-Wilson/Truthteller narrative carefully crafted by opinion makers and conspiring media.

[JM Hanes]

vnjagvet

I'm not working from any specific data either, mostly observating the ebb and flow of polls. I do think that the activist base may be closer to 20% or even less. Interestingly, however, I think that until recently, the base on the left was far less likely to threaten to withhold their votes/support as a political tactic within their own party than those on the right.

[vnjagvet]

JMH:

I agree.

[topsecretk9]

He was on the phone to Wilson before and after the Cooper call to Libby?

Also, remember that Judy had Wilson's contact info written in her notebook...obviously don't know for sure, but I would bet money Fitz and his team breezed right by a written phone number and never even thought to check it

[topsecretk9]

this is on page 10 of the transcript:

THAT THE REDACTED MATERIAL THAT APPEARS ON THE SAME PAGE AS
2 THESE REFERENCES TO JOE WILSON WITH HIS TELEPHONE NUMBER AND
3 HIS EXTENSION -- THE REFERENCES TO V. F., TO VALERIE FLAME,
4 TO WHERE SHE IS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WINPAC STANDS
5 FOR -- ALL OF THESE ARE REDACTED ENTRIES THAT ARE IN THE
6 MATERIAL THAT HAS BEEN PROVIDED TO THE DEFENSE.

[verner]

By the way, has Valerie gotten a new million dollar book deal?

No, didn't think so.

That Nation cruise should be real interesting.

[jonah]

Leopolds a Good man. Good for him for taking a beating and sticking with the story. That shows courage and dedication. Not a real trait others on the left have. And this is a long transcript so it must have been expensive. We should at least thank him for sharing it. What do you hits make of all the references to state? And the fact that fitz won't reveal woodwards source? Copper is not going to make a good witness. What could the other draft of his article say that would make him less credible?

[Carol Herman]

It's good to remember that we are a REPUBLIC, not a direct democracy, because there's real evil in "majorities." And, considering all the problems out there in leading countries anywhere, it's something of a miracle that our system works better than parliamentary ones, for instance.

And, the other thing to notice is that we have immigration from all over the globe; and we're entering the world, only now, where English has been set aside. BIG MISTAKE THAT ONE!

However, life's full of mistakes. And, when your system is in working order it SELF-CORRECTS. Or it helps with a population that gets together and works at getting people elected who do their jobs well. (This President is something of a miracle in that we got a boost from our Supreme Court to get him into office. And, then we had 2004 which confirmed tha we weren't tied at 50/50. There seems to be a growing movement towards conservatism. Just as there had been, throughout the 20th Century, not just a lurch left ... but one that had real sharks in the water. Waiting.) Unlike Europe; we're not in the mess that comes from going overboard on socialism.

And, I'm of the mind that throwing stalin "goodies" after WW2 has not all been the negative rating some give this. Because the europeans PICKED IT! And, the only ones that don't are the ones that EXPERIENCED the boot!

Today's biggest threat does come from terrorists. WHere we use a system of "kid gloves" ... rather than terrorism returned. Which would reduce their numbers. And, make them a lot more alert to their own propensities for violence.

But you can't have everything all at once. Here? Well, I see the left eating their own. I see that even in the case of Libby; where it's a shame he had to give up his job to fight these FAKE charges ... the left is consuming their own at top speed.

Top speed is good when there's no other ways available to discharge your enemies from their power bases.

[pat]

I find it disturbing that this judge couldn't grasp that the adminstration and Mr. Libby would have a different mindset when responding to FALSE allegations then TRUE allegations by Joe Wilson.

That's like saying that it didn't matter what the truth was between Lewinsky and Clinton, just that Clinton was responding to an allegation.

[Carol Herman]

Oh, just about everybody, left, right, and center, KNEW what Bubba was doing! Plus, why he was straight out lying. (And, Hillary's a "wife" in the loosest sense, since they haven't shared intimacy in years and years. Decades, perhaps. She might just as well be his beard.)

So he turned a fat girl, upside down. Examined her closely. Shoved in a cigar. And, said it wasn't sex at all. Perhaps, he was just playing gynecologist? What person caught with his pants down, like that, wouldn't lie? The law needs to make exceptions.

You'd be surprised how many people gave Clinton a pass on this one. Not because he lied. But because nobody wanted him saying in words, what he was doing in actions. It would have embarrassed the OFFICE of the Presidency.

The donks are more than welcome to Bubba's legacy. Fat girl, and all.

[Jeff]

Per Walton's opinion on this, the TIME document that mentions Wilson's wife is Calabresi's notes from his interview with Wilson, not surprisingly. Walton denied Libby's request for this document, by the way.

In connection with the idea floated that Libby might have confused Cooper with Russert, you can see part of why Libby's defense is so interested in knowing all they can about Rove, especially what he testified to with regard to his July 11 conversation with Libby where they supposedly exchanged information about what they'd been hearing about Plame from reporters, and where Rove told Libby that Novak was going to be publishing on Plame. If Rove was nice and vague about his recollection, that is helpful for Libby if he decides to argue it was Cooper he mistook for Russert. But if Rove was pretty clear that Libby was saying he'd been hearing from journalists on July 11, that's not so good for using Cooper as the stand-in for Russert. On the third hand, of course, if Rove testified that Libby told him that Russert had told him about Plame, that's good for Libby on other grounds.

[Semanticleo]

"nobody wanted him saying in words, what he was doing in actions. It would have embarrassed the OFFICE of the Presidency."

Occasionally, but not often, the prurient
and the sexophobic pop up like a weasel to
eschew the seven deadlies, the least offensive
being avarice, and the most being, dare I say it, Ess Eee Exx?

Like the inquisistors of old, they are both fascinated with, and repelled by the beast with two humps. Such examined medieval midwives with extreme care so as to reveal the witche's succubi. They fondle and diddle the labia with the care of a fine diamond cutter who's eye for a flaw is ably aided by the magnifing eyepiece. It is just too much for some to bear. There is just too much illicit fun available for good people to stand by and do nothing.

[MJW]

An interesting tidbit from the transcript that I haven't yet seen mentioned is Walton's comments on page 17 about the lack of admissabilty of Miller's notes. The Court: "YOU SAID YOU ASSUMED THAT MR. FITZGERALD WOULD BE SEEKING TO INTRODUCE THOSE NOTES. I DON'T KNOW UNDER WHAT RUBRIC HE WOULD SEEK TO TRY AND DO THAT. IT SEEMS TO ME THE NOTES THEMSELVES WOULD QUALIFY AS HEARSAY, UNLESS THEY FALL UNDER SOME EXCEPTION, AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT EXCEPTION THAT WOULD BE."

My distinct impression from reading Miller's comments about her GJ testimony is that she claims almost no independent recollection of her conversations with Libby about Plame. As I understand it, witnesses can be shown their notes to refresh their memories, but unless the notes are admissable, the testimony they give must be based on what they recall, not what the notes say. So what exactly can Miller testify to?

[motionview]

Kabuki theater on Special Report w/Brit Hume

Is it possible that Brit and Mara and Mort and Fred don't know that the source that is "not a partisan gun-slinger" is Armitage? They just finished a segment on Novak and the Who's Who in the CIA investigation, yet I still can't quite figure out what was said as they bent over backward to avoid saying what they clearly already know.

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