Marble Composition

Idiots and Malcontents

[This is from an e-mail I sent, and I was referring to Judith Miller, Bob Woodward, and Richard Cohen]

One underlying current that we need to keep our eye on is the amount of dust being thrown up in service to the administration by the involvement of all these different reporters in this Plame case. Whether intentional or not, there is far too much tombstone space and ether being devoted to just how receivers of this leak are behaving. If it was intentional, it’s absolutely brilliant on a political level. Maybe we can dig some nice quotes out of the history books when the time is right. However, the effect of all the noise, including today’s revelations about Woodward’s involvement, can only aid the administrations efforts to add smoke and muddy the waters.

I always find it instructive to reflect on the administration’s mood between the time the Novak story ran, and when Ashcroft was urged to recuse himself from the case. Clearly, they never thought they would get caught, and they certainly never dreamed a pit bull like Fitzgerald would convince a judge that he needed to haul a bunch of reporters in front of a grand jury to get to the bottom of all this. It reminds me of a fencing operation: nothing to worry about, these ninnies will take the heat.

What boggles the mind is these rubes still don’t get it. They got used, played for suckers, and while they are still more than happy to carry lots of water, can’t they even look to next year when they realize their careers are over? Far too charmed next to power. Unreal.

posted by FuzzFinger @ 11/16/2005 09:02:00 PM