What about Ari?

July 13, 2005

Now here’s a name we haven’t heard for a while: Ari Fleischer.

Bloomberg reported today (via Froomkin, Holden, Atrios) that our old friend Fleischer may play a role in the Plame scandal as well.

Rove is not the only potential subject for Fitzgerald’s probe…. People familiar with the inquiry say Fitzgerald also is reviewing testimony by former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, though it is not clear whether the prosecutor is focusing on him or seeking information about higher-ups. Fleischer last night refused to comment.

Hmm. Fleischer left his post as press secretary two years ago this week. In fact, coincidentally, Fleischer’s very last day at the White House was the exact same day Bob Novak’s infamous Plame column first ran.

In other words, Fleischer was there when the leaking started and the White House started pushing the Plame angle on reporters … with whom Fleischer worked every day.

You suppose he might have some interesting insight to add to this story?

Update: Think Progress fleshes out the Fleischer question with some terrific detail. Definitely worth checking.

I’ve got it. Rove and Fleischer … as cell mates.

It’d make a great reality show!

  • In fact, coincidentally, Fleischer’s very last day at the White House was the exact same day Bob Novak’s infamous Plame column first ran.

    And how are you so sure it’s a coincidence?

  • This may get even more entertaining and revolting at the same time. I have always hoped Fleisher would get his comeupance one day…

  • Funny, when you see Scotty, you realize how much better Ari was.

    I bet they’re crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s. I think Ari had planned his departure for at least a month. I’m still more interested in the obstruction charge, who tried to cover it up – and he was long gone when that started.

  • Here’s an obviously wild speculation. Cheney (the only real decision maker in this bunch of weenies) decides, in his typically nasty way, to punish Wilson by nailing Plame. Rove knows about it, of course, as do Libby and Card. Cheney orders Libby to spill the beans through Novak. Somewhere in here Ari has to brought into the loop and, somehow managing to have a retained a shred of purity while slogging around in this administrative cesspool, or maybe simply out of fear, Ari can’t live with it and quits his job. Ari knows where the blue dress is and Fitzgerald would now like a few words with him.

  • Even wilder. Maybe Cheney’s decided folks are getting much too close, so it’s time to make Rove the fall guy. He isn’t needed for anymore campaigns, and he’s an important enough Judas goat to keep the lights from shinin’ on The Dick.

  • Wilder still. Dobson’s people discover it was Rove who employed Guckert/Gannon and then saw to it that had access to White House press conferences. They put pressure on Cheney to make Rove the fall guy this week.

    A little more of this and we’ll have to employ a Russian novelist.

  • Ed at #5 has the best scenerio: Ari doesn’t have the guts for this ploy and bails out; but as Ed says, he knows where the bodies are, er, blue dress!! As mentioned, the timing is too coincidental. Good sleuthing, Ed!!

  • Right on, Ed!

    I’ve been trying to piece together how it works beyond Rove. Rove is just the first layer–it goes a lot deeper.

    Thing is, I don’t think they can sacrifice Rove precisely because he’s a Judas. Rove doesn’t strike me as someone who’d willingly fall on his sword for anyone. He’d rat on all of them, so maybe that’s why the WH is making this great show of loyalty to him.

  • I hate to do it, but I have to inject a little
    skepticism into the euphoric speculations that I’m
    seeing.

    There is only one, true measure of success for
    progressives. And that’s to bring down Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld et al, or to change the direction of American politics in 2006, and especially 2008, and to defeat the right wing revolution once and for all.

    And I don’t see it happening in Rovegate. I just
    don’t see anything beyond Rove possibly losing his
    job. And of course, if he does, he’ll still be
    there, in the shadows, running the show.

    I’ve been wrong before. I didn’t see Watergate
    going anywhere for a long time. And I sure hope
    I’m wrong now. But until Fitzgerald lays down his
    hand, and produces a pair of aces, I remain a
    skeptic.

  • hark – defeat the right wing revolution once and for all.

    I’m hopeful and skeptical at the same time about the upcoming elections. I have heard several people make the same statement as you have. I really would like some insights as to how this can be accomplished, these thugs have the patience of Job, and it seems to span generations. People that weren’t even alive during FDR’s presidency spend their time plotting to get even with him for the New Deal. Short of banishing them to some deserted island I would like to hear some discussion on how to avoid the next onslaught.

  • I have to agree with hark. All this gloating pisses me off; I hate it. It’s counterproductive.

    There is only one thing that matters in the game of political change: WINNING ELECTIONS. Sitting around and indulging in shadenfreude is fun, but utterly useless. Likewise, the courts aren’t going to get rid of Bush, nor are the Tom DeLay House and Bill Frist Senate– please, get real.

    The only way that we will win this is by milking it like Newt Gingrich did, and stoking a mass frenzy of “throw the bums out” in 2006 and 2008. That’s a *lot* of work. Are we ready? How’s our bullpen? Do we have strong candidates to field in all the House and Senate races? Do we have the war chest to make uncompetitive races competitive? To win the competitive ones? Do we have grassroots in every precinct, across 50 states, to go door-to-door? Are we pushing and/or controlling the narrative here? Are we working in a coordinated way to define the “Washington Republicans” (as O-Dub likes to say)? Are we working in a coordinated way to remind everyone of our undisputed status as the champion of the average man and woman, of opportunity and equality and prosperity and science and progress?

    Governor Dean ain’t gonna do this stuff by himself, folks. If this Rovegate is going to be a winner for us, we are going to have to take it and run with it.

  • Mark’s comment (#12) is particularly important when you that the Republican judicial farm system (baseball allusion) has produced Janice Rogers Brown–let a alone, Clarence Thomas. The New Deal and a progressive society are under attack. goatchowder’s comment (#13) is important too if we’re going to sent these Robber Barons packing.

  • Governor Dean ain’t gonna do this stuff by himself, folks. If this Rovegate is going to be a winner for us, we are going to have to take it and run with it.

    To be sure. Remember the thing about Newt: he was NOT supported by the party leadership. As I watch the Democratic leadership I am reminded of left-overs: they survived the sacking of Rome and now they just want to keep their jobs the only way they know how. That means no new, dangerous initiatives.

    So go, Dean, go, and everyone write your senator and tell them that, if they don’t RUN WITH THIS right to the top, you’ll turn them out of office.

    CB—how about a permanent, prominent link to Congress info? They have a page where you type in your zip to get info. Provide people with easy tools and you never know, they might build a whole new world.

    • Comments are closed.