Just to follow up on the last post, the universe of reporters with direct knowledge of the Novak Two is fairly big. And while they’re not revealing their sources to the public, they’re not shy about talking to other reporters. In the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz’s media column today, he noted that he spoke to […]
A funny thing happened yesterday when Bush walked up the steps at Andrews Air Force Base to board Air Force One. The president turned around to wave, as presidents are prone to do, and no one was looking at him. All the cameras were focused at the bottom of the steps, where Karl Rove stood. […]
Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst and counter-terrorism official at the State Department, offered a devastating assessment of the Plame Game (my working title for the Wilson/Plame/White House scandal) on PBS last night (via Atrios). Bush’s supporters who are desperately arguing that the illegal leaks aren’t a “big deal” should definitely consider what Johnson had […]
In the interests of proving that I’m not all-Plamegate, all-the-time, I’d like to change the subject for a moment. In fact, I have a horrible confession to make: For months, I’ve been unconvinced that Halliburton is the horrible scandal my liberal friends think it is. Don’t get me wrong; it looks bad. Dick Cheney was […]
Robert Novak, the conservative journalist who finds himself in the unenviable position of having helped start a White House scandal, began trying to distance himself from the controversy yesterday. I don’t think it worked. Novak announced yesterday, “Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this. In July I was interviewing a senior administration […]
The AP is reporting this morning that the Justice Department has officially launched a full-blown criminal investigation of the Wilson/Plame scandal. The White House has been notified of the investigation and White House counsel Al Gonzales has notified the White House staff to “preserve all materials that might in any way be related to the […]
Yesterday’s press briefing by White House press secretary Scott McClellan was one of the most frustrating Q&A sessions imaginable. McClellan, obviously on the defensive, was willing to acknowledge almost nothing about the Wilson/Plame scandal. McClellan came in with his talking points memorized, and in a remarkable demonstration of rhetorical discipline, refused to budge. Here’s what […]
The public knows a lot more about the Wilson/Plame controversy than it did before Friday, but there are still more questions than answers. Certainly, at the top of the list has to be the identity of the Novak Two. Everyone loves a mystery and the political world is desperately wondering who’s responsible for this mess. […]
The AP is reporting that White House press secretary Scott McClellan has emphatically denied that Karl Rove is one of the Novak Two. “He wasn’t involved,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said of Rove. “The president knows he wasn’t involved…. It’s simply not true.” A couple of thoughts/questions in reaction. One, that’s a pretty […]
Astute readers may notice that the blog roll on the left features about 24 left-leaning sites and just one right-leaning site. Sue me, I’m biased. The exception has always been the blog of Daniel W. Drezner, a University of Chicago poli sci professor and libertarian-style conservative. Despite his ideology, which I obviously disagree with, Drezner […]