The Cheney Bombshell
Not shockingly, Judith Miller buried the lead in her breathless Letter from a Virginia Jail in tomorrow's Times (on the Website tonite) - she wastes a few hundred words on her own plight, her talks with editors and lawyers, and her frustration in stir. Sadly, even at this late date, she still lacks an editor at The Times willing to rewrite her me-first reporting. Because there is a bombshell in the middle of her story, way, way down - and the bombshell is this:
Before the grand jury, Mr. Fitzgerald asked me questions about Mr. Cheney. He asked, for example, if Mr. Libby ever indicated whether Mr. Cheney had approved of his interviews with me or was aware of them. The answer was no.
Forget about the "no" answer; despite her 85 days in jail, Miller will generally be a supporting witness in the upcoming trials, above a footnote but not the crux of any case. By her own admission, Miller's memory is bad and her notes wouldn't be a credit to a reporter on a college newspaper. No, what's astounding is the revelation that prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald is going after the Vice President of the United States.
I think the story, in the end, is a simple one - and brilliantly captured by Don Imus during his Friday show. You know what it was, said Imus to his audience: "when we're mad at someone we all go back in the office - Bernie, Chuck, Lou and me - and we figure out a way to get the bastard, what we have on him. That's what these guys did." I think that's right, and I think Fitzgerald is convinced that the Imus figure in the bastard-getting was Dick Cheney. This could be quite a week.
UPDATE: Sharp-eyed AP reporter Pete Yost sees beyond the "whither NYT" knicker-twist, and nails the real lead of the Miller stories tonight. And it's about national security and the VP's office. Reuters scrawler Adam Entous also finds the right lead amidst the self-serving Miller mess.
UPDATE II: Rove and Libby are prepared to resign, via PoliticalWire. Best day's round-up of opinion belongs to Joe Gandelman
UPDATE III: There's an interesting timeline analysis coming out of Miller's diary that places the NYT diva in Jackson Hole at the same time as Cheney and Libby (indeed she met with Libby face to face there) - offering some fascinating possibilities. Get the scoop from Akou here.
from Amazon.
Great post, Tom. I cited it on my page at http://swungonandmissed.blogspot.com/2005/10/dick-cheney-ham-sandwich.html, but it didn't ping you because of blogspot not supporting trackback. Thanks for the insights. -- Buck
Posted by: Buck | October 16, 2005 at 02:58 AM
Miller's "memory" is not bad, merely convenient.
Posted by: The Heretik | October 16, 2005 at 02:34 PM
I agree that the heart of Judy Miller's "My Four Hours Testifying in the Federal Grand Jury Room"
is Patrick Fitzgerald's interest in Vice President Cheney's role, if any, in the Bush Administration's decision to blow the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson to get back at her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, for publicly challenging the Administration's lies about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction.
If I were Cheney I'd certainly be concerned about Miller's assertion that:
"Before the grand jury, Mr. Fitzgerald asked me questions about Mr. Cheney. He asked, for example, if Mr. Libby ever indicated whether Mr. Cheney had approved of his interviews with me or was aware of them. The answer was no."
My Question are: Is Judy covering up for Cheney? Would she cover up for him?
I think she would.
Posted by: Munir Umrani | October 16, 2005 at 07:09 PM
Munir:
Judy would gladly cover up for Cheney. She went to jail for 85 days for a $1.2 Million book deal. Covering up for Cheney guarantees multiple $100 million "consulting" and "PR" contracts with Halliburton, in my opinion...
Posted by: whenwego | October 17, 2005 at 02:30 PM
There was an interesting piece in the Daily News today about how Bush was really pissed off with Rove back in 2003 - not for being involved in outing Plame - but for handling it poorly:
"But the President felt Rove and other members of the White House damage-control team did a clumsy job in their campaign to discredit Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, the ex-diplomat who criticized Bush's claim that Saddam Hussen tried to buy weapons-grade uranium in Niger."
http://www.nydailynews.com/10-19-2005/news/wn_report/story/357085p-304312c.html
Posted by: Ralph | October 19, 2005 at 05:06 PM