[Serpent Judy: Extra Crispy?]

Billmon

Not only that, but as Michael Iskoff points out, Miller is still trying to protect the White House conspirators, via the ever helpful pages of the New Pravda:

What's fascinating, if you read Judy Miller's account closely, is it's very clear she is still trying to be protective of Scooter Libby, and in fact, as I sort of reread it this morning, I saw point by point where, if she is on the stand, as presumably she would be, if Libby gets indicted and the case goes to trial, the defense lawyer for Libby could go through her account and find passages where she is giving information that could be helpful to Libby's defense.

At this point, it looks like Bush and Miller are both down to their hard core of willfully blind, brain-dead supporters -- the Christian right in Shrub's case; the dimmest bulbs in the Washington Punditburo (Richard Cohen, Jim Hoagland) in Judy's. And of course, the Society of Professional Journalist (Sigma Delta Chumps) which just gave her its First Amendment Award.

The next time the Society of Professional Cocksuckers gets together, maybe they should present Judy with a Fifth Amendment award -- because the way things are going, she's may need it.
Posted by billmon at 10:07 PM
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The Judy Trap

Murray Waas verifies what many of us have suspected about Judy Miller's sudden recollection of her June 2003 meeting with Scooter Libby -- that her memory was, shall we say, nudged by the special prosecutor:

When a prosecutor first questioned Miller during her initial grand jury appearance on September 30, 2005 sources said, she did not bring up the June 23 meeting in recounting her various contacts with Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Cheney. Pressed by prosecutors who then brought up the specific date of the meeting, Miller testified that she still could not recall the June meeting with Libby, in which they discussed a controversial CIA-sponsored mission to Africa by former Ambassador Joe Wilson, or the fact that his wife, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA.

When a prosecutor presented Miller with copies of the White House-complex visitation logs, she said such a meeting was possible.

Fitzgerald: Is that your final answer, Judy? Are you sure you don't want to use your lifeline?

As I mentioned in my ruminations on Judy's semi-fictional account in the New Pravda, it was the acme of stupidty for her and Scooter to lie about (or try to conceal) the June meeting, since it could so easily be checked against the Secret Service's records. I have no idea what they thought they were doing, since even if their conversation incriminated Libby (and it certainly looks like it did) it will look even more incriminating at Scooter's trial once it comes out that he and his journalistic gofer tried to hide it.

One suspects the June meeting creates even more legal trouble for Libby than what's revealed by Judy's notes -- i.e. that the schmuck was talking up Valerie Plame and her CIA ties even before Joe Wilson wrote his op-ed. I'm going to take a wild guess that it also blows away some other critical piece of Scooter's alibi, like, perhaps, his explanation of when and how he first learned that Joe Wilson's wife worked at the agency. And if it blows away his alibi, it might do in Karl's as well.

But that's just speculation. What's undoubtedly true, however, is that Waas's story flushes the last fecal traces of Miller's professional reputation straight down the toilet. Going to prison to protect a confidential source is one thing, committing perjury (or something damned close to it) in an effort to conceal criminal misconduct by a senior White House official is something else entirely. Judy's just lucky Fitzgerald needs her as a witness, otherwise she could look forward to a few more years of sleeping on thin mattresses and begging her fellow inmates to let her watch a few minutes of CNN.

Not only that, but as Michael Iskoff points out, Miller is still trying to protect the White House conspirators, via the ever helpful pages of the New Pravda:

What's fascinating, if you read Judy Miller's account closely, is it's very clear she is still trying to be protective of Scooter Libby, and in fact, as I sort of reread it this morning, I saw point by point where, if she is on the stand, as presumably she would be, if Libby gets indicted and the case goes to trial, the defense lawyer for Libby could go through her account and find passages where she is giving information that could be helpful to Libby's defense.

At this point, it looks like Bush and Miller are both down to their hard core of willfully blind, brain-dead supporters -- the Christian right in Shrub's case; the dimmest bulbs in the Washington Punditburo (Richard Cohen, Jim Hoagland) in Judy's. And of course, the Society of Professional Journalist (Sigma Delta Chumps) which just gave her its First Amendment Award.

The next time the Society of Professional Cocksuckers gets together, maybe they should present Judy with a Fifth Amendment award -- because the way things are going, she's may need it.
Posted by billmon at 10:07 PM 20OCT