Now that the trial is over, Bob Novak has a clarifying piece in the WaPo:

Democrats had been slow to react to my column of July 14, 2003, which reported that former diplomat Joseph Wilson's mission to Niger was suggested by his CIA employee wife, Valerie Plame Wilson. By September, when the Justice Department began investigating the CIA leak, Democrats smelled another Iran-contra affair or Watergate. They were wrong.

The Libby trial uncovered no plot hatched in the White House. The worst news Tuesday for firebrand Democrats was that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald was going back to his "day job" (as U.S. attorney in Chicago). With no underlying crime even claimed, the only question was whether Libby had consciously and purposefully lied to FBI agents and the grand jury about how he learned of Mrs. Wilson's identity.

Fitzmas was a fizzle.

Fitz is a model of how one does this.

No leaks, no infinite stay in business forever, no real witch hunt. The Justice System worked.

As oppossed to Ken Starr who excersized bad judgement and dragged the country through a witchhunt.

Robert

Maybe... but you can't tell me that this had no effect on the governing of our nation. Should we now just make false accusations against all the incumbents up for election every year? That way we can get term limits without those pesky laws...

It just strikes me that future presidencies will come to expect (heh, assuming that this isn't already a traditional expectation) numerous open-ended investigations and such. Repetition will dilute the authority undermining powers of a special consel though probably never to the level of a congressional investigation.

Oops. Dropped a hyphen. Meant to say "authority-undermining powers"

maybe the white house shouldn't be leaking classified material
for political gain.

maybe the white house shouldn't be leaking classified material for political gain.

Because that privilege should be restricted to, say, low-level State Department and CIA employees, or the editors of The New York Times?

Bob: "Fitz is a model of how one does this."

Right, and Bill Clinton is a candidate for Sainthood.

Pass me whatever it is you're smoking Bob.

d by Cecil Trotter at March 8, 2007 07:01 PM...

I dont think Mr. Clinton is a candidate for St. Hood, anymore then I think that Mr. Bush's administration is a candidate for a "profile in leadership".

Misstating things to the American people to justify foreign pol;icy adventures and then doing them incompetently is not something that really makes history sing.

But who knows...Bush likes 4th quarters and he is having a bit of a stronger 4th quarter then his first three.

We have to win in Iraq, we should not have squandered the last few years lisetning to ideological idiots.

Robert