Libby Trial -- opening witness sings on spinning leaks
By Libby Spencer
Since I got off to a slow start as a co-blogger here, I'm going to beg Michael's and the rest of the team's indulgence and double-post this afternoon. In general, I don't plan to write a lot about this case. If you want perspective on the legal issues of the Scooter Libby trial, go to Firedoglake, a blog originally built on this matter, and, if you still can't get enough of the legalese, stop by TalkLeft. But yesterday's revelations from Cathie Martin, former Cheney communications director, are too delicious to leave unmentioned. Ms. Martin sheds some much-needed light on exactly how the White House spin machine works.
Just as we suspected, Tim Russert's Meet the Press is a fave of the administration because it can count on softball questions to "control the message," or, as we like to call it at The Impolitic, pushing the propaganda. Cathie notes it "was a tactic we often used." She goes on to reveal the administration's copious and deliberate use of the Friday news dump. In a moment of unmitigated candor, she told the court that bad news is dumped before the weekend for the sole purpose of burying it.
She described at length how she and Steve Hadley worked long hours with George Tenet helping him draft the political suicide note in which he faked responsibility for the erroneous mention of yellowcake uranium in the President's SOTU speech that year. And she confirmed that "the White House coddles friendly writers and freezes out others. To deal with the Wilson controversy, she hastily arranged a Cheney lunch with conservative commentators."
But probably her most damaging testimony, backed up with written notes, clearly indicates that the "no leak" White House routinely used leaks to White House-friendly reporters in order to advance its false story lines.
Even if nothing else happens in this trial and Scooter gets off, these revelations proving the odious duplicity of the White House are worth every penny we're spending on it.
(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)
Since I got off to a slow start as a co-blogger here, I'm going to beg Michael's and the rest of the team's indulgence and double-post this afternoon. In general, I don't plan to write a lot about this case. If you want perspective on the legal issues of the Scooter Libby trial, go to Firedoglake, a blog originally built on this matter, and, if you still can't get enough of the legalese, stop by TalkLeft. But yesterday's revelations from Cathie Martin, former Cheney communications director, are too delicious to leave unmentioned. Ms. Martin sheds some much-needed light on exactly how the White House spin machine works.
Just as we suspected, Tim Russert's Meet the Press is a fave of the administration because it can count on softball questions to "control the message," or, as we like to call it at The Impolitic, pushing the propaganda. Cathie notes it "was a tactic we often used." She goes on to reveal the administration's copious and deliberate use of the Friday news dump. In a moment of unmitigated candor, she told the court that bad news is dumped before the weekend for the sole purpose of burying it.
She described at length how she and Steve Hadley worked long hours with George Tenet helping him draft the political suicide note in which he faked responsibility for the erroneous mention of yellowcake uranium in the President's SOTU speech that year. And she confirmed that "the White House coddles friendly writers and freezes out others. To deal with the Wilson controversy, she hastily arranged a Cheney lunch with conservative commentators."
But probably her most damaging testimony, backed up with written notes, clearly indicates that the "no leak" White House routinely used leaks to White House-friendly reporters in order to advance its false story lines.
Even if nothing else happens in this trial and Scooter gets off, these revelations proving the odious duplicity of the White House are worth every penny we're spending on it.
(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)
posted by Libby Spencer at
2:18 PM
3 Comments:
Libby, you have much more than our indulgence!
By
Michael J.W. Stickings, at 2:32 PM
Slow start? If we're measuring by quality, my ears are still hurting from that sonic boom.
By
., at 3:12 PM
Aw shucks. Thanks guys.
By
Libby Spencer, at 3:23 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home