The Daily Background

Yeahhhh, I didn’t do one of these yesterday.

Libby, Libby, told a fibby
Man, the Libby trial sure is getting interesting. Obviously the biggest revelation from Monday was that former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told the jury that Libby had told him “on the QT” about Plame’s identity on July 7th, days before Libby claimed he was first informed of her identity on July 10th by Tim Russert.

Newsweek even quipped “Ari Fleischer may turn out to be a stronger—and more credible—witness than he was a White House press secretary.”

Meanwhile, some Libby-defenders are still claiming that Plame was not undercover. Fleischer pretty much dismissed that argument, testifying that after he discussed Plame’s identity with two reporters, and it was published in Novak’s column and revealed that she had had a classified status: “I thought, ‘Oh, my God. Did I play a role in somehow outing a CIA officer? . . . Did I just do something that I could be in big trouble for?’ “

Fleischer also testified that he heard other Administration officials (specifically Dan Bartlett, currently Council to the White House) “venting” about Plame and using her name aloud on Air Force One. Judy ‘I’m going to prison to be a hero!‘ Miller is supposed to testify today.

Congressional opposition to escalation continues to increase steadily
For a sample of the mood in Washington right now, you need only read the following from the NYT recently:

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, predicted today that no more than 20 senators would voice support for the president’s troop increase in Iraq when the Senate debates resolutions opposing that plan.

Even more, this time from Reuters:

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer predicted a large number of lawmakers in Bush’s Republican Party — possibly “even a majority” — would support the resolution condemning the proposed deployment. “And that will send shockwaves through the White House and through the country,” Schumer told NBC.

And Schumer isn’t just using a talking point when he talks about sending shockwaves through the White House. The Washington Post reported this weekend of Senator John Warner’s defection to the anti-escalation side of the fence:

White House officials were taken aback by the move, which is striking because of Warner’s stature, both in the Republican Party and as one of the country’s most ardent supporters of the military.

Cheney [hearts] Tweety
Okay, maybe hearts is not the right word. As sort of a sideshow to all of the serious developments in the Libby trial, it turns out that Vice President Cheney ordered his staff to continually assemble transcripts and video clips of Chris Matthew’s MSNBC show “Hardball” for his review, because Matthews was following the Wilson matter so closely in mid-2003. It almost seems like he was obsessed with Matthews… no doubt Matthews was flattered. You can watch a video from Hardball discussing this here.

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog