or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
•
"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
October 15, 2005
I Myself Believe Judith Miller Completely
Whew! Well, the New York Times has written their long article about the Judith Miller brouhaha, and Miller herself has written a "Personal Account" of what happened. Now everything is cleared up:
1. Miller had "Valerie Flame" written in the same notebook which contained her notes from a July 8, 2003 interview with Scooter Libby. But she testified she didn't think Libby told her the name, and despite the fact that the Plame affair became national news within days or weeks of the mystery source telling her Plame's name, she "simply cannot recall" who her source was.
2. Miller's notes from the July 8 interview with Libby show Libby told her Plame worked for Winpac, part of the CIA. However, she has "no clear memory" of the context in which he said this.
3. Miller told the grand jury she did discuss the Plame affair with other sources, but she "could not recall" who.
4. Miller doesn't think Libby told her Plame's name because, she says, it appeared in a different part of the notebook from her notes from the Libby interview. However, she refused to show the notebook to the New York Times reporters who wrote the story about her.
5. Miller told the Times reporters she "made a strong recommendation to my editor" that she write a story about Joe Wilson and his wife. Jill Abramson, then Washington bureau chief for the Times, said Miller never made any such recommendation. Miller refused to tell the Times reporters who "my editor" was.
6. Miller has Nicole Simpson's severed head stored in her freezer, but she "cannot recall" how it got there.
The important thing about all this is it shows America's youth there is a sure path to the top of the news profession, and it is: be someone with an extremely bad memory for news.
Posted at October 15, 2005 05:39 PM | TrackBackWhy do the words 'Liar, liar pants on fire' suddenly spring into my mind???
Posted by: Ghoste at October 15, 2005 06:19 PMAs Bill Keller has explained, those words spring to our minds because we're JUST JEALOUS.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at October 15, 2005 06:23 PMAnd, she is still shilling for Libby and the NYT is still allowing it. Do you suppose anybody in the jury room believed her, if she testified as she described today? She seems to be reading her notes as if she'd never seen them before, clueless as to what they meant and unable to remember anything herself.
Does anyone know .. are the Grand Jury transcripts ever released?
Posted by: Casey at October 15, 2005 07:20 PMLegally?
Posted by: Sully at October 15, 2005 08:35 PMNot to worry, we are sure get a nice thick Kenn Starr level report with the indictments, Fitz is no dummy.
Posted by: patience at October 15, 2005 11:52 PMIt's unfair of you to conclude, based on Miller's statements, that having an extremely bad memory for news is a sure path to the top of the news profession. You must also have the discipline to mindlessly print whatever your sources tell you, without a trace of skepticism or any attempt to uncover conflicting information, as Miller makes clear in defending her stories on Iraqi WMD by saying, "If your sources are wrong, you are wrong. I did the best job that I could." "Investigative reporter" is a courtesy title. You're not allowed to actually investigate.
Posted by: Maud at October 16, 2005 08:11 AMWow, her Judyness even had security clearance and everything. A reporter with security clearance, yeah that's the ticket.... A more logical explanation is that she was working for the neocons as a plant at the NYT. If there's any justice (doubtful), she'll go down with the rest of the criminals.
Posted by: miranda at October 16, 2005 12:52 PMMiranda's sage comment reminds me of why the liberal bloodlust to "get" dubya often seems a bit misguided to me: why are so many people preoccupied with impeaching a marionette?
Posted by: Jonathan Versen at October 16, 2005 01:11 PMIn answer to the question posed by Jonathan Versen - probably because it is the right thing to do?
Posted by: Ghoste at October 16, 2005 05:43 PMIt might also the right thing to do to fly at once to Pakistan and assit in the construction of temporary shelters and the development of a locally feasible seismic code. But how much energy are you really going to put into that?
"Impeach Bush" is ridiculous.
So far as Judy? I have already accepted that I will never know what happened. I don't trust her. And I also am sickened by the anti-Judys out there who make sexual insinuations against her (not you, Jonathan). I think that strengthens her hand.
All I know is that if I ever screw up as much as her, I hope the Society of Professional Journalists rewards me with a First Amendment Award. It's sort of like Bush's medals of honor.
Posted by: hedgehog at October 16, 2005 07:51 PM"Sexual insinuations"? Man, I KNEW I should've been more attention to this. Still, it's no surprise--if somebody's not making sexual insinuations about you, you're a nobody.
And I'm not saying that just because I posted pix of Jon on juicymatures.com.
Posted by: mike at October 16, 2005 09:26 PM
