KARL SHOOTS BLANKS AT PLAME (Larisa Alexandrovna)

[kpete]

Larisa Alexandrovna

Bio

03.14.2006
Karl shoots blanks at Plame (5 comments )

In a one-two volley this week, two major publications ran wild with bold face font and shrieking headlines to report nothing of substance - Odd how such things work, but there seems to be a pattern, a familiar pattern.

First up is a gem from the The Chicago Tribune , which is a story on Plame that is essentially a).
not really news, b). not really accurate, and c). oddly timed. The new meme it seems, and it is a meme because it certainly is not fact, is that Plame had a "soft" cover. How does the Trib establish this latest revelation and determine the durability of her cover?

The Internets, of course

According to the Trib article, the writers got up one morning to find a treasure trove of information about Valerie Plame and all sorts of CIA officers and dealings by simply using the Internet. Amazing really, because the military has to come up with programs like Able Danger to accomplish bits and pieces of what the Trib located en masse.

..............

WaPo/VF Cat Fight:

The other odd report came via The Washington Post that ran in the form of a denial to allegations made in a more bizarre fluff piece that Vanity Fair had run earlier and which was written by Judy Miller's best friend, Marie Brenner (A. Huff has a great analysis of Brenner's work of art by the way).

In Brenner's "I love Judy please believe her" article, Brenner alleges that former executive editor of Washington Post, Ben Bradlee blabbed to her that "it is reasonable to assume former State Department official Richard L. Armitage is likely the source," in Woodward's own Plame fiasco. Way to go Brenner, logic is a good thing.

more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/karl-shoots-blanks-at-pla_b_17282.html

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Total crap from the repub/media complex

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Damn, why do I feel like

I've got sand in my eyes again?

[Rex]

3. Did they find the treasure trove of info before or after her 'outing'?

And why would they NEED to use the Interent(s)? Karl Rove, Robert Novak, I "Pooter" Libby, Dick Cheney and I'm sure dozens more would have told (and in fact did tell), these 'writers' all about Plame. This RW fantasy-land bullshit gets boring.

[peacetalksforall]

4. First impression - they are now scared about the law in place? One

last stab at playing the she-was-not-covert lie?

It's time to remind the world that they brought down Brewster-Jennings and it's time to ask the world why they would want to do that?

That is what responsible tv network directors and newpaper editors would ask.

But we here in America were sleeping when the right wing took over the major newspapers and all the tv networks. Our media is not responsible.

We have a writer for WP defending a writer for the NYT because they figured out who the fall guy should be?

We cannot forget that the leak is from WHIG.

[Me.]

5. I Agree With You

The lies are piling up, the judge is banging the gavel and they are starting to get nervous. Too bad the boy genius doesn't have more than one playbook. He's still trying the same tired old strategies. He's doing this week by pushing junior out there to talk about the war and he's planting Plame stories again. Also, in my mind, it points to some of these reporters just not being very smart. This is not 2000 with a WH flush with glory, this is a failed admin on it's last legs. Why would they sacrifice their credibility in such a way?

[glitch]

13. Good question "Why would they sacrifice their credibility in such a way"nt

[yodermon]

6. Kick for Larisa

:yourock:

[druidity33]

11. I second that!

She has been impressing the heck outta me lately. Can't believe she sat down with Ledeen and asked him the questions she did... major juevos. She's why i check in on RS...

K&R.

[H2O Man]

7. We are seeing an

attack on knowledge in America. It is a War on Dissent. This is, I am convinced, the tip of the ice cube of a disinformation campaign scheduled for the spring.

Already, on another progressive site that I started posting threads on, sincere people have invested in these lies, and some are sadly hostile when I suggest there is an answer other than what they have been led to believe.

We are entering difficult times. Years ago, our friend St. Theresa of Avila warned us, "This is not a time for believing everyone. Believe only those whom you see modeling their lives on the life of Christ." She did not mean that we should trust Bob Woodward or Dick Cheney.

[H2O Man]

8. PS: Please nominate

this thread.

[kpete]

9. Keep fighting H20Man

You are an inspiration...

[H2O Man]

10. I'm proud to be

part of the DU Plame team. We have a lot of talented people, who tend to get to the truth more rapidly than any other internet group that I am aware of.

[lala_rawraw]

12. thank you because

they are coming down on indie press... if I have to hear one more time that I reported 22 indictments, i will scream and yet people repeat it as though it were fact... so thanks man:)

[lala_rawraw]

15. Even KO is discussing this

as though it were something of value... unreal. Armitage has been tagged to take the fall for this and no amount of fact will change that it seems.

[H2O Man]

19. That was curious .....

I thought he left the impression that there are questions about the report. I find the timing very interesting: just after Judge Walton rules this part of the investigation will remain secret -- at least for now -- this comes out.

Someone at Daily Kos believes that he is able to see an 8-letter gap in a redacted section on Fitzgerald's Ex Parte Affidavit, which he made on February 16, but which was filed as Document 55-2 on March 1, 2006. I believe that he is goin from the size of one space on page 15. Even if, for sake of discussion, it were Armitage, it seems from looking at the space in question that one goes far out on a limb to attempt to use that space as "proof."

I thought it was interesting that Norah O'Donnell said that numerous people know (or think they do) who the Woodward source is, but won't tell her. Were it indeed Mr. Armitage, one wonders why someone would not simply say the quote attributed to Bradlee is correct?

[hootinholler]

14. I have a different take on the strategy in play here...

Please correct me if I'm wrong about thinking that the information obtained 'on the internets' was actually purchased from an information broker. The data they sell is often mined by peculiar methods (Social Engineering, inside theft, hacking, etc.) and its distribution represents the end result of a violation of the privacy act somewhere along the line.

The CIA employee story is a factual plant to encourage citizens to desire a crack down on the internet in the name of national security. Couple this angle with the porn angle they're already working and you have a jab followed by a hook. If we can't knock them back a step or two, they can ram a crackdown through ala the patriot act before the elections.

Just a kooky idea, see any merit? If that's their plan, it's effing brilliant.

-Hoot

[Catrina]

16. Yes, the reporter purchased the information, and he was led to it by his

'sources' who he claims, are ex-CIA personnel. He doesn't tell us how long the info has been online, nor the name of the site from which he purchased it, so we just have to believe him. I looked him up, and was surprised to find that he is a veteran investigative reporter who has tangled with the Reagan/Bush administrations over cover-ups in the HIV/AIDS affairs.

So, why would he write such an aricle without doing any real investigative work, such as simply establishing for how long this information has been available, and how his 'sources' could state so unequivically, as one of them did, that Valerie Plame was 'not a NOC'?

Your theory is interesting and a little scary ~ I had a different theory, based on a thread started by Larisa last week, I believe, in which the company Choicepoint, a data mining company turned up ~

It seems this company has info on every, single American (and some foreigners also) all 300 million of us ~ they are also connected to the company infamous for its felon list in the 2000 election (they did help Bush get elected). Choicepoint, as I recall, may have been involved in Bush's illegal Domestic Spying program ~

So, my theory is that the cabal is in panic mode, and as another poster above pointed out, they only have one playbook, so they went back to it and once again are trying to use the 'Everyone knew what Valerie Plame did' story, despite the fact that court records now say otherwise. Maybe they called their old friends at Choicepoint, asked them to sell some info to one of those information sites, and then, using their 'swiftie' CIA agents, contacted the reporter to give him this non-story ~ and he didn't bother to find out how long this info has been there???

My advice to him is to remember the other journalists who were used by Rove. I think he's being used, although I would have thought he was smarter than this. I'm sure before long other reporters will be contacted, and whether they print what they're told or not, they too may end up in court ~

He might want to do a check on the site from he bought the information, and see if he can trace it back to Choicepoint ~ or maybe he already knows about that, and dares not publish it ~

I wanted to ask Larisa about that story she was working on ~ the one about the MTP show which she was told to watch, and take down the names of companies. That thread is where I first heard about Choicepoint and all their connections ~

As far as Armitage, apparently they're trying to make him the scapegoat and it's not news that Bradley knows Woodward's source, or what Woodward told him about it, because as I recall, Woodward had NOT told Bradley anything until he decided he had to go talk to Fitzgerald ~

Woodward has not revealed his source, although I remember it was said to be Hadley at the time ~ that they are doing all this distraction work, could mean they are expecting an indictment soon ~ or that Libby might flip when he realizes his amnesia defense isn't going to work ~ I just wish they'd hurry.

[H2O Man]

17. Interesting.

"We need internet restrictions in order to protect our freedoms."

I think it is, in every sense, part of their War on Dissent.

[hootinholler]

24. It just fits together so nicely. n/t

[ShortnFiery]

18. as well as it's effing evil of these smarmy power brokers. n/t.

[formercia]

20. Trying to hang it on Armitage

yeah, the guy who told Rove to go Fu*k himself. That figures.

[H2O Man]

21. May have been

Al Gore, too. He is very anti-America,and he grew a beard after the 2000 erection. The liberal media refuses to address the possibility that Al Gore leaked Plame's name. Liberal teachers are destroying our nation. "Where have you gone, Bob Novak; our nation turns its lonely eyes to you."

[Catherine Vincent]

25. Oh now, you're making me blush!

I'll assume that was a typo. :P

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

22. Ahem...

As I read it, Fitz would not be in business if Plame was not an NOC. The CIA has told the judge that this is so, thus, all this smoke and mirrors stuff is IRRELEVANT.

[annabanana]

23. only as irrelevant as it's dismissal..

If it's accepted in whole or part by the general public, the water is muddy and will not refresh.