Loudocracy
Friday, October 03, 2003
* Traitorgate
Eric Boehlert at Salon notes that opinion is slowly but surely coalescing that Scooter Libby is the leaker.
On Wednesday the New York Daily News reported that "Democratic congressional sources said they would like to hear from Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby." On MSNBC's "Buchanan and Press" on Wednesday, Pat Buchanan asked an administration critic who claims to know the leaker's name point blank if "Scooter Libby" was the culprit (the critic wouldn't answer). And Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska made a veiled reference on CNBC this week, suggesting that President Bush could better manage the current crisis by "sitting down with [his] vice president and asking what he knows about it."
Analysis: So this is shaping up to be a battle between the CIA and Cheney. It's too early to say too much, but you have to give the initial advantage to the CIA. If it turns out that one of Plame's contacts died because of this, public opinion will go haywire. Even if nobody dies, Cheney still ends up looking like the world's worst hypocrite.
