Frog-Walk Update
After a few days of being somewhat off-balance, the Right has its talking points together on this issue now. As predicted here earlier, they go something like this.
- Joe Wilson is a kook, a Democrat, and what the hell was he doing in Niger anyway? (completely beside the point on all counts - it's not about Joe, it's about the leak)
- Valerie Plame was a "secretary" at the CIA for all we know. Maybe outing her wasn't such a big deal. (I have read from many sources that she was an operative who ran networks and maintained foreign contacts in Central Asia, which if true would mean she was doing work of the most sensitive nature. The CIA ought to clarify this for us soon if they have an interest in this story staying hot. And in any case, it's still against the law).
- All the sources in the story are anonymous. There have been no concrete allegations made. (Yes, but in the original story, Novak cited "senior Administration officials." In press parliance, that means only a limited number of people. Novak may have lied - it wouldn't be the first time - but so far we haven't heard that. And the accusations have come from numerous sources, not just one, albeit all so-far anonymous).
- This is a partisan attack. Look how the Democrats are jumping all over it. (Well, what exactly do you expect them to do? Dems have been victimized by scurulous and dishonorable attacks for the last 10 years - most with far less substance even if true than the facts in this case would indicate. Bush and co. have given zero reasons to trust them on matters like this. Keeping up public pressure and calling for an independent investigation makes perfect sense in light of who we're dealing with here.)
- The President is very concerned. (Indeed. About what? Leaks, or a potential traitor in his midst? And if so, why did it take him 10 weeks and a formal complaint from a branch of his own government to get on it?)
- This is the CIA trying to cover up its own mistakes. (I love this one: so-called conservatives lining up to accuse the CIA of wrongdoing. Bush and Rove made George Tenet bend over and take it in public to cover up their mistakes about Iraq. Yup, they're pissed off. And they are, as Lyndon Johnson was fond of saying, people you'd rather have inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in. You reap what you sow, boys.)
Right now, the positions have congealed. We need more facts, and we need to better understand exactly how this internal investigation is taking place and what kind of transparency we can expect. It is unlikely that any of the journalists will come forward and directly implicate their sources for this story, but there are other ways to do it. For example, perhaps Andrea Mitchell could ask Scott McClellan to categorically deny the involvement of several key officials by name, bearing in mind that she was one of the reporters who actually received the brieifng. Let's see exactly how high a gallows these guys want to build for themselves.
Update: decoding the talking points seems like a popular topic in Blogland today. There's more here, here and, of course, here.
Also, let me take this opportunity to plug an absolutely great blog on this and other subjects that I just discovered earlier this week. Steve Gilliard used to write for Daily Kos. His own site combines some perceptive observations with an excellent, take-no-prisoners writing style. Very enjoyable. His "Traitor Rove" column today was outstanding.
2:11:46 PM 
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