I may be going out on a limb here, but I suspect DC has had more than one intimate IM conversation with a teenage boy.
Posted on 10/07/2006 11:22:24 AM PDT by STARWISE
The publication of Hubris is filled with irony for David Corn, Washington editor of the left-wing Nation magazine. He was present at the creation of the Valerie Plame "scandal," which the enemies of George W. Bush hoped could bring down a president. Nobody was more responsible for bloating this episode. Yet Corn is coauthor of a book that has had the effect of killing the story.
Thanks to Corn's intrepid coauthor, Newsweek investigative reporter Michael Isikoff, Hubris definitively revealed then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage as my source that Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie, worked for the CIA and suggested her husband's mission to Africa.
Armitage, an internal critic of the administration's Iraq policy, did not fit the left's theory of a conspiracy led by Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby to discredit Wilson as a war critic. Nor did it fit the overriding theme of Isikoff and Corn in depicting "spin, scandal and the selling of the Iraq war."
As a result, Corn has been frantic--in the Nation, on his blog, and all over television--to depict an alternate course in which Rove, Libby, and Vice President Cheney attempted, by design and independently, to do what Armitage purportedly accomplished accidentally.
The introduction of Hubris states that Armitage's statement to me was (according to the deputy secretary's colleagues) "a slip-up by an inveterate gossip--but one that occurred alongside a concerted White House effort to undermine a critic of the war." This, the authors continue, "was a window into a much bigger scandal: the Bush administration's use of faulty intelligence and its fervent desire (after the [Iraq] invasion) to defend its prewar sales pitch."
I can only imagine the debates that must have taken place between coauthors to determine the direction of this book. The resulting product is some of the investigator Isikoff and a lot of the ideologue Corn. Hubris is not an unmitigated apologia for the Wilsons, but it comes close.
This desperate attempt to resuscitate a dubious conspiracy theory falls flat, and undermines what seems to be the real reason for writing Hubris.
While its reportorial tone gives the book a façade of objectivity, in fact it constitutes a broad assault on Bush, his administration, and his policies in the war against terrorism. That entails the retelling of manifold allegations of perfidy, so familiar that they grow tiresome. The book's only new element is what it reveals about the Plame case, and there they trumped their own ace by facilitating the source's exposure in advance of publication.
The book is also exceptional partly because its authors are so oddly matched.
Isikoff, who views himself as nonideological and nonpartisan, led reporters in tracking Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky affair (recorded in his Uncovering Clinton).
Corn is a stereotypical leftist activist without a nonideological bone in his body. His first book, Blond Ghost, was a vicious attack on the legendary CIA operative and Cold War hero Theodore Shackley, and the bias of his later work, The Lies of George W. Bush, is obvious from its title.
Corn telephoned me on July 16, 2003, two days after publication of my Valerie Plame column. He was neither a dispassionate reporter seeking information nor a former colleague on CNN's Crossfire, where we maintained a relatively friendly relationship when he was a substitute liberal cohost in 1997-98.
Instead, he was an impassioned, angry activist who accused me of "outing a CIA agent" and breaking the law. Since the Nation had never before been concerned with the protection of intelligence agents, I suspected political motives behind Corn's outrage. It was our final conversation. The last thing Corn wanted from me was additional information.
>>>>>>>>Rest at link.
Ping!
However, between this matter and his constant harping against Bush's war on terrorism I hold Novak in rather low regard at the moment.
Again, glad you posted his piece here at FR nonetheless.
Isikoff, who views himself as nonideological and nonpartisan, led reporters in tracking Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky affair (recorded in his Uncovering Clinton).
Isikoff nonideological and nonpartisan. Bwahahahah. And Issie is not nicknamed "Spike" for nothing. I guess Novak does not want to burn all bridges.
"The book also identifies the "senior administration official" quoted in a Washington Post story as the source of the six-journalists story, and as saying that the White House was out for "purely and simply revenge" against Wilson. He turns out to be Adam Levine, an obscure, middle-level communications aide who soon left the White House."
Sr. Admin Official or Obscure, middle-level aide? I wonder which sounds better when referring to an "anonymous source" when pushing a phoney story.
Robt. Novak? LOL! Were you trying to save 1 keystroke?
But the information is mainly Wilson boilerplate. I am disappointed that so accomplished a reporter as Isikoff did not probe more deeply into exactly what Mrs. Wilson did at the Agency. He must have questioned the story that "Brewster-Jennings & Associates," a nonexistent, totally fictitious company publicly listed by Valerie as her employer, was a cover for many CIA operatives.
He must have known that former New York Times reporter Clifford May had also learned that Mrs. Wilson worked for the CIA before my column appeared. None of this was explored by the authors.
Adam Levine from Maroon5?
"Adam Levine from Maroon5?"
I knew that name sounded familiar. All the pieces are coming together now.
:-)
Read the whole article, if you can. While it's mainly an "I was scorned" whine, it is very interesting to see the machinations from his viewpoint.
Adam Levine
Communications Aide (2001-2003)
LEVINE WAS ONE OF FEW PRESS AIDES TO SPEAK TO REPORTERS DURING AFRICA TRIP: “Levine was one of the few press officials at the White House to answer reporters’ calls [during the Africa trip].” [CNN, 2/10/04]
LEVINE AMONG THE FIRST WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS TO TESTIFY BEFORE GRAND JURY: Levine testified on February 6, 2004. “Levine’s testimony was described as ‘brief’ and non-combative, and followed several interviews with FBI agents. The source said there were many questions about which reporters [Levine] and other senior officials talked to, suggesting investigators are trying to get as much information as possible from press officials, knowing the reporters are unlikely to talk.” [Newsday 2/24/04; CNN, 2/10/04]
LEVINE SAID TO TESTIFY ABOUT ‘WHITE HOUSE PROCEDURES’: “Dan French, former U.S. attorney for New York’s Northern District, and Don Kinsella, the district’s longtime criminal bureau chief, are representing a former White House press aide, Adam Levine ‘The President of the United States has asked his staff to cooperate, and even though Levine’s no longer on the staff he’s adhering to the President’s request,’ French said. ‘He has been called to testify before the federal grand jury concerning his knowledge of White House procedures, in particular phone calls with reporters. He was called to testify and we represented him in those proceedings.’” [The Times Union (Albany, NY) 2/12/04]
LEVINE LEFT ADMINISTRATION IN DECEMBER ‘03, BUT RELATIONSHIP CONTINUED: New York Times: “Levine left the Bush administration in December after working as the principal liaison between the White House and television networks.” Later, the Washington Post describes Levine as “a former White House aide who portrayed Russert in mock sessions with administration officials,” referring to White House prep for President Bush in advance of his Meet the Press appearance in early February ‘04. [NYT, 2/10/04; Washington Post, 2/5/04]
LAST-MINUTE TESTIMONY FROM LEVINE: The Washington Post reported that prosecutors conducted “last-minute interviews with Adam Levine, a member of the White House communications team at the time of the leak, about his conversations with Rove.” [Washington Post, 10/27/05]
2 .. lol
Personally, if I were Robert Novak, I would leave well enough alone and shut up.
On the right side, "Listen Live" -- HERE
Malkin: Who is Paul Pillar? (NYT Anonymous Leaker on NIE ID'd as ex-CIA official?)
I may be going out on a limb here, but I suspect DC has had more than one intimate IM conversation with a teenage boy.
Thanks for the ping. I always enjoy Novak's columns and looking for the hidden previously-undisclosed gems he seems to have in each one.
This is probably Novak's best oped he has written in this decade.
An earlier Novak column about Levine: 2002 Novak Column "The Ralph Reed affair"
Dang! I cant get the listen now to work with firefox.
Try Explorer.
I am convinced Lehane was the person who "leaked" (and possibly found) the Bush DUI information in 2000.
He and Ben Chao are the lowest of the low.
And the guy who now has Stephen Jones as an attorney, Edmund, just happens to be at Berkley; Lehane lives in San Francisco now.
To my knowledge, today is the first day Lehane has "surfaced" in this story.
The ultimate observation about the incredible hypocrisy of the left over this. They have no problem with leaking classified programs that are stopping terrorist attacks, but go bonkers over revealing the identity of a partisan CIA agent who isn't even covert and whose husband outed her long ago.
Whoops.......wrong name. I was still in shock from seeing Chris Lehane on MSNBC just a few minutes ago!
DUH.
I had that problem all the time as well, and found this nifty extension: IE Tab... it "switches" your browser engine from firefox to IE for purposes like these. Granted, I haven't had 100% success with it, some videos still just won't work, but probably 7 out of 10 do now.
Thanks for the tip, I will try it. I try to avoid using IE as much as possible.
Me too... which is why I didn't mind using that 'rendering engine'... it was like cheating IE from messing with my PC. :). And if it doesn't work for you, firefox extensions are always a hassle-free uninstall.
What was Lahane's spin?
BUMP
Indeed. The book is strictly a smear job, and quite a lousy one. Pee yoo.
Baby mice like Corn will never grow up.
(( ping ))
You definitely do not want to miss this.
Corn ping.
Thanks! The battle between reporters could get interesting--still waiting for Miller to weigh in as well. . .
1. Free Scooter!!!
2. Jail Wilson!!!
3. Fire Fitzgerald!!!
... So the leaking of the story to the press dovetails EXACTLY with Wilson's joining the Kerry campaign. Keep in mind, it was more than a year since his trip before he went to the media, or at least until anyone wrote about it.Don't forget, Chris Lehane is the one who ginned up a fake story during the 2000 campaign about an RNC ad using a subliminal message of "RATS" and got the New York Times to run it on the front page. He got the Bush DUI story held until five days before the 2000 election. He thought he had nailed Rove and Bush then. He was the source of the slime campaign against Katherine Harris during the Florida recount.
Lehane was later fired by the Kerry campaign in the fall of 2003. I'm still wondering why. It was around the time this Boston Globe story appeared, which was very embarrassing to Kerry and hurt Wilson's credibility. Perhaps Lehane failed to prevent the Globe from running this story, or perhaps some higher-ups realized this whole Wilson thing might be blowing up in their faces and that Lehane had once again sold them a bill of goods about a surefire plan to nail Karl Rove and bring down Bush.
Lehane was one of those slimy guys that nobody wanted to have working for their opponents, but knew they would end up smelling if he were on their side for long. He later hooked up with Wesley Clark's campaign and immediately leaked to Drudge that Kerry was an adulterer. Clark eventually fired him too.
---- 42 posted on 11/02/2005 11:02:51 AM PST by Dems_R_Losers | To 33
To: Dems_R_Losers"I am also wondering why Chris Lehane has not been seen or heard of for months. A Google search on his name shows nothing since an ill-fated effort in late 2004 to do PR for Michael Moore."
Lehane is working for KFM. KFM is a joint venture partnership of three construction giants: Kiewit Pacific of Vancouver, WA; FCI Constructors Northern Division of San Jose; and Manson Construction Company of Seattle.
Thursday, April 14, 2005 ADAMICK: In a sign the Bay Bridge contractor plans to vigorously fight allegations of faulty work -- claims that triggered an FBI investigation -- the joint venture’s lead contractor hired famed political strategist Chris Lehane to serve as spokesman. Lehane served in the Clinton war room, before becoming spokesman for former Vice President Al Gore’s 200 presidential bid. He also was a spokesman for Sen. John Kerry last year, before defecting to the camp of Gen. Wesley Clark. Californians may recall he was also hired by former Gov. Gray Davis to handle strategy during the energy crisis-------------http://editorchrislopez.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_editorchrislopez_archive.html
46 posted on 11/02/2005 11:10:16 AM PST by MilleniumBug | To 1
I wonder if his nickname is "Corn-holio".
In other words, KFM has hired a LOSER!
Sucks to be them.
"Yawn....."
Caption: David Corn is escorted to the Grand Jury investigating the Plame leak.
Leaked, maybe, but I doubt if the DUI story had to be "found." Courthouse pols have some of the longest memories known to man. A lot of them are political obsessives whose talents didn't take them beyond local wardheeling. In a county where not much of note has happened in 200 years, you can bet your booties some of them would remember the son of a prominent family getting a DUI. You never outrun that kind of stuff in a small town.
I am still interested in this story, however, because I have trouble buying the idea that MADD marched in and sought the unsealing of old records just as a coincidence. My supposition is that a dem courthouse pol recalled the story, passed it up the chain, and the move to open the records was the result. But I've never seen this analyzed and confirmed. Does anyone here have the background?
There was a lot of investigations and research done by FReepers back when this story came out, and even more details in the months afterward. I read them with interest. You're right, there was one old wacky bird who knew of the story back from the day it occured and tried to sell it. The conspiracy part was this: How long did the Drive by Media know of it before they all ran with it the Friday before the election? Some say as much as a year!
You'll have to do a search from that time period. I don't have any links.
Paul Pillar's given speeches at the Middle East Institute, which is Saudi-funded and which was against regime change and Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress.
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