Flush twice... it's a long way to Sally Quinn's place!

Pundit Pap
for October 5, 2003
No Facts from Novak
by the Pundit Pap Team
JJ Balzer • Morrie Friendly

Oct. 5, 2003 -- "Leak-gate" -- the controversy surrounding an arguably treasonous leak that exposed a covert CIA operative and damaged the nation's efforts to contain spread of weapons of mass destruction and which almost certainly came from the very highest levels of the White House, apparently motivated by a desire by one of the West Wing squatters for political payback -- managed to knock the California Recall Circus off the top of the issues pile.

That should tell you something.

"Watching" between the lines this Sunday (while we're only reporting on ABC's This Week and NBC's Meet the Press, we caught a lot of the Sunday morning buzz), four things are clear about members of the press, each to a varying degree:

• They has finally caught on ten weeks after the fact that this is a major story.
• They continue to turn against former Texas governor George W. Bush and his handlers as their "disciplined" control of their "message," talking points and agenda suddenly morphs into a huge liability.
• They more than telegraphed their eagerness for the appointment of a special prosecutor -- can you say ratings?
• They are finally realizing that this enormous blunder of a leak has not only compromised but given the lie to the present Misadministration's credibility on the matter of conducting a serious "war" on rogue states and terrorist thug gangs that seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction by so blithely blowing the cover of one of America's covert foot soldiers in that war.

The primary visible exceptions we caught (and yes, there may have been others, but too many shows are scheduled simultaneously in the greater New York market) were Tim Russert (see below) -- whose attempts to dash Joseph Wilson's credibility backfired -- and Howard "Married (literally) to the VRWC" Kurtz, the entirely phony "media critic" who spent the lion's share of the time on CNN's "Reprehensible Sources" playing down Leak-gate, playing down charges by 15 (and still counting) women that California gubernatorial candidate Arnie "Governor Gang Bang" Schwarzenegger is a serial groper, and trying to dismiss media reports that radical right wing shock jock Rush Limbaugh is hooked on OxyContin, also known as "hillbilly heroin."

Many others in the press, however, smell blood in the water.

Here's a peek at two of the shows:

This Week
Denials are "Oh, Kay" by us!
Main players: George Stephanopoulos, George Will, CIA weapons inspector David "Empty Handed" Kay - with guest appearances by Fareed Zakaria, Peter Jennings, The "Gropinator", Gray Davis, Pierre Thomas and Linda Douglass

Steph first pressed Kay about Smirk's claim to the world that Saddam had nukes -- and could produce a nuke within a year. Kay, who seemed more than a bit uneasy throughout the interview, tried to put forward his best evidence -- a money trail for which he admittedly does not know all the details. Kay said that in 1991 Saddam had nuclear material (wow -- a whole twelve years ago -- just before Junior's preppy daddy kicked Saddam's ass, a fact Kay somehow neglected to include for a fuller understanding and context) -- but Steph slapped him down and provided another bit of context, stating that in 1991 Kay was a UN weapons inspector who said they did NOT have the bomb! Steph got an admission that not only could Saddam probably not have built a nuke today but that his program was severely degraded (translation: it's dead and was buried under a scientist's rose bushes only to be exhumed in a vain attempt to "prove" Saddam was a threat).

George Will, predictably, gave Kay a little bit of a pass to say that Saddam had solved the problem of what is needed to make a nuclear bomb (as if it were Saddam himself -- I never knew he'd studied at Princeton's Institute of advanced study, Davey boy -- and, by the way, three dozen other countries including North Korea, whose midget dictator Kim Jong-ll has threatened us, have solved the problem).

Steph also got Kay to admit that some of those aluminum tubes Chimpy and Rummy made so much of a fuss about were used in missiles -- but Steph allowed Kay to make a vague suggestion that they just might, maybe, perhaps, under the right circumstances, have some kind of use in the makings of WMDs. Steph then played footage of Shrub's claim that Saddam could mount a WMD attack in 45 minutes. Kay tried to spin it but -- you guessed it -- admitted the claim is full of hooey.

Will tried to bring up the issue of sarin nerve gas, but it misfired -- and Kay had to fall back on the talking point about "there are always surprises when you get in a war" (snicker -- yeah, likr the president of the most powerful nation in the world turning out to be a liar who has no credibility outside of the Republican Party and hard-right think tanks). Kay said that Saddam had 650,000 tons of conventional weapons -- and they are still looking at them. Will tried to plant the theory that WMDs were exported to Syria and Iran -- and Kay played along -- but then, Will brought up the problem with lies from Iraqis taken into custody as well as evidence that Iraqi scientists and military commanders were lying to Saddam. Steph asked what purpose is served by bluffing. Kay said that is the question (well, Kay, the answer is pretty simple: to keep the neighbors at bay and fool the world into thinking you have a more potent retaliatory capability if attacked than you really have).

Steph asked Kay if he now feels he's "closer" to the view of Baradei and Blix in their prewar report than when the war started. Kay hedged (translation: looks like he is). Steph asked about those mobile trailers, and Kay said they had at least three or four possible uses (lemme guess: filling weather balloons, filling party balloons, and filling the Hindenburg -- perhaps the best analogy for Kay's WMD findings). Will said that Kay had claimed some months ago that his team would uncover "remarkable surprises." Kay said his talented team would uncover "remarkable things."

(But George! They have! For example, they've uncovered evidence that George W. Bush and Tony Blair are liars.)

Kay then started whining about Iraq being an "albatross around [his] neck' (such a master of understatement -- we feel his pain -- and from the look on his face, you could tell that just about the last place he wanted to be was on network TV, even if he was 100% coached and on message) before playing the talking point about Iraqis being so glad we deposed Saddam (maybe the day Baghdad fell, Davey boy, but I wonder what an impartial poll of Iraqis would say today).

Steph asked about Little George's request for $600 million more so that Kay can uncover anything to save his butt. Kay said his team needs "to continue doing what they're doing."

(You mean throwing money down the hole? Ever heard of the 80-20 rule, Dave? It's a sort of law-of-diminishing returns analogy -- for example, 20% of the money and effort will turn up 80% of what you're looking for. The TOP 20% of your efforts have turned up a balloon-inflating trailer and a bag containing what looks to be a nontoxic botulinum variant that is found in the soil. There's your 80%. Makes you wonder what another $600 million is going to turn up. Do the math...)

Steph suggested the UN go in and inspect. Kay said that his teams have fallen under attack and UN inspectors don't carry weapons (so what's the problem with giving them an international military escort under the auspices of the coalition of the willing?) and that unlike the UN days, the US interrogates rather than questions (so you can't at least try to negotiate a deal whereby the UN inspects and the US interrogates, either? good grief...).

Next up -- Arnie's reversal of fortune. Political reporter Linda Douglass reported that overnight polls show that question one -- the recall -- is tightening according to both camps, with each putting their spin on the story. Douglass tried to play down the fact that Arnie's team is engaged in frantic damage control in the face of allegations of groping and Adolf-loving -- and they know Arnie's been hurt. Douglass laid out a new Davis tactic: he is saying that Arnie will be investigated even before he takes office, and so distracted he will not be able to govern.

(She didn't mention that 15 women have come forward -- let alone contrast that number with the roll call of Clinton bimbo eruptions such as Paula "Fraudulent Lawsuit" Jones, Kathleen "Lied Twice to Crotch-sniffer Starr" Willey or Juanita "Can't Get Her Story Straight" Broaddrick. Nor did Douglass mention that some of the tales can allegedly be corroborated by witnesses.)

Steph asked about the local TV coverage -- and Douglass detailed an atmosphere of "screaming headlines" and "allegations" against Arnie.

Then followed a preview of Peter Jennings' interviews with Arnie and Davis. Arnie's comments were dull, even when Jennings brought up the Hitler issue, and Arnie gave the predictable, Pete-Wilsonesque "dey're trowing efrrything aht me... it's a sulleeeaze compaign" answer (translation: whine, whine, whine) before saying he despised Hitler and neo-Nazis (no doubt for ruining his gubernatorial campaign as much as their evils).

Then -- jump cut to Davis. Davis wants to 'bring the Democrats home." What drives you crazy about Arnie? Davis laughed, saying that Arnold would win question two (a slap to Cruz Bustamante). What does this say about California? Davis expounded about the power of personality helping a man with no plans, no specifics -- meanwhile, he had helped keep the state from having the kind of power outage that put much of the Eastern US in the dark a few months back, and the deficit has been closed.

A sign that the press is turning on Smirk: during the "Briefing" segment, both Steph and Fareed Zakaria think that Smirky's Friday morning appearance on the White House lawn to spin the bad news about David Kay's report will create a credibility issue (translation: the press is going to start casting His Fraudulence as something less than candid -- but not call him an outright liar). Zakaria also cast doubt on the Misadministration's handling of North Korea in that they say that they can make a nuke bomb and word from the Administration is that they don't think so. If they are wrong, it could be a disaster for the entire nation.

Then Steph welcomed Pierre Thomas, who recited a couple of "Injustice Minister" John Ashcroft's spin points about the investigation into Leak-gate, notably that he's :"angry" about leaks. Thomas also mentioned Scooter Libby's denial that he's "the" leaker -- and speculation that Karl Röve is the leaker and Sen. Schumer may get a vote on the Senate floor in support of an independent prosecutor.

Steph seemed more than a little pleased at the possibility that GOPers would cross over and support an independent investigator.

-- JJ Balzer

Meet the Press
Joseph Wilson Shreds Russert
Players: Tim Russert, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Washington Post reporter Dana Priest, Robert "Accessory to leakage" Novak, David "I'm not dead yet!" Broder

Ambassador Wilson was Tim Russert's first guest on Meet the Press this morning.

He was returning after having appeared a few months ago to announce that it appeared to him that the president's 16 words in his State of the Union Address concerning alleged nuclear weapons development in Iraq using yellowcake from Niger was untrue.

Days later, Robert Novak, the syndicated mouthpiece for the White House and the Republican National Committee, wrote a column defending the White House and attacking Wilson -- but worse, he named Wilson's wife, who has been for three decades a senior CIA official, implying she set Wilson up for the job of going to Niger and searching for the truth on behalf of the CIA in some sort of nepotist move.

Novak may have committed a crime.

He has not revealed his sources -- which Wilson believes was a source within the White House attempting to smear him. As many as five other reporters were also told about Wilson's wife -- though they seem to have realized the terrible move it would be to "out" Mrs. Wilson and put her team of operatives abroad in danger of assassination, as well as Mrs. Wilson herself.

This morning Ambassador Wilson reported to Russert that one of these journalists told him that Karl Röve, the controversial political strategist for the Bush team and a close friend of the President -- told this journalist that Mrs. Wilson was "fair game."

IF this is true, Mr. Rove could be charged with a federal crime and, if convicted, could serve as long as ten years in prison.

Mr. Russert spent far too long focusing on the 16 words in the SOTU, and far too little time examining the law and its relationship to Rove and to Novak, who under federal court decisions may yet have to reveal his sources and, if he had known Mrs. Wilson was a CIA agent, could also face prison.

Thus Russert seemed to wish to put Wilson on the defensive -- toward the start of his interview. In fact, Russert "pointed out" that the Director of the CIA, George Tenet, did not want Wilson going to Niger. Of course, that would not be the case in any event. Wilson pointed this out.

Russert then played a tape of Wilson accusing Rove -- or seeming to. He again tried to put Wilson on the defensive.

"You had no basis to accuse Rove," said Russert. Wilson pointed out the CIA reports to Rove's office. Wilson said he has every confidence that Rove and the White House Communications office pushed the outing of his wife.

We believe it as well -- to demonstrate that anyone questioning the White House would be torn to shreds. Mr. Wilson, who supported the President, would have nothing to gain in any way from fingering Rove. Russert's implications to the contrary were despicable.

Wilson remarked he is not in any way a traitor to this country.

Russert calls GOP media operatives "critics" instead of what they are: bought-and-paid-for mouthpieces for the Administration, again despicable.

Russert then claimed that Mr. Wilson wrote a book and that he will gain from this. Again, Russert engaged in his own despicable tactics to demean -- and again he failed when Wilson said the book was dictated years ago.

Wilson also accused Robert Novak of "going through my garbage."

For his part, Russert was rude and arrogant throughout the segment (as if that were a surprise).

Russert then welcomed the oily Robert "No Facts" Novak, who now claims that he was interviewing someone in the Administration, "not a partisan gunslinger," whom Novak claims today told him "offhandedly" that Ambassador Wilson was sent to Niger because his wife was in the CIA and inferred that it was she who arranged this .He now claims that he was interested in why Wilson was sent over to Niger.

This writer believes Mr. Novak may be lying -- to save his neck.

This writer also believes the "Prince of Darkness," a nickname even Novak's fans use, could have committed a crime -- and if not, he participated in the worst possible malfeasance for a journalist: that of smearing someone for the political good of his pimps.

Novak then claimed that he did not know if she is "under cover." Yet the CIA asked Mr. Novak not to use her name -- and Novak, like the scum he is, did anyway. How could Russert allow him to get away with this? That's a no-brainer: Russert is a whore for General Electric, a prime multibillion-dollar contractor to the CIA and the Defense Department that remains closely allied with the Republican party.

Russert asked whether Novak told the CIA he was going to print her name. "Oh yes, oh yes," Mr. Novak replied -- as if this made everything okay. He claims that nothing he wrote put Mrs. Wilson's life in jeopardy.

How would he know that? More likely, he is lying.

Novak refused to rule out Karl Rove as the source for the story today. Gee -- we wonder why. Could he be the snake that everyone says he is? Could Novak be the filthiest journalist alive? Novak continued, refusing to say whether he has been contacted by the Justice Department, referring Russert to his lawyer. We just had to laugh at that..

Dana Priest of the Washington Post said that people high up in the Administration were very angry at Wilson and that they felt he had crossed the line exposing the President's lies about Niger and Iraq -- but, in typically biased and misleading style, Russert muddied her story, asking her whether Administration sources includes the CIA.

Toward the end of the segment, Russert did ask, "Are you willing to go to prison rather than giving up the source?"

Novak answered with no answer, of course.

Novak also waxed eloquent about he has devoted his life to protecting his sources.

We would bet he would give up his source if that source had been a Democrat.

Dana Priest pointed out that the CIA itself would have to vague to Novak, or anyone else, for fear they would reveal even more about Mrs. Wilson -- for whom the CIA set up a phony corporation for, a fact that essentially implies that her operations were covert and highly sensitive -- and therefore Mr. Novak threatened not only Mrs. Wilson's life but that of her field agents and other operatives abroad and perhaps even in the United States.

Ms. Priest offered that the first round of "investigations" on the White House and the Administration seems to have failed in finding the culprits that were attempting to humiliate Joe Wilson and out his wife. She pointed out that now enough time has passed to make it far more difficult to finger the culprits.

There is no question to this writer that an independent prosecutor -- and a President who will lead the investigation with vigor-- is now called for. The question is whether George W. Bush is able to focus on this, yet another black eye for his regime.

Then followed the requisite California segment, a roundtable on the candidacy of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was a bore. The same story we heard all weekend on cable news, the same clips we've seen a jillion times.

Does Arnold love Hitler? Is Arnold a serial molester of women? David Broder offered that Arnold was ahead because their were no other "good" candidates -- he mentioned Leon Panetta as one who would have won hands down.

Huh?

Novak agreed with us -- he said that no one knows who Leon Panetta is! "I believe that the most predictable thing..." We laughed out loud as Bob-ula once again followed Karl "Big Daddy Smirk Pimp" Röve's orders by saying that the exposé on Arnold's past Nazi worship and womanizing is nothing more than a below-the-belt, well-timed attack. The others disagreed.

We'll grant that Novak is at least consistent in that he is always entirely without shame -- continuing in his role as used-up old prostitute for the ultra-right.

Novak kept it up, practically bellowing, "Davis will make the most of it," followed by a shouting match with Ron Brownstein. Novak did say that Gov. Davis, "put it out" (i.e. put out the negative stories on Arnold).

So what? California deserves whatever it gets for having voters that are stupid enough to sign petitions that were marketed like so many car alarms by millionaire congressman Darrell Issa, a wimpy crybaby who spent two million dollars of his personal funds to oust Davis so he could be the governor. Issa is one of the leading "Republican" stealth fascists trying to destroy our democracy and the right for your vote to matter. Make no bones about it, buying the recall of elected officials is nothing short of organized crime.

Whatever the case, nobody seems to care -- except that the bulk of the world want to see Arnold "The Terminator" Schwarzenegger as governor of our largest state. And unless something remarkable happens between now and Tuesday, he will be.

And that was it -- "If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press" -- and the guarantee of a very bad aftertaste. The main reason is, of course, Mr. Russert. He should, as we've been saying for years, at the very least be terminated from his position as "immoderator" of Meet the Press. One need only read the transcripts of his years-long attacks on Bill, Hillary, and even Chelsea Clinton to see this.

And don't let the phony-baloney "ambush" tactics of Russert fool you: the man is intellectually and morally bankrupt and -- as Wilson's incisive and unrelenting comebacks proved in particular -- unprepared. Viewers with any critical acuity know this -- know that Russert may be not only the most overrated "newsman" but the biggest phony among the incestuous circle-jerk that calls itself the Washington press corps. Meet the Press -- once a great news program in public affairs -- has been reduced, on Russert's watch, to a circus, to a sexual witch hunt, to a platform to launch ad-hominem attacks on anyone who will not kowtow to the Republican party line, and a once-probing program of political punditry and serious inquiry that approaches and at times surpasses the shallowness of the FOX "News" Channel.

Russert, who has become nothing but a General Electric Corporation whore, not a journalist -- not even close -- should be ashamed.

-- Morrie Friendly