On Monday, Newsweek‘s Michael Isikoff shed new light on the endlessly protracted Valerie Plame CIA leak scandal, revealing for the first time the identity of Washington Post columnist Robert Novak’s mystery source–that is, the previously unnamed government official who had disclosed to Novak classified information about the wife of administration-critic Joseph Wilson. Bloggers quickly got busy thinking through the implications.
As the chattering class knows by now, the leaker who told Novak that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA was–according to Isikoff–former Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage. “Armitage, a well-known gossip who loves to dish and receive juicy tidbits about Washington characters, apparently hadn’t thought through the possible implications of telling Novak about Plame’s identity,” reported Isikoff.
“This opens up a can of worms, no?” writes Kevin Drum of the Washington Monthly‘s Political Animal. “In one sense, it’s no surprise, since Armitage has been on the short list of suspected leakers for quite a long time….And it certainly doesn’t bolster the argument that the leak was part of a White House conspiracy to punish Joe Wilson, since Armitage was relatively dovish on the war and has never been considered a hardnosed, Rovian political player.”
For some bloggers, the news raised more questions than it answered.
“Why did the now-indicted Lewis “Scooter” Libby tell so many lies to the FBI and the grand jury about what he knew regarding Plame’s identity if he played no role in that information being passed along to Bob Novak?” writes Needlenose. “And why did Libby tell Ari Fleischer the exact information that Novak would attribute to his primary source just one day before Novakula met with Armitage? It seems to me that this mystery hasn’t been fully resolved yet.”
Or has it? The Absurd Report, for one, sees the news as the end of a long, pointless witch-hunt.
“The gentle whooshing sound audible throughout the Greater Beltway is the deflating hopes of assorted journalists, Bush haters, and Democrat officials whose fantasies of frog marches and impeachment hearings are now dead,” writes the Absurd Report. “Today, the Wall Street Journal excoriates Richard Armitage, Colin Powell, former Acting Attorney General James Comey and Patrick Fitzgerald in terms so strong they seem to have read my mind. The Journal recommends a presidential pardon for Scooter Libby. I would not go for a pardon, though.”
At the same time, other bloggers were adamant that the investigation should continue.
“This doesn’t end the discussion,” writes Talk Left. “[Special prosecutor Patrick] Fitzgerald has long thought Armitage did nothing criminal. Yet, he indicted Libby anyway and almost indicted Rove.”
“[E]ven if there are no more indictments, what is known is disturbing and damning,” writes Liberal Oasis. “A anonymous campaign was waged by taxpayer-paid government officials to tar the reputation of a Administration critic exercising his First Amendment rights, destroying his wife’s career as a public servant in the process.”
“It was true before the Armitage revelation,” adds Liberal Oasis. “It’s true now.”
And at least one blogger had had enough.
“Aarrrgh!” writes Cheat Seeking Missiles. “Can we just fight the war on Islamofascism here, and leave these childish rivalries behind?”
Mark Boyer was a CJR intern.