Cultivating the Source

October 7, 2005 2:33 AM

With admiration, Scooter Libby.
posted by digaman (40 comments total)

The Times article mentioned in the E&P piece, which leaves out the mushy parts of Libby's letter.
posted by digaman at 2:38 AM on October 7, 2005

Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them

come on it's clearly code. but for what?

and I dig digaman
posted by matteo at 3:10 AM on October 7, 2005

“You went into jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to cover—Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work—-and life. Until then, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers. With admiration, Scooter Libby.”

I bet Scooter comes off as smarmy and insincere in person too.
posted by three blind mice at 3:13 AM on October 7, 2005

"Come back to work"

Funny, I thought she, at least nominally, worked for the NYT not the White House.
posted by srboisvert at 3:18 AM on October 7, 2005

bravo, great post.
posted by techgnollogic at 3:20 AM on October 7, 2005

I think matteo's right. Those passages are very strange. The one that three blind mice postes here looks like something out of a John le Carré novel.
posted by psmealey at 3:22 AM on October 7, 2005

Yet another indication that "the press" are in cahoots, if not in bed, with this currupt administration. Unfortunately this is WAY too complicated for the masses, as they're too busy worrying about the NYC subway system being attacked, the price of gas, and who the next American Idol will be.
posted by GreyFoxVT at 3:57 AM on October 7, 2005

"...I am w*nking as I write this"
[/obscure]
posted by NinjaPirate at 4:15 AM on October 7, 2005

wow. when i heard those words about aspens turning and roots connecting on the daily show i thought it was a joke.

good grief.
posted by piranha at 4:29 AM on October 7, 2005

i smell brimstone, and i hear the sound of Karl Rove skating as Scooter bends over and takes one for the team, having drawn the short straw...
posted by TrinityB5 at 4:46 AM on October 7, 2005

TrinityB5 writes "and i hear the sound of Karl Rove skating"

He's not skating, he's lubing up...
posted by clevershark at 5:33 AM on October 7, 2005

Rove may be shaking, not skating:
Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer's leaked identity but have warned they cannot guarantee he won't be indicted...
posted by leapingsheep at 5:36 AM on October 7, 2005

Evidently ol' Scooter thinks that anyone with two firing neurons gives a sh*t what Miller write since the WMD affair... not only has she lost her own credibility, but her shenanigans are taking their toll on the New York Times, which is quickly losing its status as the paper of record.

If this was an infiltration job -- to discredit from within -- it was brilliantly pulled off. Then again that's just an "if" -- the Times has proved itself quite capable of fucking up by its own initiative.
posted by clevershark at 5:37 AM on October 7, 2005

The aspen thing resonates...
posted by cookie-k at 5:50 AM on October 7, 2005

cookie-k: that is frighteningly hilarious.



Somebody send that url to the daily show.
posted by mecran01 at 6:02 AM on October 7, 2005

Sell the farm!
posted by shoepal at 6:21 AM on October 7, 2005

... biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program ...

Yup. They need her to peddle this new round of bullshit to us--as well as the next war.
posted by amberglow at 6:24 AM on October 7, 2005

Rove made the offer in July, and Fitzgerald's taking him up on it now to discuss "why his accounts to the FBI and grand jury have changed, or evolved, over time."
posted by kirkaracha at 6:35 AM on October 7, 2005

Yup. They need her to peddle this new round of bullshit to us--as well as the next war.

People just aren't afraid like they were before you left us, darling.

Love,
Scoots
posted by Pollomacho at 6:36 AM on October 7, 2005

"America's First Encrypted Cable" by Ralph E. Weber, Stud. Intel. V36:5-105-109 (1992) PDF
State Department sent first coded message in 1866, soon after the completion of the trans-Atlantic cable.
posted by matteo at 6:41 AM on October 7, 2005

No offense intended, digaman, but the letter itself is pretty old news in the blog world. If you were gonna link to a Greg Mitchell column about it, why not yesterday's, which discusses the impact his posting of the letter has had throughout the Internets?
posted by soyjoy at 7:04 AM on October 7, 2005

with derision (scooterboy, not digaman), smoke screen.
posted by nevercalm at 7:27 AM on October 7, 2005

come on it's clearly code. but for what?

Plenty of theories here (See comments), some are overwhelmingly realistic. Be warned.

Most interesting one involves the 'Aspen Institute' in West Berlin ("Out West")...with whom Judith Miller is connected, via their Aspen Strategy Group.

Too much coincidence? I'd say.
posted by mr.curmudgeon at 7:43 AM on October 7, 2005

could she really be on their payroll? (i wouldn't be surprised--she's peddled all their shit more reliably than Gannon/Guckert or Williams or Gallagher, etc, for years)
posted by amberglow at 7:51 AM on October 7, 2005

Between her blatant propagandist articles for the NYT and her rumored affair w/ Chalabi...I'd say she's more then just "on the payroll", I'd say she's a true believer. She may have even helped mold administration thinking behind the scenes as part of the "Aspen" think-tank.

/foil hat off.
posted by mr.curmudgeon at 7:57 AM on October 7, 2005

considering all of the visitors she had while in prison, I suspect that if Libby wanted to transfer some secret message he could have done it without putting it in writing.
posted by probablysteve at 8:01 AM on October 7, 2005

PS,

All prison communications are recorded and monitored. That makes a bit of difference.
posted by mr.curmudgeon at 8:02 AM on October 7, 2005

To me, Libby's overripe prose shows that he's thinking, "What if I'd never got involved in this White House crap and become a novelist like I wanted to?"

His whole book sounds a lot like that letter.
posted by barjo at 8:06 AM on October 7, 2005

His whole book sounds a lot like that letter.

Wow. I never knew he wrote a novel. Makes this review on Amazon seem prescient, given that it was written in 2002:

"It's bound to sell, because some folks will insist it's a culturally-concealed roman a clef. However, this at-times-wooden, inordinately dark and ultimately confusing novel reads like what it is: a hard-working politician's attempt to get away from the stress of his workday. Or perhaps he's coped with too many weeks "at an undisclosed location"? I give it three stars for effort but suggest Libby take up one of the martial arts instead."

People were looking for hidden meanings in his works even then. I don't know, I think the "Aspen" thing is a writer/politician playing 007. A guy who need to pass along information in as creative a manner as possible, so, bemused with his own talent, decides on some coded prose.
posted by mr.curmudgeon at 8:34 AM on October 7, 2005

need = needed
posted by mr.curmudgeon at 8:35 AM on October 7, 2005

Since when does seven movies make someone a prolific director? A prolific producer, maybe...

Meh. Bad fact checking.
posted by Samizdata at 8:47 AM on October 7, 2005

Twenty-one posts without a single Bill O'Reilly-white-panties comment? Cripes.

As an aside, I was going to add a link and typed "Bill O'Reilly Erotica" into my google search box. Before I hit enter, I had a crystal-clear mental flash of what kind of results that would have got me. I really need a shower now.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 9:15 AM on October 7, 2005

yeah? try googling "Bill O'Reilly bukkake".

just sayin'
posted by PenguinBukkake at 9:39 AM on October 7, 2005

I think highly paid White House guys shouldn't be named "Scooter."
posted by bardic at 9:40 AM on October 7, 2005

I think grownups shouldn't be named Scooter.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 9:41 AM on October 7, 2005

Judith Miller's previous scandal was her simultaneously being very closely tied to pro-Israel groups while being one of the main reporters for the NYT in the region. Many thought she was the wrong person for the job, given her assocation with groups that obviously had an interest in shading the coverage.

It seems that for much of her career, she's been tied in with this or that group-- most unbecoming for a 'reporter'.
posted by cell divide at 10:05 AM on October 7, 2005

As an aside, I was going to add a link and typed "Bill O'Reilly Erotica" into my google search box. Before I hit enter, I had a crystal-clear mental flash of what kind of results that would have got me. I really need a shower now.

Don't forget your loofa.
posted by y2karl at 10:25 AM on October 7, 2005

soyjoy, I don't live in the blog world, I'm afraid. But thanks for the report from there and the link.
posted by digaman at 1:02 PM on October 7, 2005

Judith Miller just discovered notes from her June 2003 conversation with Mr. Libby. "Oh, you meant these notes."
posted by kirkaracha at 2:55 PM on October 7, 2005

Sometimes it takes a while to write new notes. Just sayin'.
posted by klangklangston at 1:26 PM on October 8, 2005