[Ludicrous]

"if they even had one"

I'm with you, the more I hear about the big "plame outing", I am convinced that her "secret" identity was not secret at all. Cooper and Miller probably heard the rumor at a cocktail party somewhere. But to make news out of it, they had to pretend there was a credible anonymous source, not just speculation over rumors at a cocktail party.

Now they can't identify the source because the source was invented out of thin air.

The other theroy is that Plame outted herself to Miller and Cooper in some sort of twisted, post-partum ego-trip. (see Vanity Fair layout)

[Dr Snide]

I'm with you, the more I hear about the big "plame outing", I am convinced that her "secret" identity was not secret at all. Cooper and Miller probably heard the rumor at a cocktail party somewhere. But to make news out of it, they had to pretend there was a credible anonymous source, not just speculation over rumors at a cocktail party.

Now they can't identify the source because the source was invented out of thin air.

The other theroy is that Plame outted herself to Miller and Cooper in some sort of twisted, post-partum ego-trip. (see Vanity Fair layout)

I suspect you're right. One other though, Judith Miller wrote a book before with Laurie Mylroie, I wonder if she may be the source.