Which member of the President Bush 43 admin was in the halls of power the longest? Head of the Joint Chiefs, Sec of State, Nat Security Adviser...who would have the most current (at the time) and long term contacts with the media? Who was the media's darling before McCain and even afterward. Remember Powell stating the speech before the UN was the low point of his career? Who felt he had the most to lose integrity, credibility and reputation wise?
I'm not disagreeing with anything you said, but I get the impression telling wooward about Plame was an off-the-cuff thing -- and Woodward took it as such -- which doesn't sound like Powell to me -- though we KNOW Powell said some very unkind things to Woodward about the run up to the war -- this just doesn't strike me as calculated as I think Powell would be.