Who Said What When (Robt. Novak)

WeeklyStandard ^ | 10-16-06 | Robert Novak

[STARWISE]

The publication of Hubris is filled with irony for David Corn, Washington editor of the left-wing Nation magazine. He was present at the creation of the Valerie Plame "scandal," which the enemies of George W. Bush hoped could bring down a president. Nobody was more responsible for bloating this episode. Yet Corn is coauthor of a book that has had the effect of killing the story.

Thanks to Corn's intrepid coauthor, Newsweek investigative reporter Michael Isikoff, Hubris definitively revealed then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage as my source that Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie, worked for the CIA and suggested her husband's mission to Africa.

Armitage, an internal critic of the administration's Iraq policy, did not fit the left's theory of a conspiracy led by Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby to discredit Wilson as a war critic. Nor did it fit the overriding theme of Isikoff and Corn in depicting "spin, scandal and the selling of the Iraq war."

As a result, Corn has been frantic--in the Nation, on his blog, and all over television--to depict an alternate course in which Rove, Libby, and Vice President Cheney attempted, by design and independently, to do what Armitage purportedly accomplished accidentally.

The introduction of Hubris states that Armitage's statement to me was (according to the deputy secretary's colleagues) "a slip-up by an inveterate gossip--but one that occurred alongside a concerted White House effort to undermine a critic of the war." This, the authors continue, "was a window into a much bigger scandal: the Bush administration's use of faulty intelligence and its fervent desire (after the [Iraq] invasion) to defend its prewar sales pitch."

I can only imagine the debates that must have taken place between coauthors to determine the direction of this book. The resulting product is some of the investigator Isikoff and a lot of the ideologue Corn. Hubris is not an unmitigated apologia for the Wilsons, but it comes close.

This desperate attempt to resuscitate a dubious conspiracy theory falls flat, and undermines what seems to be the real reason for writing Hubris.

While its reportorial tone gives the book a façade of objectivity, in fact it constitutes a broad assault on Bush, his administration, and his policies in the war against terrorism. That entails the retelling of manifold allegations of perfidy, so familiar that they grow tiresome. The book's only new element is what it reveals about the Plame case, and there they trumped their own ace by facilitating the source's exposure in advance of publication.

The book is also exceptional partly because its authors are so oddly matched.

Isikoff, who views himself as nonideological and nonpartisan, led reporters in tracking Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky affair (recorded in his Uncovering Clinton).

Corn is a stereotypical leftist activist without a nonideological bone in his body. His first book, Blond Ghost, was a vicious attack on the legendary CIA operative and Cold War hero Theodore Shackley, and the bias of his later work, The Lies of George W. Bush, is obvious from its title.

Corn telephoned me on July 16, 2003, two days after publication of my Valerie Plame column. He was neither a dispassionate reporter seeking information nor a former colleague on CNN's Crossfire, where we maintained a relatively friendly relationship when he was a substitute liberal cohost in 1997-98.

Instead, he was an impassioned, angry activist who accused me of "outing a CIA agent" and breaking the law. Since the Nation had never before been concerned with the protection of intelligence agents, I suspected political motives behind Corn's outrage. It was our final conversation. The last thing Corn wanted from me was additional information.

>>>>>>>>Rest at link.

[STARWISE]

The dilemma was resolved when Fitzgerald showed up to interview me with waivers only from my three sources. The prosecutor had learned their names on his own, so there was no use in not testifying about them. Hubris misrepresents me by saying my dilemma came after Fitzgerald appeared with the three waivers ("crunch time for Novak") and that I gave up their names under pressure from the special prosecutor. This is such a misreading of my clear account that it must have been derived from either sloppiness or malice.

[STARWISE]

Ping!

[Impeach98]

I am glad to see Novak write this column. It's interesting.

However, between this matter and his constant harping against Bush's war on terrorism I hold Novak in rather low regard at the moment.

Again, glad you posted his piece here at FR nonetheless.

[Howlin]

Scooter ping!!!

[Bahbah]

I, too, am glad to see this for as much truth is in it. However, there is this:

Isikoff, who views himself as nonideological and nonpartisan, led reporters in tracking Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky affair (recorded in his Uncovering Clinton).

Isikoff nonideological and nonpartisan. Bwahahahah. And Issie is not nicknamed "Spike" for nothing. I guess Novak does not want to burn all bridges.

[frankjr]

"The book also identifies the "senior administration official" quoted in a Washington Post story as the source of the six-journalists story, and as saying that the White House was out for "purely and simply revenge" against Wilson. He turns out to be Adam Levine, an obscure, middle-level communications aide who soon left the White House."

Sr. Admin Official or Obscure, middle-level aide? I wonder which sounds better when referring to an "anonymous source" when pushing a phoney story.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Robt. Novak? LOL! Were you trying to save 1 keystroke?

[STARWISE]

A major factor in Isikoff's decision to collaborate with Corn presumably was the leftist journalist's close relationship with the Wilsons, which provided supposedly exclusive information on Valerie's CIA duties.

But the information is mainly Wilson boilerplate. I am disappointed that so accomplished a reporter as Isikoff did not probe more deeply into exactly what Mrs. Wilson did at the Agency. He must have questioned the story that "Brewster-Jennings & Associates," a nonexistent, totally fictitious company publicly listed by Valerie as her employer, was a cover for many CIA operatives.

He must have known that former New York Times reporter Clifford May had also learned that Mrs. Wilson worked for the CIA before my column appeared. None of this was explored by the authors.

[Howlin]

Adam Levine from Maroon5?

[frankjr]

"Adam Levine from Maroon5?"

I knew that name sounded familiar. All the pieces are coming together now.

[Howlin]

:-)

[STARWISE]

Read the whole article, if you can. While it's mainly an "I was scorned" whine, it is very interesting to see the machinations from his viewpoint.

[Howlin]

Adam Levine
Communications Aide (2001-2003)

LEVINE WAS ONE OF FEW PRESS AIDES TO SPEAK TO REPORTERS DURING AFRICA TRIP: “Levine was one of the few press officials at the White House to answer reporters’ calls [during the Africa trip].” [CNN, 2/10/04]

LEVINE AMONG THE FIRST WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS TO TESTIFY BEFORE GRAND JURY: Levine testified on February 6, 2004. “Levine’s testimony was described as ‘brief’ and non-combative, and followed several interviews with FBI agents. The source said there were many questions about which reporters [Levine] and other senior officials talked to, suggesting investigators are trying to get as much information as possible from press officials, knowing the reporters are unlikely to talk.” [Newsday 2/24/04; CNN, 2/10/04]

LEVINE SAID TO TESTIFY ABOUT ‘WHITE HOUSE PROCEDURES’: “Dan French, former U.S. attorney for New York’s Northern District, and Don Kinsella, the district’s longtime criminal bureau chief, are representing a former White House press aide, Adam Levine ‘The President of the United States has asked his staff to cooperate, and even though Levine’s no longer on the staff he’s adhering to the President’s request,’ French said. ‘He has been called to testify before the federal grand jury concerning his knowledge of White House procedures, in particular phone calls with reporters. He was called to testify and we represented him in those proceedings.’” [The Times Union (Albany, NY) 2/12/04]

LEVINE LEFT ADMINISTRATION IN DECEMBER ‘03, BUT RELATIONSHIP CONTINUED: New York Times: “Levine left the Bush administration in December after working as the principal liaison between the White House and television networks.” Later, the Washington Post describes Levine as “a former White House aide who portrayed Russert in mock sessions with administration officials,” referring to White House prep for President Bush in advance of his Meet the Press appearance in early February ‘04. [NYT, 2/10/04; Washington Post, 2/5/04]

LAST-MINUTE TESTIMONY FROM LEVINE: The Washington Post reported that prosecutors conducted “last-minute interviews with Adam Levine, a member of the White House communications team at the time of the leak, about his conversations with Rove.” [Washington Post, 10/27/05]

[STARWISE]

2 .. lol

[Brilliant]

Personally, if I were Robert Novak, I would leave well enough alone and shut up.

[STARWISE]

BTW, our very own FReeper, eeevil conservative, is ON LIVE RADIO NOW on WGKA Atlanta! I'm listening .. she's doing a darn good job. I can imagine this for FR-Radio, too ;)

On the right side, "Listen Live" -- HERE

[cgk]

In their tirade against the Bush White House, Isikoff and Corn found a hero: Paul Pillar, then the CIA officer in charge of the Middle East. During the 2004 election campaign, I wrote in a column that Pillar was delivering off-the-record briefings to citizens groups around the country, and was highly critical of the president seeking a second term. Probing such subversion at the CIA might have been an interesting exercise for an investigative reporter, but that is not what this book is about.

Malkin: Who is Paul Pillar? (NYT Anonymous Leaker on NIE ID'd as ex-CIA official?)

[operation clinton cleanup]

Instead, he was an impassioned, angry activist who accused me of "outing a CIA agent" and breaking the law. Since the Nation had never before been concerned with the protection of intelligence agents, I suspected political motives behind Corn's outrage.

I may be going out on a limb here, but I suspect DC has had more than one intimate IM conversation with a teenage boy.

[cgk]

Thanks for the ping. I always enjoy Novak's columns and looking for the hidden previously-undisclosed gems he seems to have in each one.

[Grampa Dave]

This is probably Novak's best oped he has written in this decade.