As everyone knows by now, NY Times reporter Judith Miller ended her self-inflicted martyrdom by agreeing to testify before the Novak-Plame-gate grand jury, thereby releasing herself from jail. A lot has already been said about today’s events, and I don’t have a lot to add. Here are my two cents: (1) Miller’s claim that she has "finally" received a "personal" waiver from her confidential source (Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney’s chief of staff) is patently absurd – Libby’s lawyers were widely quoted today as saying, essentially, we gave her the same waiver we gave her months ago, and we have no idea why she went to jail over this issue. Fact is, it became clear that Fitzgerald was going to keep her in jail for months longer, so she caved. Thus proving that the NY Times was flat-out wrong, to claim (as they repeatedly did) that Miller would never cave so there was no point in keeping her incarcerated. (2) Arianna Huffington is absolutely right that Miller ought to follow in fellow Plamegate reporter Matt Cooper’s footsteps and promptly publish, on page 1 of the NY Times, a full account of what she told the grand jury and of her role [...]
The Zell Miller of Charlestown?
Fascinating column by Brian McGrory today about Charlestown State Rep Eugene O’Flaherty. It’s mostly about O’Flaherty’s opposition to Melanie’s Bill, which would increase penalties for DWI repeat-offenders, along with a good deal of general mockery. (I don’t know the details of the bill, but I’ll say that I have as little sympathy for DWI repeat-offenders as possible.) Going over their history, McGrory quotes an email he received from O’Flaherty after Finneran’s indictment: ”I rarely write responses to low-level journalists but you really tickme off to the point where I wish I had been in high school with you sowe could have playfully wrestled after school and you could have gonehome to Mommy with tears in your eyes along with a black eye and a sorearse like I’m sure you did on more than one occasion." How statesmanlike. To my knowledge, O’Flaherty has not walked the streets of Charlestown with his pants around his ankles, but this is pretty close. Extra-juicy rumors (scroll to end) have been floated on this site about the possible candidacy of gay ex-priest Christopher Schiavone to challenge O’Flaherty — "a vehement opponent of gay marriage", says McGrory — for his seat. If that happens, grab the [...]
