ABC's Jake Tapper makes a great point about Judith Miller's credibility over at "The Down & Dirty" blog at ABC: "The NYT is gift-wrapping Judy Miller as an unbelievable unreliable witness" thanks to the on-record 'testimony' of Bill Keller, Maureen Dowd, Phil Taubman and Jill Abramson. BUT, says Tapper, any case against Scooter Libby will rely on Miller's credibility "which the PAPER OF RECORD is undercutting and shredding."

It's a great point, and makes sense: has the NYT totally foiled Patrick Fitzgerald by painting Judy as ruthlessly ambitious and judgmentally flawed? Will the case against Scotter Libby go poof when his lawyer pokes holes in Miller's witnessorial cred? And will the word "witnessorial" ever make it into an actual court of law?

Not sure about that last point, but I have a couple thoughts on Tapper's hypothesis. Yes, the finger-pointing at and credibility-shredding of Judy Miller has begun, in earnest -- but does that go to her reliability in a court of law? I don't know that that makes Judy an unreliable witness AGAINST Scooter - just an unreliable employee of the Times in matters of transparency and journalistic integrity. Her willingness to protect Libby (eg "former Hill staffer"), that cryptic mash-note-slash-cheap-Alias-ripoff-coded-message, and the suggestive description Keller used ("entanglement"? My God, who isn't reading between those lines?) -- those all definitely go to Judy's credibility, but Fitzerald is an experienced prosecutor and obviously well-versed in political double-speak, and pretty freaking inexorable to boot. Plus, we don't know what everyone else has said. He's clearly measuring what everyone is saying against each other and themselves, and who knows what he's been able to suss out. God, by this point, hopefully something.

Is it the NYT's duty to package a witness neatly and credibly for a federal investigation? No, it's interests are aligned clearly with itself, as it should be -- Fitzgerald should make its own case, and I think the record shows that we can do without the NYT's "help."

Will the NYT's Judy-besmirching militate in Scooter's favor? I'm not so sure. It could end up being quite the opposite, actually.

The Old Gray Lady's Month of the Long Knives [Down & Dirty]