PlameWatch: I Can Feel It Comin’ In The Air Tonight

  • People in Washington are nervous. Harriet Miers may have provided a gigantic stress release, and perhaps unwittingly prevented all sorts of heart attacks. Dude, that town is tense.
  • Nerves at the White House are raw. See above.
  • Too bad for you, Rove and Scoo: the whole Miers-withdrawal thing is no distraction. Tomorrow is D-Day. Or I-Day. Or whatever. Point being, the axe falls tomorrow, and it’s still today. See nerves, tension above.
  • So, yeah. DC is on edge. The important thing to do while you’re waiting and waiting is to keep busy. Good thing everyone’s kept their schedules full. Oh, wait a minute.
  • Scott McClellan almost-kind-of-barely admits that Rove and Libby lied to him. Almost.
  • Arianna says Plamegate is bigger than Watergate, especially if 2,000 (sadly now 2,001) Americans died because of a falsified rush into war. See Fishbowl’s earlier comment that this may be the case where the coverup is actually not worse than the crime. Update: Oops, that post was languishing in drafts this whole time! It’s up now.
  • Meanwhile, the interests of Judith Miller and the NYT have clearly diverged. Judy Miller and the NYT reportedly discuss her future, i.e. the one not at the NYT. Severance has been discussed, as well as certain demands La Judita has for going quietly. Pinch does not comment. If he, in fact, exists; he has disappeared into the ether.
  • In related news, the WSJ publishes one of the most unflattering illustrations ever.
  • Meanwhile, Matt Cooper takes a deep breath.
  • …but Jim Moore and Wayne Slater, authors of Rove book “Bush’s Brain,” don’t have time for such frivolity — they’ve got a new book to write!
  • Great HuffPo headline: “The Special Prosecutor Will Be With You In a Moment. Please Continue to Hold.” Yeah. No kidding. While you’re waiting, Lawrence O’Donnell explains to you how the Grand Jury works, and why tomorrow’s expiry doesn’t necessarily mean it’s over.
  • Slate‘s Timothy Noah observes that we’re so desperate for something to happen that “even the absence of news is news!” Which is why “No Indictments Announced Yet” is, well, news.
  • Howard Kurtz waxes philosophical, feels bloggers’ pain, seems willing to forgive the wanton speculation that he once held in such disdain. He wants answers just like the rest of us.
  • It is always appropriate to invoke Phil Collins while reporting on high-level government scandals. Suss-su-sudio! Whoa-oah! Other appropriate Phil Collins references after the jump.


    List of Phil Collins Songs That Are Ridiculously Applicable To PlameGate:

    The Roof Is Leaking
    Against All Odds
    I Cannot Believe It’s True
    I Don’t Care Anymore*
    Testify
    Jesus He Knows Me
    Driving The Last Spike
    Please Don’t Ask
    No Reply At All
    Entangled
    Follow You, Follow Me
    In Too Deep
    True Colors
    Ripples

    *Sample lyric: “I don’t care what you say/We don’t play by the same rules anyway” and “I’ve got better things to do with my time.” Amen to that.

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