Senator Jay Rockefeller Needs To Man Up

In a series of extremely good posts, emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler) at The Next Hurrah discusses the unfortunate, yet consistent, tendencies of Senator Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Select Committee for Intelligence (SSCI), to turn into a shrinking violet at critical moments when the chips are down. Instead of quoting and retelling the stories here, I am going to link to the four pieces emptywheel has done and urge everyone here to read them in their entirety. This is important stuff and Ms. Wheel does a remarkable job with it. Again, take the time to click the links and read the material. On the other side of the links, I will relate a somewhat interesting little story from my past involving Sen. Rockefeller.

The Wilson SSCI Part One: Or, Why I Want a New SSCI Chair

The Wilson SSCI Part Two: Or, Kneecapping Waxman

The Wilson SSCI Part Three: Or, Cheney's Black Hole

How's that Search for a New SSCI Chair Going, John Ashcroft Testimony Edition

Now, for my little story. In 1981-1982, I was living in Tucson Arizona and attending graduate school at the University of Arizona (organic chemistry and physics for those thinking I am solely a legal imbecile). While in Tucson, I worked for Mo Udall and his re-election campaign. My mother had long been friends with Mo and his brother Stewart, and there were several very hot girls working on the local portion of the campaign, so I eagerly signed on. At any rate, our big be all to end all fundraiser before the election was a tribute dinner for Mo, honoring his twentieth year in Congress, to be held at the DoubleTree Resort in Tucson. The named guests headlining this gala event were Robert Redford and, wait for it,.... an up and coming Democratic star to be, the young Governor of West Virginia, Jay Rockefeller. I still have to this day, somewhere in a box, souvenir t-shirts with the silk screened likeness of Mo in the middle and Redford on one side and Rockefeller on the other. Redford and Mo consumed most of the oxygen the entire day, but they kept trying with every ounce of energy to put Rockefeller on an even plane, because the grooming had already begun for his Senate run two years later. This night was to be part of Rockefeller's national coming out in anticipation of the Senate run. I, along with several of my friends, had a chance to really talk to Rockefeller during a couple of different points in the day, because everything concentrated on Redford and Mo no matter what we did. Rockefeller was literally left alone a couple of times, and that is when we would go over. At any rate, the consensus opinion among all of us was "man, this is the nicest and brightest guy, but what a fucking milquetoast". Some things, apparently, never change.

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Why Did Scooter Libby Pick Tim Russert?

If you have been following the Scooter Libby trial you know that Scooter Libby has pretty consistently contended that he learned of Valerie Plame's connection to Joe Wilson from Tim Russert during a July 2003 phone call. Russert has said that the two didn't talk about Valerie Plame during that phone call. In fairness Russert first told the FBI he couldn't recall discussing Plame with Libby, but later firmed up his position and has steadfastly acknowledged he talked to Libby but denied Plame was ever discussed.

Fitzgerald has presented a mountain of evidence showing that Libby learned of Plame's identity long before he talked to Russert. He has also presented a mountain of evidence indicating that Dick Cheney was obsessed with contradicting Joe Wilson. Cheney thought Wilson had said that Cheney sent him to Niger. Early reporting made it sound like Cheney had directly ordered Wilson to Niger. In fact, Wilson only said that he was sent to Niger by the CIA to check on a concern of the VP. Both Cheney and Wilson were 100% accurate. The mainstream media had simply screwed up the reporting.

Cheney was hot to prove he didn't personally send Wilson. He found out that Wilson's wife was CIA and had something to do with Wilson's selection. He decided to push the story that Wilson's wife had sent Wilson to Niger as a boondoggle. Why anybody would consider a trip to Niger a boondoggle is beyond me, but that was Cheney was peddling to the Right Wing Noise Machine.

Prior to Plame ever being mentioned in the press, and prior to his discussion with Russert, the overwelming evidence proves that Libby had been part of several conversations concerning how Cheney wanted to respond to the report that Cheney had sent Wilson to Niger. Libby is simply lying when he claims he learned about Plame from Russert.

Here has been what troubling me about this whole Libby trial. Something that just doesn't hang together. When Scooter Libby was scrambling for a story that had a chance of holding water, why in the world did he point to a specific conversation with Tim Russert, of all people, as being where he learned that Plame was Wilson's wife. Was he counting on Russert's reported bad memory? Was he counting on Russert's unhealthy coziness with Cheney's office and his chief of staff? After all Dana Milbank has reported that Cheney thinks he owns Tim Russert. You know, they call guys like Russert journalists because they often take notes. Why would Libby reasonably think Russert didn't make notes of their phone conversation? Or was there something else? If so what?

I haven't seen this blogged. If you have post a comment. I am truly puzzled. Just why would Libby point to a specific conversation with a specific journalist to bolster his claim that he didn't learn about Plame from Dick Cheney or some other Administration official, unless he had some reason to believe Russert would back him up. Any other explanation sounds like a pretty stupid move for a very shrewed operator.

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