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I appreciate the desire to make Condi look like a bitch. Or rather, to expose Condi's imperious side. But does anyone suspect there's some crucial context left out of this story? Coit Blacker, a Stanford professor who is one of thesecretary of state's closest friends, recalls going into a shop whereRice asked to see earrings.

When David Vitter admitted to using a prostitute service, no Republicans asked him to resign. When it became clear that Pete Domenici had asked Bush and Gonzales to fire David Iglesias because the US Attorney didn't trump up charges against Democrats, no Republicans asked him to resign. When it became clear that Bob Ney and Ted Stevens and John Doolittle and Don Young had received some mighty curious gifts, no Republicans asked them

Most people who linked to Isikoff's latest did so to note that Jack Goldsmith will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September. The Senate Judiciary Committee, for example, has already planned ahearing next month featuring the first public testimony of formerOffice of Legal Counsel chief Jack Goldsmith. A one-time administrationstalwart, he became convinced that Gonzales and other administrationofficials were breaking the law in eavesdropping on conversations ofU.S.

Say, has anyone noticed how omnipresent Ari Fleischer has been, of late? Obviously, the big news is his pimping for a $15 million propaganda campaign in favor of death and destruction. "For those who believe in peace through strength, the cavalry iscoming," said former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who isa founding board member of the group. But Ari is also, all of a sudden, a seemingly acceptable source of the

Before we crown Michael Chertoff Attorney General, I recommend we pull him before some oversight committee and ask him if he ever used Department of Homeland Security's Privacy Office to review planned domestic surveillance activities before they're used to collect data on American citizens. CSM reports that DHS is suspending a massive data-mining program because it has already started using live data without ever putting the program through a privacy review.

If you compare Bush's comments on Rove's resignation with his comments on Gonzales' resignation, it sure seems like Rove left on Bush's terms, whereas Gonzales left on his own terms. Here's how Bush announced the departure of the man who had made his entire political career. Karl Rove is moving on down the road.

Mr. emptywheel and I are headed to DC so McCaffrey the MilleniaLab can attend a very important Furrin' Policy Summit with Kobe, Katy, and Lucy (oh, and so we can go to a wedding or some such rot). The emptywheel pack is going to play around in the mud together for a couple of days on the way back.

In this post, I compare what Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell revealed yesterday about why Democratic bills amending FISA were unacceptable with the content of those bills. The comparison shows that DNI McConnell found it unacceptable to require the government to:List what the minimization procedures were that protect data collected from Americans Allow either a FISA judge or Congress to review its compliance with its own minimization procedures In short, the

Okay, that's not precisely the conclusion the new NIE in Iraq draws. But it is the logical outcome of the key judgments its gives. Here are some key points, taken totally out of the context of the report, but which are otherwise direct quotes:The IC assesses that the emergence of “bottom-up” security initiatives, principally among Sunni Arabs and focused on combating AQI, represent the best prospect for improved security over the

This is our Director of National Intelligence, talking about the threat of Al Qaeda growing stronger in an area nominally controlled by our ally Pakistan: After the 31st of May we were in extremis becausenow we have significantly less capability. And meantime, the community,before I came back, had been working on a National IntelligenceEstimate on terrorist threat to the homeland.