Talking Points Memo - July 14, 2005

06:02 PM EDT

I haven't been able to get a copy of the exact text yet. But the Republican counter-amendment on the floor is truly amazing. It would strip of his or her security access any senator who repeated a statement by an FBI agent which was subsequently used as "propaganda" by America's enemies. In other words, the law is targeted at Sen. Durbin, making it against the law to say what he said a month ago.

04:24 PM EDT

Another TPM Reader ads his two-cents ...

The parallel between the White House's attack on Clarke and the defense of Rove is spot on, but I think most people misunderestimate the effectiveness of this strategy.

04:05 PM EDT

A TPM Reader checks in ...

I'm struck by how similar the Republican's attack on Richard Clarke and their defense of Rove are. Both issues cut right to the core of their right-wing being and needed to be defended, or else they risk losing everything. So that is why the defense is so ferocious. But it is also why, like the Clarke attack, it is so scattershot and incoherent.

11:25 AM EDT

A TPM Reader updates on Rove's last public appearances ...

The Rove appearance in Nebraska was no reporters and not open to the public. The questions were pre-screened and I think limited to questions about Social Security.

09:48 AM EDT

If you have access to Salon, set aside a few minutes to read this new piece by Sid Blumenthal, which sets out the broad horizon of where the Rove/Plame story is at press, while knocking down much of the standing disinformation. See also the quotes from Kovach about what the Times is up to in this with Judy Miller. This goes to the earlier conversation about just how Miller is involved in this whole matter.

09:14 AM EDT

I was thinking this morning that if I had the right software and better business sense I'd set up one of those cool Internet futures markets, only in this case, the site would sell futures contracts on which day the Rove machine would go after which person involved in this scandal.

01:55 AM EDT

It didn't escape the notice of the reporters at the Times or the Post today. Never one for subtlety, Rove lawyer Robert "GB" Luskin has started laying the ground work for accusing Matt Cooper of lying about his client. Said Luskin: "Cooper's truthful testimony today will not call into question the accuracy or completeness of anything Rove has previously said to the prosecutor or the grand jury."

01:27 AM EDT

I think it's only late in the evening, when the email traffic slows and the other distractions fade, that I can really see and marvel at the collosus that is, as Brock calls it, the Republican noise machine, with its ferocity that is only surpassed by its nihilism.

12:17 AM EDT

Perhaps someone can help me with this.

When was the last time Karl Rove appeared at a public event and when was the last time he spoke to a reporter? (And I don't mean the calls he's making to them now in the spin war. I mean, on the record public questions.)