Breaking: The confirmation of Britney's latest pregnancy rests entirely on a hastily written Blackberry text exchange between In Touch magazine and star-fucker turned rumored baby-daddy, JR Rotem. We imagine this is exactly how shit went down during the Valerie Plame leak. [Mollygood]
I read Robert Novak's column in the Washington Post on July 14, 2003, very early in the morning. Joe came in, put the paper on the bed and said, "Well, the SOB did it." I felt as if I'd been sucker-punched. You think about your family, your career, about your network, your assets, their physical security. How did he get my name? Why was he using my maiden name? It's a jumble. And it all happens in a fraction of an instant.
–Valerie Plame, discussing what went through her mind in the moment she realized her identity was exposed, thereby effectively ending her career in the CIA and public service. [People]
What Hollywood is calling "the Judith Miller movie" is now filming on location here, but prepare yourselves: Some changes are being made to the story inspired by the outing of a CIA agent.
For starters, in the movie Judith Miller is no longer Judith Miller of the New York Times, but Rachel Armstrong of the Washington Capital Sun. And while the real Judith Miller may be remembered as a stylish, slightly scary reporter of 59, headed off to jail in a quilted black jacket and tortoise-frame sunglasses, in the movie she is a sizzling Kate Beckinsale, 34, dressed in a, shall we say, form-fitting skirt…
"People could say Kate is too good-looking to be a reporter," admits Rod Lurie, the writer and director of the independently financed film.
–Excerpted from William Booth's article in the Washington Post entitled, "Hollywood Plugs Its Tale of a Leak"
When Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer admitted that he had no plans to ever pay his bloggers, there was some outrage from the reporters and pundits who had grown accustomed to getting money for their work.
But the fact is, The Huffington Post offers her bloggers something which can be more valuable than money: Web traffic.
Consider Valerie Wilson’s blog on the Huffington Post. She became a writer on the site literately three hours after her 60 Minutes segment. She’s written three posts on the Huffington Post, mostly about her book, and her experience trying to promote it.
CONTINUED »
After hitting up MSNBC's Countdown and CNN's Larry King Live, Valerie Plame's Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House has jumped from No. 23 on Amazon's best-seller list to No. 13 14 as of today.
Meanwhile, between pulling up Amazon when this post began and refreshing it when we were about to hit "Publish," Valerie lost a ranking point.
Just when you thought it was safe to forget about that Times Op-Ed from four years ago, Valerie Wilson is back.
Her new book, Fair Game, was released today. Portions of the book, which chronicles her experience as an exposed C.I.A. agent, were censored by her former employer’s Publications Review Board. Like a very difficult blind item, those sections are included and blacked out in the new book.
Fair Game is currently number 23 on the Amazon Bestseller list. Unlike Jessica Seinfeld, who has the number one book on the list and is “[not] in this for the money or the publicity,” Wilson could use both the money and the publicity. Because of this scandal, she lost her job and has dealt with a smear campaign against her and husband for the past four years.
CONTINUED »
Everyone's had one of those no-good, very-bad days. You know, the kind where you wake up late (and slightly hungover!) on the wrong side of the bed, discover that all your work-clothes are either at the dry-cleaners, or else piled in a crumpled heap on the bedroom floor, only to realize that it's Saturday, and that, yes, you actually are retarded?
Well, today is not one of those days for Judith Miller.
First, the former journalist-slash-jailbird shows she has a sense of humor with a lighthearted appearance on a right-leaning morning tv show, and now comes word that—in the big-screen version of Bush and Cheney fucking over CIA agent, Valerie Plame—Miller's going to be portrayed by…gorgeous movie star, Kate Beckinsale.
Remember back when all those high-powered White House officials leaked the identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame, thereby ruining all her future career prospects, and leaving her with no recourse except to slap them with a lawsuit (that will inevitably be tossed) and write a book about her experience as an undercover agent (which will, undoubtedly, be quashed by the CIA prior to publication) all because of some stupid, silly grudge they had against Valerie's husband, Joseph Wilson?
Well, no final word on the book as of yet, but CNN is reporting that the lawsuit is dead in the water.
• On the plus side, Diane Sawyer scored an exclusive with Tuberculosis patient Andrew Speaker. On the minus side, Sawyer has started to develop 'cold and flu-like symptoms."
• Valerie Plame to sue CIA for right to publisher her memoirs. You know, because the CIA tends to frown on "Behind-the-scenes at CIA headquarters!" tell-alls
• As newsroom jobs fade, demand for them continues to grow, presumably because most English and Journalism majors had to pass/fail Econ 101, and hence know nothing of "supply and demand."
• Studies show primetime television has lost its allure. And no, this isn't another anti-Katie Couric piece.
• CNN takes cue from Law & Order, announces new Special Investigations Unit spin-off.
• Jack Schafer tells L.A. Times to shit or get off the pot.
• Newer, smaller WSJ becomes the "Nicole Richie" of financial news.
• CIA to block Valerie Plame from publishing their deepest, darkest secrets.
• An upcoming online news program hires a computer as its anchorman; Katie Couric "shaking in her boots."
• Washington bureau considered "expendable" by many new outlets looking to cut costs.
• It's no 126 Rivington, but certainly there's enough drama in this "urban dorm" for its own show. [NYT]
• The length of Robert Novak's conversation with Karl Rove about Valerie Plame was up there with the amout of time it takes for your premature ejaculation to kick in. [AP]
• Katie Couric is shaking hands not just with viewers but with the local affiliates who will determine what her own ratings will look like. [USA Today]
• Jennifer Aniston's security detail threatens the stalkerazzi by taping the photogs — and making sure their immigration papers are in order. [TMZ]
• As Nick Denton and Jared Paul Stern gear up to host tonight's book party for The Sound of No Hands Clapping, author Toby Young is working to get old bossman Graydon Carter to show up. But how'd Toby get these folks to appear on the invite, anyhow? [WWD, ETP]
• The FCC maintains its quest to ban obscenity from the airwaves, this time turning its attention on NASCAR swearing, sponsored by Penzoil. [THR]
• Jane mag bloggers clearly need more oversight. [Jane]
This AP news alert just hit the wires:
Former CIA operative Valerie Plame files suit against Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide Scooter Libby, and presidential adviser Karl Rove.
We're giving Matt Drudge 11 and four-thirteenths of a second to get a headline up.
Update: The full AP story is here.
Upon reviewing the the clauses we initialed when we signed our contract with Lucifer, we've been informed we're requied to offer comment on Robert Novak's revealing of two of his three sources in the Valerie Plame leak. If you had tuned in to the primetime cable shows last night just after a preview of Novak's column today were made public, you would've had no choice but to believe this is a big, fat, important story that should occupy at least the brief minutes between you swallowing a Lunesta and deep sleep. So what gives? Novak fingered Karl Rove and CIA spokesman Bill Harlow as two of his sources, though his primary source remains cloaked in pseudo-anonymity. Psuedo, because Novak told special prosecutor Robert Fitzgerald all about his main source, though he's not identifying this person publicly. Which means today's Novak column is going to get a lot of attention — for revealing nothing we didn't already know before.
Novak Told Prosecutor His Sources in Leak Case [David Johnston, NYT]
As most of us expected, Karl Rove is not being charged in the CIA leak case he has been under scrutiny for since 2003. In an exhaustive investigation into who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the press, Rove was among many political figures brought into question.
And while many of us would like to see Rove get locked away for something (insanity? Annoyingness?) today is just not that day. The New York Times offers a political analysis on the topic:
The decision not to pursue any charges removes a potential political stumbling block for a White House that is heading into a long and difficult election season for Republicans in Congress.
Mr. Fitzgerald's decision should help the White House in what has been an unsuccessful effort to put the leak case behind it. Still ahead, however, is the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., on charges for perjury and obstruction of justice, and the prospect that Mr. Cheney could be called to testify in that case.
Yes, where one stumbling block for the republican party is removed, there are at least three more people in line, just waiting to trip over themselves.
Leak Counsel Won't Charge Rove, Lawyer Announces [David Johnston, New York Times]
• Rachel Weiss finally popped that baby out. It feels like just last month she was 10 months pregs. [Us Weekly]
• People have finally given up trying to Google that Britney Spears sex tape. Or maybe they just want to see it less and less as the months go by. [Scoop]
• Since being an artist requires talent, and being a prostitute requires working, we would say that Paris Hilton actually falls into neither category. Then again, that tape was kind of an icon of pop culture … ok fine. We pick prostitute. [FBNY]
• Has anybody noticed that Denise Richards doesn't actually do anything except sue her husband and get hot really fast after having babies? Who cares if she's marrying someone? Why is this woman even a celebrity? [Pop Bytes]
• Valerie Plame Wilson whatever her name is lost her book deal. Well, that's what happens when you refuse to go in public to promote the shit. [NYT]
We're really not sure we can handle another memoir. After James Frey and JT LeRoy rocked our autobiographical boats, we swore we would never believe anything anyone told us again. Ok, that's a little extreme, but we decided that memoirs in general were merely outlets for the evils of publishing.
And then Kaavya Viswanathan came along and proved that not even chic lit was safe from the biggest faux paux in publishing. And now we have publishers throwing millions at Valerie Plame for her memoir. When will these book nerds ever learn?
"At least four publishers are vying for the memoir of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame - and the bidding has reached seven figures, publishing sources told Media Ink.
Plame, of course, is the career agent who was working undercover - until her name was leaked to reporters, triggering a full-blown scandal in Washington, D.C., in the hunt for the leaker.
Then again, this whole story is already based around lies and sneaky secrets, so maybe Plame can somehow resist the need to inject even more scandal into this story. And we also sort of feel like maybe the players in this particular story have already used up all the lies the world has left.
PLAME GAME WINS 4 BIDS [Keith Kelly, New York Post]
It was pretty much expected, and totally inevitable, but Valerie Plame is "shopping a book proposal." The New York Times was leaked this information by two anonymous inside sources, who Motoko Rich may or may not need to spend a few months in the slammer to protect.
Because of her silence and avoidance of the media (except for the Vanity Fair photo she posed for) the book is sure to rally a huge amount of publicity. But you have to love the Times' finesse for understatement:
The leak of Ms. Wilson's name, which first appeared in a column by Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist, produced a full-scale Washington scandal. Investigations are continuing into the identity of the person who told Mr. Novak, and possibly others in the media, about Ms. Wilson.
We assume Scooter Libby and Bob Woodward will receive comp copies?
Valerie Plame Seeks Book Deal [Motoko Rich, New York Times]
Take your pick of government officials, CIA operatives and media members who have been involved in the series of leaks and bungles over the past year or so.
Likely at least one of them had something to do with this breaking CNN story involving the axing of a CIA officer. And if not, well, props to the media for still snagging those exclusive unauthorized interviews.
A CIA officer has been fired from the agency for leaking classified information to an unauthorized person, a CIA spokeswoman said Friday.
The officer admitted to "unauthorized discussions with the media in which the officer knowingly and willfully shared classified intelligence including operational information," spokeswoman Michelle Neff.
They aren't giving us much information at all, but be sure the politically aware media will be all over this. Hopefully, because we're just too busy trying to get Chris Wilson's lawyers off our back and consoling our newly adopted Dominican orphan to put up with this nonsense.
CIA: Agency officer fired in leak of classified information [Pam Benson, CNN]
And in other "our government is totally fucked up" news, the National Journal brings us a Plamegate update.
As was pretty much suspected, but never actually testified to a federal grand jury, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby admits that he "received 'approval from the President through the Vice President'" to leak intelligence regarding invisible WMDs to the Washington Post and the New York Times.
In some instances, the information leaked was directly discussed with the Vice President, while in other instances Libby believed he had broad authority to release information that would make the case to go to war.
Of course this led to the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, an investigation into Judith Miller which resulted in her going to jail for protecting her source, and Dick Cheney laughing in the corner because his plan to distract the media from the war is going perfectly.
Next week, when the veep accidentally shoots someone, we can only hope the gun will backfire.
Libby Says Bush Authorized Leaks [Murray Wass, National Journal]
We can not wait for them to adapt this story for Law & Order. In the next chapter in Plamegate (which we may have to change to Wilsongate, according to the Times), lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, are slapping subpoenas on the New York Times and Judith Miller.
The new subpoenas seek her notes and other materials, including any other documents concerning Ms. Wilson prepared by Ms. Miller and Nicholas D. Kristof, an Op-Ed columnist for The Times; drafts of a personal account by Ms. Miller published in The Times in October concerning her grand jury testimony; documents concerning her interactions with an editor of The Times; and documents concerning a recent Vanity Fair article on the investigation
We don't really understand why anything besides Vanity Fair, the grail of truth, would be needed for a court investigation. It doesn't matter that the article was written by Judy's best friend. A VF article is great evidence — especially because their reporters got it all on tape.
Lawyers for Libby Subpoena Reporter and New York Times [Adam Liptak, New York Times]
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