Category: ahmed chalabi

Caution: Networking in Progress

It's basically just a day of record breaking here in the District. First, there was the Cuteaggedon. Now: The Most Ground-Breaking D.C. Gossip Item Ever In the History of the World. According to the New York Observer, Juleanna Glover-Weiss is currently introducing Ahmad Chalabi's daughter (a recent doctoral student and just-published author) around to local editors. Yes, it's true: A networked social powerbroker is helping out a well-connected newcomer (a Harvard grad, no less) with similar political sympathies. Washington may never be the same.

Off the Record (first item) [NYO]

READ MORE: ahmed chalabi , hyperbole , juleanna glover-weiss , new york observer , top

Daily Briefing: 'The Red-Carpet Treatment'

• Approval of Bush slips to 37%, a new low in WSJ/NBC polling; 79% believe the leak investigation is "a serious matter" and a majority say Bush "deliberately misled people" to war. [WSJ]
• House Republicans scrap ANWR drilling to ensure passage of budget. Schumer: "If you are a moderate Republican, you are starting to say, 'I am not going to follow George Bush over the cliff.'" [WP, NYT]
• Republicans fear implications of Tuesday's elections; Democrats have their own lessons to learn. Pollster: "The waning of enthusiasm for Bush and his presidency is national." [LAT, WP, WT]
• Senators press top oil executives about their profits; "if the hearing had an air of the theater, the public resentment articulated by the senators was real." Milbank: "[I]nstead of calling oil executives on the carpet yesterday, senators gave them the red-carpet treatment." [WP, NYT, WSJ, USAT, WT]
• Bush splits with Republicans over ban of abusive treatment of detainees. [USAT]
• Judith Miller leaves The New York Times. [WP, WP, NYT]
• Chalabi denies misleading the U.S. and offers to testify before Congress. [USAT, WP]
• Senate Judiciary Committee considers televising Supreme Court proceedings. [LAT]

• Congress expected to curtail Patriot Act. [WP]
• Kaine campaign is praised. [WP]
• Senate Select Committee on Intelligence outlines inquiry of pre-war intelligence. [WP]
• Roberts asks Frist to postpone congressional investigation of leak to the Washington Post until the Justice Department has concluded theirs. [WP]
• Ethics are likely to come up during Alito's confirmation hearing; Democrats expect him to be confirmed. [WP, LAT, WT]
• Jack Abramoff priced a meeting with Bush at $9m for the president of Gabon. [NYT]
• President of Amtrak claims he was dismissed for ideological reasons. [NYT]
• John Edwards says his vote for the war in Iraq was a mistake. [WP]
• 50% think the press are not fair to Bush, according to Pew survey. [WT]
• Documentary about 2004 election in Ohio shows "that the Bush campaign was run by major-league professionals and the Kerry campaign by bush-league amateurs." [NYT]

READ MORE: 2004 , 2005 , 2006 , CIA , Democrats , Media , Republicans , SCOTUS , White House , ahmed chalabi , amtrak , anwr , big oil , bill frist , black sites , budget , campaigns , george w. bush , jack abramoff , john edwards , john f. kerry , judith miller , leak investigation , ohio , pat roberts , patriot act , pre-war intelligence , samuel alito , tim kaine , treatment of detainees

Judy Judged

Looks like Judith Miller has completed her awkward segue from self-righteous hero to former New York Times reporter. Bill Keller just posted two emails on the Times' sight explaining Miller’s “retirement” from the paper:

To the Staff:

Judy Miller has retired from The New York Times effective today.

In her 28 years at The Times, Judy participated in some great, prize-winning journalism. She displayed fierce determination and personal courage both in pursuit of the news and in resisting assaults on the freedom of news organizations to report. We wish her well in the next phase of her career.

Bill

P.S. Judy asked that I share with you a letter I sent regarding my recent memo to the staff. It is attached, and speaks for itself.

And honestly, who doesn’t love prizes? Sure, everyone knew this was coming. But we hear Keller burned through several drafts of his "entanglements" and "engagements" letters before striking the right note:

"Judy, we were concerned to discover you and Mr. Libby were humping more than a army of camels."

"Ms. Miller, in your efforts it's clear there was more banging than a drum factory."

"You were fucking him, weren't you Judy? Weren't you?"

You can read more about Judy’s entangled engagements with Scooter after the jump.
-- Eric Pfeiffer

Dear Judy,

I know you’ve been distressed by the memo I sent to the staff about things I wish I’d done differently in the course of this ordeal. Let me be clear on two points you’ve raised.

First, you are upset with me that I used the words “entanglement” and “engagement” in reference to your relationship with Scooter Libby. Those words were not intended to suggest an improper relationship. I was referring only to the series of interviews through which you ­ and the paper ­ became caught up in an epic legal controversy.

Second, you dispute my assertion that “Judy seems to have misled” Phil Taubman when he asked whether you were one of the reporters to whom the White House reached out with the Wilson story. I continue to be troubled by that episode. But you are right that Phil himself does not contend that you misled him; and, of course, I was not a participant in the conversation between you and Phil.

I wish you all the best for the future.

Regards, Bill

READ MORE: ahmed chalabi , bill keller , judy miller , new york times , scooter libby

Daily Briefing: Refresher Courses for White House Staff

• Kaine and Corzine win gubernatorial races in Virginia and NJ; Texas approves ban gay marriage. [WP, WP, NYT, USAT]
• Frist and Hastert seek investigation into the disclosure of CIA's "black sites" to the Washington Post. McClellan: "The leaking of classified information is a serious matter and ought to be taken seriously." [WP, NYT, WT]
• Alito "has signaled he would be highly reluctant to overturn long-standing precedents" such as Rove v. Wade. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine): "At this point, I see no basis for invoking 'extraordinary circumstances' and for anyone to mount a filibuster." [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Schwarzenegger's initiatives are rejected; his "celebrity may not be the tonic it once was." [LAT, LAT, USAT]
• Election came at a sensitive time for both parties, especially the GOP. [NYT, WSJ, LAT, USAT]
• House to decide fate of ANWR; Senate approves drilling by vote of 51 to 48. [WP]
• Grassley (R-Iowa) proposes $70b in tax cuts. [NYT, WSJ]

• Bush has White House staffers take mandatory refresher courses on ethics and the handling of classified information. [WT]
• As professor, Alito prodded his students and kept his opinions to himself. [WP]
• Roberts has found his place after "dizzying" transition. [NYT]
• Negroponte announces creation of a center for the analysis of unclassified information. [NYT]
• Chalabi expected to meet with Cheney. [NYT]
• "The Sissy Six" -- Rockefeller (W.Va), Levin (Mich.), Feinstein (Calif.), Bond and Lott (Miss.), and Roberts (Kan.)-- must muscle-up, Milbank writes. [WP]
• Ads about Alito will hit the airwaves in January. [USAT]
• Libby starts defense fund. [NYT]

READ MORE: 2005 , CIA , California , Democrats , Republicans , White House , abortion , ahmed chalabi , anwr , arnold schwarzenegger , bill frist , black sites , budget , campaigns , charles grassley , dennis hastert , george w. bush , john g. roberts , john negroponte , jon corzine , lewis libby , new jersey , samuel alito , scott mcclellan , sissy six , susan collins , texas , tim kaine , virginia , washington post

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