Our friends at
Americablog raise a really important question:
I just got a call from a friend whose wife came up with a very interesting point. Fitzgerald today said that he could have been having this press conference a year ago, if Judith Miller had been more forthcoming. A year ago would have been October 28, 2004. That's about, oh, one week before the presidential election.
With the 2004 presidential election as close as it was, this could have easily - would have easily - swung the election to Kerry's favor. But Judith Miller didn't come forward, and Bush wasn't damaged BEFORE his re-election.
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On MSNBC Chris Matthews is asking why Libby would be so dumb, why this supposedly smart guy would go to such lengths to hide something that could so easily be found out? If I could mangle some sports analogies, perhaps he was trying for a sacrifice fly (baseball) to run out the clock (basketball, football) before the elections. Because as Fitz said, he would have had this press conference back in October 2004 if Miller would have stepped up.
Had this happened right before the election, what do you think would have happened? Do you think 2% of the electorate might have decided that Bush was not the strongest candidate on national security? I sure do. More importantly, back then I think BushCo and certainly Libby thought so.