Author: BooMan

Interrupting our regular focus on Pre$$titution, we want to let readers know that rumors are flying around D.C. that over a dozen indictments may be coming in the Plame case.

We caution that we are reporting a RUMOR. Nothing more. And this may be absolutely false. Still there is definitely chatter in Washington circles….

UPDATE: AMERICAblog has this teaser: “My source tells me that the scuttlebutt around town is that the White House knows something bad is coming, in terms of Karl getting indicted, and they’re already trying to distance him from the president.”

Miller had spent nearly two months in jail on civil contempt-of-court charges when negotiations between the two camps resumed. Another Miller lawyer, Robert Bennett, picked up the phone on Aug. 31 to call Tate. Bennett told TIME that the Miller camp had received an indication from a third party that it might be a good time to approach Libby with a new request to personally waive the confidentiality agreement.

It took Miller’s lawyers a month, till Sept. 29, to hammer out the details with Libby and Fitzgerald. A legal source told TIME that Fitzgerald gave both camps a letter saying that if Miller and Libby were to have a talk about making a deal, the prosecutor wouldn’t view the conversation as collusive or obstructive as long as they didn’t discuss what Miller would testify to.

Said Bennett: “She would not testify until she was satisfied that the source personally was waiving confidentiality, and she wanted to hear it directly from him.” Negotiations with Fitzgerald were complicated, involving not only Miller’s testimony but her notes as well. The legal source told TIME that the prosecutor did not give the final O.K. for Miller’s release until after he received and reviewed the notes from one of two conversations with Libby in July 2003.

In his deal with Miller, the prosecutor agreed to limit the scope of her testimony before the grand jury, focusing only on the reporter’s conversations with sources about Plame, according to her lawyer Bennett. Miller wanted to rule out of bounds any questions about her reporting on WMD, a lawyer involved in the case told TIME.

I cringe every time I hear the we-must-appoint-a-woman mantra or the-fairer-sex-will-save-the-day schtick, but it’s not just blind chauvinism. Call it informed chauvinism. You see, the governing principle here is that finding a traditional woman in the political arena is a little like finding a NOW member in a full-length burka.

Think about it: generally speaking, where do you find good, conservative, traditional women? The answer is in the home, not the House. Traditional women are usually devoted to traditional endeavors, such as raising their children and tending to hearth and home. And when they are forced by necessity into the workaday world, they’re usually doing merely what is required to put three squares on the table. They’re not seeking to exalt themselves through careerism.

At the other end of the spectrum you find the Hillary Clintons, Barbara Boxers and Diane Feinsteins of the world. These women drank deeply of the cup of feminist Kool-Aid, imbibing its precept that fulfillment can only be found through worldly pursuits which, as we all know, were selfishly reserved for men, by men. Simply put, a traditional woman’s greatest dream is to raise a family; a feminist woman’s greatest dream is to create a village that can raise a family.

White House and Republican Party officials are scrambling to rein in conservative activists critical of President Bush’s nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, yesterday held a conference call with conservative leaders to address their concerns about Miers. He stressed Bush’s close relationship with Miers and the need to confirm a justice who will not interfere with the administration’s management of the war on terrorism, according to a person who attended the teleconference.

And this past weekend, Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff, sought to persuade conservative leaders that Miers was a nominee they could trust if confirmed to the high court. In particular, Rove “worked over” Dr. James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, who is one of the most influential conservatives in the country, according to one conservative leader…

Conservatives began expressing their anxiety about Miers soon after Bush announced her nomination early yesterday morning.

One member of the Senate Judiciary Committee closely allied with the conservative base, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), declined to state his reaction to Miers yesterday…

Mehlman yesterday unveiled a politically powerful argument linking Bush’s nomination to the war on terrorism. He said that as a former White House counsel Miers would know the importance of not letting the courts or the legislative branch “micromanage” the war on terrorism.

But Mehlman deflected questions about Miers’s political contributions and Reid’s endorsement of her, saying that he was not fully aware of what Reid said about her and that the party would conduct further research about her.