After a long quiet period, the Valerie Plame affair may be heating up.

Ashcroft Takes a Hike

You remember the Valerie Plame affair, don't you? Anonymous White House official deliberately outs CIA non-official cover operative to score a few cheap political points against her husband? Ring any bells? Anything at all? No, it wasn't the plot of the last Mission Impossible movie. But if your memory does stretch all the way back to the distant days of last September, you may interested to know that Attorney General John Ashcroft has finally recused himself from the investigation, and appointed a special prosecutor to take his place:

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Here are some comments from Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo.

December 30, 2003 -- 04:31 PM EDT

I was having lunch with a friend today, and mid-way through our meal I noticed a TV near the bar running CNN with the tell-tale 'Breaking News' logo. I looked over and saw that it was some Justice Department news conference and figured it couldn't be something too interesting. Getting back to my office this afternoon I see it was a bit of a bigger deal than I thought. As you've probably already seen, Attorney General John Ashcroft has decided to recuse himself from the Plame leak investigation, which will be taken over by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the current United States Attorney in Chicago.

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December 30, 2003 -- 09:18 PM EDT

A few more quick thoughts on John Ashcroft's recusal in the Plame investigation. First, I've heard a bit more about Patrick Fitzgerald, the man Deputy Attorney General James Comey appointed to serve as a special prosecutor in the Plame case. And, thus far, everything I've heard leads me to believe he'll lead an independent investigation. One can never know in advance of course what motives or predispositions a person might have. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating(hackneyed phrase? yes. but clear and to the point). But one can look at clues from past performance. And those clues point in the right direction. And then, another issue. Why did this happen? And why now? A few possibilities suggest themselves.

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January 02, 2004 -- 01:27 PM EDT

Things are seldom as they appear on the surface. And the Plame matter is a case in point. At the moment the discussion is about whether the doers can beat the rap. (Did the person at the White House know she was covert, etc.?) [...] But that's not the issue and it never has been. At least it hasn't been since very early on. Because the basic facts of the matter have been in plain sight from the beginning. And whether an aide to the president is indicted or goes to prison is largely an issue for that particular person. The issue here -- from the beginning, and now to the end -- is whether the president accepts such behavior and what the standard operating procedure in the Bush White House is: Do you punish a political opponent by attacking his family if it means exposing one of the country's covert intelligence operatives and breaking the law? That's a pretty straightforward standard. And by all the available evidence this White House considers it acceptable behavior.

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