7/12: When Was The Last Time Liberals Were This Giddy?

The Hotline's Blogometer takes the daily temperature of the blogosphere.

The hot pursuit of WH dep. CoS Karl Rove is getting hotter. Last week the story had to compete with the SCOTUS vacancy and the London bombings for attention. This week, as those events fade for lack of new info, the investigation into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame has the blogs (and newspapers) virtually to itself, at least as a domestic story. Plus, the increased focus on high-profile liberal bete noire Rove makes it seem possible that others in the WH could be caught up.

In a way, that's already happened. As if the complicated and incomplete story didn't have enough characters, yesterday the blogosphere's focus fell upon yet another individual: WH spokesperson Scott McClellan, who faced pointed questioning from the WH press corps. about what the WH knew of Rove's conversations with Time's Matt Cooper. Liberal bloggers had been clamoring for the press corps to do just that since last week. More on that in "Trackbacks" as well as the coverage below.

Also in today's edition: rumors of an early US/UK withdrawal from Iraq, the latest in a possible scandal threatening to ensnare Sen. John Thune (R-SD), more on the SCOTUS vacancy, and our latest Blogger Spotlight. Today we interview conservative radio talker Hugh Hewitt.

TRACKBACKS: Answer -- The Last Time Liberals Were This Giddy Was Election Day '04 About 3pm

Where the blog swarm is headed, who's taking part, and what they're saying:

• Which MSM stories about Rove are getting the most links? Memeorandum counts, in order, reports from the 7/12 New York Times, 7/11 New York Times and the WH transcript. The liberal bloggers are driving this story -- conservative bloggers are just along for the ride.
  
  

  >> Reax from the left: New Donkey's Ed Kilgore asks, "could it be possible that the man who has raised dirty tricks, political intimidation, and character assassination to the highest levels of geopolitical strategy could be laid low by a cheap act of personal spite aimed at an obscure former diplomat who threw a minor monkey wrench into the run-up to the war in Iraq? Could the top operative in a leak-proof White House be brought down by a leak?" · Header at AMERICAblog: "Tell me this doesn't sound like Watergate" · Taegan Goddard notes that John Kerry says Rove "has to go." · Rising Hegemon isn't the only one comparing McClellan to Nixon spokesperson Ron Ziegler. · Mark A.R. Kleiman: "The most striking thing about the [Times' 7/12] story isn't the content, is that it's running (apparently on Page 1) and that it isn't about Judith Miller. ... Having downplayed the story for two years (seemingly to protect Judith Miller) perhaps now the Times will start acting like a newspaper again."
  

  >> From the right: Michelle Malkin: "I actually have no problem with McClellan getting justifiably barked at during his daily briefings ... But isn't it funny how Beltway reporters who get all prissy and whiny about one Fox News Channel reporter asking the DNC chairman one mildly aggressive question have no problem turning pack-rabid on McClellan?" · JustOneMinute's Tom Maguire pits "David Corn 2005" vs. "David Corn 2003" -- in '03, Corn wrote that Plame's mention was incidental. Maguire suggests that Plame husband Joe Wilson was merely a pawn in "an ongoing tussle between the CIA and the neocons." · Header at Brothers Judd: "QUIT NOW AND GET IT OVER WITH"
  

  >> More reax: King of Zembla; Huffington Post; Romenesko; Machination; David Sirota; Peking Duck; PoliPundit; NewsHog; BushTracker.

THE PLAME GAME I: Not-So-Great Scott!

At least for the moment, lefty bloggers are mostly satisfied with the WH reporters' performance yesterday. "Atrios": "Well, it took a week, but apparently the gaggling gang finally got around to asking Scotty about Rove." CAP's Think Progress: "McClellan hid behind the assertion that the special prosecutor had requested that he not speak from the podium on the matter. A careful reading of McClellan's talking point demonstrates that he was under no specific orders not to speak by the prosecutor." Liberal Josh Marshall writes, Bush probably knew Rove mentioned Plame to Cooper in '03, and "pretty clearly he didn't want Rove held to any account. Indeed, he's gone to great lengths to prevent this from happening." Crooks and Liars has video of the press briefing, plus a round-up of commentary by liberal bloggers.

Some bloggers build on yesterday's news, digging for more info: Whiskey Bar's "Billmon," on McClellan's inability to say "exactly when the White House was asked to take a vow of silence," when questioned on that matter by WH reporters. Billmon goes looking: "As it turns out, the silent treatment predates the combustion of Karl Rove's alibi. Scotty's actually been using variations of his 'ongoing investigation' line since early 2004. ... Of course, in the first few weeks after the Justice Department announced its original probe, you could hardly get McClellan to shut up about what an all around great American Karl Rove was." Daily Kos' "Armando" seizes on the following '03 McClellan statement: "If someone in this administration leaked classified information, they will no longer be a part of this administration, because that's not the way this White House operates." Writes Armando: "It can not be disputed now that Karl Rove did indeed 'leak classified information.' McClellan denied this fact two years ago. Who told McClellan to tell this lie to the American people? Was it Rove and/or Bush?"

Marshall Wittman speculates at TPM Cafe: "Rove also understands internal GOP politics. It is likely he gave the speech a couple of weeks ago attacking liberals to cement his relationship with the right as he enters this difficult time with the Plame prosecutor."

THE PLAME GAME II: Er, See, You Wouldn't Know Him. That's Bob Mosbacher. He Was Secretary Of ...

A MyDD contributor links to the Bust Bob Novak site, which points out that Rove was fired from the '92 Bush campaign "for allegedly leaking a negative story about Bush loyalist/fundraiser Robert Mosbacher to Novak." Back at MyDD, it's noted that Bush 43 "promised to fire whoever was responsible for the leak." In an unrelated post, Captain's Quarters guest-blogger Dafydd ab Hugh writes: "The Democrats have been flogging this promise to fire anyone who was even remotely or tangentially connected to any affairs Valerie Plame may have had in order to demand the summary discharge and frog-marching of Karl Rove into the nearest calabooza." He quotes from Bush's 9/30/03 statement, emphasizing: "And if a person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of.

Some on the right are more interested in other, currently less-popular tangents in the case: NRO's Media Blog: "Is Miller refusing to testify because she herself outed Plame? Who knows? One thing is for sure: the press wants to have it both ways -- attacking Scott McClellan today for not answering questions about Rove's involvement, but reserving a place of honor for Miller, who has done more to obstruct the investigation of this incident than McClellan has." Wizbang guest blogger Rob Port: "You want a matter that is about national security? How about a supposedly undercover CIA operative sending her own husband to Niger to dredge up fake facts in an attempt to smear a sitting President?"

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: Blog Calling The Keller Black?

On 7/11, New York Times exec. ed. Bill Keller responded to Los Angeles Times op-ed ed. Mike Kinsley's "clever" offer to debate Judith Miller on press freedom (Kinsley argued in his 7/8 column that Miller should have revealed her source) at Romenesko: "Sadly, Judy is not on a fellowship at some writers' colony. She is in JAIL. ... Mike's contrarian intellectualizing on the subject of reporters and the law was more amusing when it was all hypothetical." OxBlog's Josh Chafetz calls Keller self-centered, adding that "somehow, the jailing of one of [Keller's] reporters for refusing to obey a court order makes any debate on the merits "perversely remote" from the real world."

IRAQ: Symptoms Of Withdrawal?

Steve Soto is just one of many left-of-center blogs to ruminate on the leaked UK memo indicating that the U.S. and Britain will withdraw from Iraq starting in '06: "And when all is said and done, it appears that Bush will ditch Iraq so that the GOP doesn't get bludgeoned in the 2006 midterms. Yes, as I said a couple of weeks ago, we should bring the troops home, as they have accomplished the toppling of Saddam. But Bush will leave just enough troops over there for them to get killed without there being enough of them to really protect themselves. And as I said, the above-mentioned failures resulted from this disastrous foreign policy, while we are no safer from terrorism." MyDD adds: "Make no mistake: if Republicans become the party of withdrawal before Democrats are able to do so, they will comfortably sweep the 2006 midterms."

Univ. of MI prof Juan Cole notes that Moqtada al-Sadr has collected 400K signatures calling on the U.S. to withdraw: "It should not be thought that only radical Shiites of the Sadrist variety are eager to have foreign troops out. Virtually all Arab Iraqis want them out on a short timetable. It is only the new political elite that wants them to stick around for a while, aware that they might well all be assassinated otherwise.

WHITE HOUSE '08: This Blog Hearts Huckabees

Mike Huckabee President 2008 links to a report by NPR Little Rock affil., which notes that while AR Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) -- who becomes NGA chair this week -- "downplays the possibility" of a WH '08 bid, "he 'carefully avoids ruling out any such campaign.'"

THUNE: No Scandal Here? Daschle Feud Continues?

Ex-TV anchor/Dem blogger Todd Epp from S.D. Watch spoke with "a former employee of Dan Nelson Automotive" who is familiar with the situation surrounding Sen. John Thune (R-SD), ex-Thune manager/bankrupt auto dealer Dan Nelson and MetaBank, on whose board Thune recently sat and to whom Nelson has defaulted on loans (see 7/1 Blogometer). Before launching into it, he adds: "And sure, go ahead, hammer me on the use of unnamed sources. You all know who I am and my record of reliability." The source tells Epp, Thune and Nelson "speak and have spoken on a daily basis (and some times several times a day)" while Nelson received the bank loans and was under investigation by the IA AG. "My source said that Thune does not make a move without contacting Nelson," that "the important contact here is not John Thune to MetaBank but Dan Nelson to MetaBank CEO Tyler Haahr," and that Thune "has hung out his friend Dan Nelson in this situation and could do more to come to his defense and support him." Clean Cut Kid, who reported the 1st details, comments, "this whole MetaBank episode in the Thune Era lacks a smoking gun to this point, but there is enough out there ... to make the whole thing stink. And certainly enough out there to warrant further digging."

MISCELLANY: A Very Merry Unblogiversary To You (And You)

• Lefty Skippy the Bush Kangaroo's 3-year blogiversary was 7/10, and to commemorate the date, "Skippy" asked for help for reaching 1M hits by that date. He didn't get it, so the "Million Hit March Skippy-A-Thon" is now on an "Extended Tour." Liberal bloggers including Jeralyn Merritt, Elayne Riggs, Loaded Mouth and even conservative Instapundit help.
• BC'04 blog maven Patrick Ruffini's 4-year blogiversary was on 7/9, and he re-posts his 1st post, on what's now called the "Arnold Amendment."
• Liberal Joshua Holland at the Gadflyer's Fly Trap: "I don't go around calling people fascists or Nazis. Never called Bush a Nazi ... Having said that, the National Review's John Derbyshireis a friggin' Nazi." He explains.
• Conservative Galley Slaves' Jon Last, who usually sides with Mickey Kaus against Andrew Sullivan, writes that Kaus has crossed a line "that even I won't cross."
• Volokh Conspiracy's Jim Lindgren asks: "Were the London attacks suicide bombings?" He writes: "I considered blogging it at the time, but" the sometimes-unreliable Debkafile's suggestion of it "was so different from what most were saying ... that I thought that I'd wait to see if anything checked out. Now some of Debka's more unusual ideas are being echoed in a few other stories." Lindgren provides examples from mostly British and Israeli papers.
• Right Wing News' John Hawkins shares the hate mail he gets.
• Lefty Duncan "Atrios" Black disagrees vehemently with GWU prof Carol Darr's take on bloggers' political activity, as quoted in the Washington Post; Black and Darr both testified at FEC hearings (see 6/30 Blogometer). Swing State Project posts contact info for GWU pres. Joel Trachtenberg and encourages readers to contact him and recommend that Darr "move on."
• Citing the Washington Times as well as an eyewitness, righty Power Line posts a story about an unprovoked outburst on the part of John McCain toward FEC commis. Bradley Smith (R).

BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: Hugh's The Boss

Today the Blogometer talks to conservative radio talker Hugh Hewitt, who blogs at HughHewitt.com.

What is your full name?

Hugh Hewitt

What is your age?

49

Where did you grow up?

Warren, Ohio

Where do you live now?

Orange County, California

What is your occupation? Have you ever worked on a political campaign or for the mainstream media?

I am a law professor and host of a nationally syndicated radio show for the Salem Radio Network, heard on 70 stations M-F from 3 to 6 PM, Pacific. I am also an author and columnist. My most recent book is "Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That Is Changing Your World" and a new book, "Painting The Map Red" will be out in early 2006. I write weekly for World Magazine and WeeklyStandard.com.

When did you start blogging and why?

I began blogging in early 2002 as a service to the radio show listeners who would always e-mail and ask for links to stories I had referenced on the program. I discovered that a daily blog has an audience as large as most columnists achieve, and that blogging can move stories as well as sell books, generate ad revenue, and prove an addictive hobby that is much cheaper than golf.

What has been your favorite post, or favorite story to write about, in that time?

The story of blogging itself. I enjoy bringing other bloggers to the attention of the public, helping them develop an audience and thus strengthening the new media reach and influence.

Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?

I do radio show prep from 5:30 AM to 7 most mornings, and then blog about key stories/posts I have found. Later, in the hour before broadcast, I will usually ad a post, and perhaps during the show as well. When a story has legs -- like Dick Durbin's asinine remarks about Gitmo being comparable to the Nazis, the Stalinist and Pol Pot, I will post more frequently. On huge news days -- election day, for example -- I post as news arrives. I had a quarter million visitors on election day, though that might have been one obsessive reader or 250,000 semi-interested ones.

Who is your favorite political blogger? Favorite non-political blogger?

My friends at the Northern Alliance of Blogs are all must reads, every day, except for the Fraters gang, who ought to be in jail. MarkDRoberts.com is my favorite non-political blogger.

Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?

A three way tie between Fred Barnes, Michael Barone, and Mark Steyn. Each combines real reporting with great writing.

What is your favorite television news program, either network or cable?

"Special Report with Brit Hume."

What MSM-produced websites (i.e. newspapers, magazines) do you visit on a daily basis?

In this order, every morning: Wall Street Journal, OpinionJournal.com, Washington Post, Washington Times, New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, WeeklyStandard.com, and The New Republic.

What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?

In addition to those listed above, and in no particular order except that I start with Glenn: Instapundit, Daily Kos, the blogs at NationalReview.com, Talking Points Memo, Andrew Sullivan, PoliPundit, Galley Slaves, Albert Mohler, Evangelical Outpost, Roman Catholic Blog, John Mark Reynolds, Roger L. Simon, Little Green Footballs, Mudville Gazette, Major K, Blackfive, Infinte Monkeys, Betsy's Page, Ethos, BuzzMachine, Press Think.

How often, or do you ever, read a newspaper in its dead-tree (i.e. print) form?

I touch the sports page, but only if I cannot get the Cleveland Plain Dealer's and the Akron Beacon Journal's online reports on the Indians and Browns. Tery Pluto of Ohio.com is the best sportswriter in the nation. You didn't ask, but the country deserves to know.

How do you see the new media and old media affecting and influencing each other in the next five years?

Old media is hollowed out, its circulation numbers hiding a deep drop in actual "touches." I expect newspaper and television advertising revenues to drop significantly and magazine and especially radio ad and blog ad revenues to rise dramatically in the next five years as advertisers realize they are paying for an audience that is not there, that circulation numbers mask a precipitous decline in actual readers/viewers, and as "quality" audience -- high income, high education "influencers" -- substitute reliable new media for biased and discredited old media.

BACKLOG: Just Doing OurDD

Note: Haven't seen this particular subhead here before? Neither have we. Starting today this will be a repository for interesting stories and arguments from the blogs that the Blogometer missed the first time around. Until we have omniscience, we'll always have our "Backlog."

On 7/7, MyDD's Chris Bowers announced "Conservative Blog Sprawl Is A Serious Threat To Progressive Blogosphere Dominance." Using BlogAds traffic ranking, Bowers calculates that among the top 250 trafficked ad-supported blogs, 103 lean left and 147 lean right. While liberal blogs occupy 6 of the top 10 and receive more overall traffic, conservative blogs are more abundant further down the long tail, and because smaller blogs tend to be locally-focused, conservative bloggers may have the edge in local and statewide political influence. Bowers sums up: "It is almost as though Democratic electoral problems with suburbs and exurbs are being repeated in the blogosphere. We dominate the big cities, but are getting whacked outside of them. If we are truly going to build a better blogosphere, progressives must respond to rapidly expanding conservative blog sprawl." For more Bowers blog surveys, see Blogometers for 6/8 and 6/14.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Tell Us More

NRO's The Buzz: "One additional line that deserves special attention from today's New York Times piece on Hillary Clinton's campaign website: When the Times spoke with Clinton's advisers about the shift of emphasis on her views, they noted, 'Mrs. Clinton's own advisers have privately conceded that she must win re-election decisively -- not merely eke out a victory -- in order to seriously pursue any national candidacy.' For political junkies, the initial reaction is 'duh.' But for Clinton's people to reveal such information somewhat openly is telling."

LEST WE FORGET: Great Taste, Less Fillings

At the Huffington Post, Sidney son/Nation contributor Max Blumenthal posts text from 2 e-mails: from NY Dem activist Reba Shimansky to MSNBC chief Rick Kaplan and Christopher Hitchens, and a reply from Hitchens (who has a long history with the elder Blumenthal, and recently tangled with the younger (see 5/31 Blogometer)).

Shimansky: "I strongly object to the constant use of Christopher Hitchens as a so called pundit. He is a repugnant individual. On the 7/8 program 'Connected-Coast-Coast' Mr. Hitchens said that England would not withdraw from Iraq because of 4 small bombs. Well tell that to the families who lost loved ones and those who are seriously injured." Hitchens, in reply: "You are idiotic even in your own limited terms when you invite me to "tell that" to the victims and their families. I am obviously doing so, and have done so additionally in print in the London press. Do you imagine that I am talking only to you when I appear on TV? You probably do. Check your fillings."

BLOGOMETER SPECIAL: Gonzo Journalism

With no new retirements, nominations, or rumors to discuss, the blogosphere doesn't have much to say about the SCOTUS vacancy today. But there's always something:

THE FIGHT: Viral Marketing Just Sounds All Wrong, You Know?

This a.m. GOP-leaning 527 PFA held a conf. call with undisclosed participants to promote advertisements available at its UporDownVote.com website, including a new feature posted to the site during the call -- the Rage Gauge, tracking Dem statements PFA finds egregious. The flashy gaphics on the main page lead one to think there's an interactive script or otherwise animated "gauge" on the inside -- instead, it's just a list of quotations from liberal groups such as PFAW, MoveOn and the Alliance for Justice. During the call, PFA pres. Brian McCabe said PFA had sent messages to about "300 bloggers" to spread their television ads on the net via viral marketing.

Meanwhile, pro-Pres. Bush blog Confirm Them argues, what the WH "really ought to understand" is that not just the "'social' right" is opposed to AG Alberto Gonzales, whom they dub "Gonzo": "The problem with Gonzo is that he has shown no inclination to be a strict constitutionalist ... in ANY sense. ... Free-market conservatives don't believe Gonzales would have ruled correctly, for instance, on the Kelo eminent domain case."

Conservative Lifelike Pundits fisks Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) op-ed in the New York Daily News. Wrote Schumer: "After two exceedingly divisive presidential elections and a season of bitter partisanship, Americans want the President and the Senate to unite rather than divide the nation." Lifelike Pundits: "This would have made sense after the 2000 election." But in '04, "Bush WON, clearly, and Republican Senators picked up 5 seats. That means Bush gets to choose. But 'divisive election" really means 'elections Democrats lost.'"

ROE V. WADE: Ever Notice That's An Anagram For "Rove Awed"? Spooky

Liberal Daily Kos contributor "acbonin" excerpts an op-ed by former adviser/Amherst prof Hadley Arkes from the 7/11 NRO: "Either one of the Ediths" -- short-listers Jones and Clement -- "would guarantee" reversal of the abortion ruling in Stenberg v. Carhart, "and in my own reckoning, such a decision on partial-birth abortion would virtually bring to an end the Roe v. Wade regime." Acbonin responds: "Scared? Understand this: Prof. Arkes is the leading academic champion of the pro-life cause, and a good friend of Sen. Santorum, 'Nino' (as he always referred to him to me) and others across the aisle. He knows what he's talking about. Welcome to the slippery slope of what happens when women's reproductive rights don't come first."