1 Boring Old Man

They’re listening to Libby’s testimony. I’ll not detail it because we’re going to hear the real deal in the media. And frankly, it’s boring. Fitzgerald obviously knows who Libby talked to along the way, and asks him detailed questions. He keeps saying, "I don’t recall." His story is monotonous. Cheney told him about Plame on June 12th. He forgot it. He heard it from Tim Russert on July 10th as new information. Cheney never discussed Plame until after the Novak article [July 14th]. All Cheney wanted was to get the truth out to the people. Blah, Blah, Blah…

In Kafka’s The Trial, Josef K. is accused of … well, he actually doesn’t know what he’s accused of. He feels increasingly guilty, though he never understands the charge. He is convicted and ultimately executed, though he doesn’t know why. In the Libby Trial, it’s reversed. It’s very clear what Libby’s charged with. It’s very clear he did what he’s charged with. His position is that he doesn’t recall being the person who was doing the things he did, saying the things he said. He’s achieving a "Kafka-esque" surrealism coming from the other direction.

The difference between Scooter L and Josef K is that the former is just lying through his teeth rather than a paradigmatic victim caught up in a paranoid existential drama. And in the real Libby Trial, Scooter just keeps on scooting – fib after fib. He handled this Grand Jury testimony like the Administration handles everything – talking point as reality…