I WASN'T SURE

I wasn't sure if this was about Tim Russert or that other idiot, Chris Matthews, so I didn't get around to posting anything about Russert's timely death. BartCop pointed me to a piece by Driftglass and from there to a WaPo article by Dana Milbank.

In Ex-Aide's Testimony, A Spin Through VP's PR

By Dana Milbank

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, January 26, 2007; Page A01

Memo to Tim Russert: Dick Cheney thinks he controls you.

This delicious morsel about the "Meet the Press" host and the vice president was part of the extensive dish Cathie Martin served up yesterday when the former Cheney communications director took the stand in the perjury trial of former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote: "control message."

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."