Big Phalenx keeps on turning, Rollin' ...

From Planetjh.com

White House spins Planet

By Gil Brady

11.12.05

For the last three weeks, the Planet has been using its considerable gravitas as the Vice President's favorite hometown newspaper to get Mr. Cheney to grant us an interview. Or, at least one Cheney-esque "Go bleep yourself" to satisfy our one pressing question.

What I have gleaned from this lesson in longdistance futility are three things: 1) the V.P. has gotten too big for his britches, which may explain why he is rumored to ski in jeans; 2) Mr. Cheney considers the Planet even more irrelevant than our most devoted advertisers; 3) the question, put to no less than three of the VP's youthful-sounding staff, "Can the Vice President say with confidence that the Valerie Plame leak ends with Scooter Libby?" does not appear to be one any of Cheney's preppy mouthpieces feel ready to address.

We also want to know if Debra Maggart, the first White House staffer we tossed this softball at some weeks ago, is the same Debra Young Maggart who was elected to the Tennessee State Legislature last November? Ultimately, after a few calls this past Friday, a very agreeable Ms. Mayfield saw to it that a much publicized and dull press release, a vapid rehashing of Cheney's boring sayonara to his main man, Scooter, who resigned upon being indicted, would be forwarded to us. While welcoming this offer, I reminded Mayfield that my question has not a thing to do with Libby hanging up his spurs.

As Ms. Mayfield paused, I became seized by the image of a cyber-Secret Service demon with the head of Karl Rove and the body of Godzilla bitchslapping the gall off my lips. Instead, I heard Ms. Mayfield spin me about the White House's policy of using the ongoing investigation as a foil to even discussing the weather, which, by now, felt like it was snowing.

Which begs a new question: If the White House felt it had to out a CIA agent to discredit her Iraq-war criticizing husband, would the Veep go "off the reservation" again for a hometown reporter who wrote that Cheney is very much full of something besides himself these days?