Bush repeats propaganda while White House churns

Could it be that Scooter Libby has cut a deal with Patrick Fitzgerald? A curiously timed leak by lawyers in the case indicates that notes exist proving he discussed Valerie Plame's identity with VP Dick Cheney weeks prior to Robert Novak's column that flung her into the public spotlight.

Meanwhile, the WaPo reports that Bush is looking to the lessons of the Reagan and Clinton administration to spin his own damage control. The plan is stay on message and ignore the multitude of scandals engulfing the White House and its supporters in Congress. And indeed that seems to be the tack Bush took in addressing the military wives' luncheon just now.

Bush looked pretty good, comfortable with an audience of predetermined supporters and he even looked sober for a change. He didn't slur a single word of his retreaded speech. It was waste of good half hour to listen, since we've heard it all before. He even had the nerve to use that same quote about bin Laden being willing to send his troops in but not showing himself for the fight.

I'm nor sure why they're calling this a new plan though, since it's the same old tactic of endlessly repeating the propaganda until it takes on a life of its own. Unfortunately for Bush, now that the arrogance and incompetency of his administration has hit home with the public, they've lost their taste for empty rhetoric. The wives dutifully applauded at every pregnant pause, but one doesn't hear any cheering in the streets outside of the rightwing echo chamber.