Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee is quoted in the April issue of Vanity Fair implying that it was former State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Bradlee says, "That Armitage is the likely source is a fair assumption. I had heard about an e-mail that was sent that had a lot of unprintable language in it." Armitage was a known dissenter from the Bush Iraq policy and if he turned out to the first to disclose Plame's identity, it would be a blow to the conspiracy theorists who have long claimed that the White House leaked her name to intimidate her husband, also an Iraq policy dissenter.
Not As Pessimistic As Usual
New York Times Baghdad bureau chief John Burns has long been highly pessimistic about the war in Iraq from the start. In an interview with TV host Bill Maher Friday night, Burns remained pessimistic, but he also said that now "U.S. military and political diplomatic leadership in Iraq ... is about as good as you could possibly get." And he said the U.S. team there has "got the formula more or less right."
But by the time the trade publication Editor and Publisher had edited and published the Burns interview you wouldn't have known any of that. The magazine ignored it all instead claiming that Burns for the first time was predicting failure.
A Gift to Thank the Fans
Dan Burke, former broadcast executive and owner of the Sea Dogs, the AA baseball team in Portland, Maine, wanted to show fans his appreciation by donating a piece of artwork to the city. He commissioned a bronze statue featuring a family of four heading out to a baseball game to be displayed outside Hadlock Field where the team plays.
But some members of the city's public art committee — which advises the city council on whether to accept gifts of artwork — are protesting the bronze statue on racial grounds. Arts Committee vice chairman Jack Soley told the Portland Press Herald, the city "has enough white folks on pedestals."
Silence Gets Broken
Yale University has prevented school administrators from speaking publicly about accepting a former Taliban spokeman, but that didn't stop one top official at Yale Law School from attacking critics of the decision. The Wall Street Journal's John Fund reports that Alexis Surovov — the school's assistant director of giving — anonymously sent a scathing e-mail to two protesting graduates who recently wrote an article urging alumni not to donate any money to the school this year.
The mail said, "What is wrong with you? Are you retarded?" and went on to say the grads' behavior was disgraceful and disgusting. Surovov has since told Fund that he made a poor choice of one word — retarded — but says that he regrets nothing.
— FOX News' Dominique Pastre contributed to this report.
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