Beltway Blarney

In a touching bit of media incest, former NBC content provider and MSNBC regular Lawrence O'Donnell tells us that "Russert Convicted Libby."

Not in this reality.

Russert didn't convict Libby. Libby convicted Libby by telling a series of deliberate lies, under oath, in which Tim Russert made a guest appearance.

Patrick Fitzgerald presented the facts to the jury, with remarkable skill. But Libby convicted himself.

Russert wasn't even a credible witness in general, as Libby's attorneys were able to show. Perhaps that's why Libby chose Russert for a starring role in his perjured testimony. But the defense couldn't show that Russert lied about Libby, because there was no evidence he did.

Pumpkinhead's testimony was simply consistent with the other testimony and documentary evidence, so Libby convicted himself whether or not Pumpkinhead was believed by the jury. The uncontradicted evidence showed that Libby knew everything he claimed he learned from Russert before calling Russert, so whether Scooter and Fat Tim talked Plame was irrelevant.

I generally like O'Donnell, so I'll chalk this up to an early and ongoing St. Patrick's Day celebration between Larry and Chris Matthews.