Palaver

Shorter Chris Hitch: My soul is possessed by the ghost of Barbara Olsen.

Especially noteworthy:

"Indeed, the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, determined that the law had not been broken in the first place"

"consuming thousands of man hours of government time (and in time of war, at that)"

"The call to Russert was not about Plame in any case; it was a complaint from the vice president's office about Chris Matthews, who was felt by some to have been overstressing the Jewish names associated with the removal of Saddam Hussein"

"I know of a senior lawyer in Washington who is betting very good money that if the case is heard again on appeal, the conviction will be reversed"

"In fact, she wrote this column for me"

"No, wait, I didn't write that last one. Hic!"

(Yes, I should be doing other things right now, but this is just to good to pass up. Who said there's no God?)

Update: Maybe Chris has come to Jesus: "A well-connected Republican whose views have reached Bush’s inner circle said that if Libby goes to prison, 'It would be seen by the religious and policy conservatives as the president abandoning his loyalty virtue for the hedonistic pleasure of political expediency.'" And by the sane as pandering to the base for political expediency while betraying the virtues of honesty and justice.