In January 2006, Fitzgerald advised Libby's lawyers that White House e-mails from 2003, possibly relevant to the Plame case, had not been preserved as part of the normal archiving process:  http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/...

My question -- Did Fitzgerald take any action to determine whether such messages were recoverable -- or did he simply take the White House at its word and drop further inquiry?

From today's Washington Post:

On Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told her senior staff she was disappointed about the stream of allegations and said she did not want any information coming out of the department that could adversely affect the nomination, said officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1691-2005Apr19.html

Is Condi Rice obstructing the Senate's power to pass on the fitness of Bolton to serve as UN ambassador?  It seems like the Committee ought to call HER to testify.  

In a web-only Newsweek column, Eleanor Clift starts off:

"The rationale for war in Iraq has collapsed, so President George W. Bush has declared another war, this one on John Kerry. Bush's blistering attack on Kerry as weak and wavering on war and the worst kind of tax-and-spend liberal foreshadows the next four weeks. Get ready for a scorched-earth campaign from the Bushies, beginning with tonight's debate in St. Louis."

A bit later she says:

"This is the moment of truth for American foreign policy. Will Bush's bald-faced lies carry the day? Can Cheney con the American public into four more years?"

She goes on to discuss comments from an anonymous "veteran foreign-service officer currently serving in the State Department" and Ambassador Wilson.

Check out the whole piece at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6206022/site/newsweek/