E&P: Judy Miller Fights Back with Letters to Dowd and Calame

[seafan]

Published: November 13, 2005 9:55 AM ET

NEW YORK Judith Miller will not go gently into that good night. Her public relations offensive, which had already taken her to CNN with Larry King and to National Public Radio and elsewhere, now includes angry published letters to two of her antagonists, former colleague Maureen Dowd and New York Times Public Editor Barney Calame.

Between the lines, she has also been critical of Executive Editor Bill Keller and a top managing editor Jill Abramson. Now, will any of them hit back? Surely the Times hoped to put this fight behind them in working out a severance deal with the embattled reporter. But now, calling herself a "free woman," no longer a part of the Times "convent," she can blast away all she likes.

--snip

Now, in an open letter to Dowd posted on her Web site, Miller writes, "I agree with you that reporters must be more than stenographers. The same is true of columnists. I hope you will correct the record soon."

--snip

She then asserts, among other things, that she did not mislead Times colleague Phil Taubman; that she did not need "a leash" and was "insubordinate"; that she had only agreed to identify Scooter Libby as a "former Hill staffer" for listening purposes; that it is Jill Abramson who is wrong in her memory of a key conversation; that she honestly can't remember how the name "Valerie Flame" got in her notebook.

--snip

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001478780

[Canuckistanian]

1. What is she trying to achieve here?

To rescue her credibility? That barn door closed years ago.

[seafan]

3. Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

Another casualty sucked in by making deals with devils.

[spindrifter]

2. Watch her go

ballistic! The letters she's posted on her website reveal a pretty pathetic attempt to take an aggressive stance toward just about everyone who was once her friend at the "Convent." It's also another way to keep her name in the news. It is actually very disheartening to see her make such a public spectacle of her hurt and anger over her retirement.
It's much better, J*dy, to throw away those first drafts of letters written in anger. You would be much better served to just go off and research some other books and articles.

[Canuckistanian]

4. Don't be mad, Judy...

There's always Fox News. And they got a big checkbook just waiting for you.

[Awsi Dooger]

10. Exactly right

Judy is another lousy handicapper. Far better to just plaster the simplistic smile for a few months and pretend you're taking the high road, even if she plummeted years ago. There is no way to win when suddenly you're on the outs and the final word, or no word, belongs to her formal colleagues. As Lexingtonian predicts later in this thread, I'm sure Dowd will be far too clever to exchange words with a disgraced nonentity.

Wasn't it just a few days ago Charming Judy was on Larry King claiming she didn't hold any grudges?

[chalky]

5. What's this? An erudite version of, "I'm rubber; you're glue"?

"I agree with you that reporters must be more than stenographers. The same is true of columnists. I hope you will correct the record soon."

Lord. Is this the best she's got?

[I_Make_Mistakes]

6. Isn't she writing/promoting a book? Poor Ann Coulter wannabe!

Hey Ann, your a done deal too. The recent election showed negative, lying and hyping ain't what it used to be. Hey, Hey, Bye,Bye....

[Lexingtonian]

7. Pretty pathetic

I think La Dowd will not bother with an answer to such feeble anklebiting. If Miller's lucky she'll be given another swift kick. 'Woman of Mass Destruction' is what passes for a machine gun execution in the literary biz.

As for the NYT news division being a convent, apparently Judy did quite a lot of fucking of sleazy powerful men in its service- or so she figures.

The 'Valerie Flame' note in her notebook...now, she could just pick up the phone and ask all the people she contacted at the time whether they could remember the mention of such a thing. Gee, I wonder why she hasn't tried that. Maybe it's not that pressing a mystery to her.

[Spinzonner]

8. The Media Whore was in a Convent ?

[Hidden Stillness]

9. Is She Out of Her Mind?

She actually appears to be unaware, still, (as Lou Dobbs and others are), that she committed a crime! She did not "protect her sources," as if they were brave whistleblowers; she helped with the persecution of a critic of Bush, and would not tell investigators who was behind the exposure of an active CIA agent's name, which is an act of treason. Why are these people so oblivious? She concealed a crime--very simple!

[grasswire]

11. she was VERY nervous at National Press Club...

...forum that I saw on Friday on c-span. She fidgeted constantly, rocking to and fro, twitching, blinking, grinning. She smiles in a way meant to elicit approval.

I did hear her say there that it was the fault of other newspaper reporters that the truth about Iraq was not uncovered. They didn't do their work.

[Skittles]

12. she is making a fool of herself

all the evidence is there to see what a republican tool she has been, and she has lots of blood on her hands. She needs to not just go away; she needs to go to hell

[wtmusic]

13. So that's how she wants to be remembered

:cry: :nopity: :cry:

[calimary]

14. This is one woman who should just shut up, cut her losses, and disappear

for awhile. Time to go underground and let everybody cool off. Now's the time to go off on sabbatical in some out-of-the-way place, put yourself "on retreat," and write the Great American Novel or something.

You need to STFU, Judy, before your petty little ego and refusal to accept your role in the war of lies that have cost thousands of lives get you into more trouble.

[PurityOfEssence]

15. It's a Tar Baby, Judy, squirm on.

Your selfish allegiance to Israel had you lie, distort and propagandize at the behest of some of the greediest and bloodthirstiest assholes in history. You sinned against the soul of journalism and used every bit of your fame to incite horrific mass murder. On top of that, you feigned victimhood and sucked pity for your deep moral ugliness.

Twist and dodge as you may, you are filth. You are the worst kind of filth; you are akin to a clergy person who rapes minors: you betrayed your trust for personal gain.

Please continue to protest; it will only shed more light upon the wickedness of your crimes.

Please repair to Hag Harbor; may you live to be a hundred like George W. Bush so you can hear the repeated reminders of your betrayal of humanity and have your narcissism denied any attention except public humiliation.

You are a horror, and everyone knows it. Please waste the time of the few urinalists who will tout your story; it'll be good to see them be brought down with you.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

17. That was incredible, keep up the good work!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

16. I saw the biatch on C-Span and Isikof was tearing her a new one

He was saying how reporters owe the readers, not the sources. He also said something to the effect that there's a difference between getting out there some information the administration doesn't want readers to read, and getting out there information the administration wants disseminated.

I guess he meant that the first is investigative reporting, while the second (like what Judy Whacko did), involves being a propaganda whore, and not a reporter.