I have been reading the many discussions about Miller's "article" in the Sunday Times and I am still pondering her completely out-of-place, non-sequiter ending in which she realtes a weird story about Libby at a rodeo in Jackson Hole, WY. Many here ran down some facts, speculated on whether she met with Cheney, etc. --
But what if she were not writing ABOUT something, but TO someone?
Roll it over....
When the letters from Libby to Miller were first published, many, including myself, focussed on the Bizarro last paragraph of the now-famous letter suggesting what she should testify about:
You went into jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to cover--Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work---and life. Until then, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers.
When asked about that in the Grand Jury, Miller writes on Sunday:
In answer, I told the grand jury about my last encounter with Mr. Libby. It came in August 2003, shortly after I attended a conference on national security issues held in Aspen, Colo. After the conference, I traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyo. At a rodeo one afternoon, a man in jeans, a cowboy hat and sunglasses approached me. He asked me how the Aspen conference had gone. I had no idea who he was.
"Judy," he said. "It's Scooter Libby."
There have been some excellent ideas about this free-standing verbal freak ending.
Was Cheney in Jackson Hole then? Yes
Did she meet with him? Shrug....
OK, I don't care if someone I know (and have many conversations face to face with) is wearing a cowboy hat and sun glasses, I would know who that person was.
So, we know Miller is a liar ("I can't remeber who told me"). I find her failure to recognize one of the most powerful people in the administration -- one of her credible sources -- in a place where he was likely to be (with the VP in Wyoming) just an impossible lie.
My question to y'all then is, what if she were writing this as a version of her code message back to Libby or others.
What was she saying? She didn't identify Libby as her source in the Grand Jury? That she could pin the tail on someone else that Libby knows about (who perhaps spends time in Jackson Hole)?
I think the ending to Miller's article is just too weird, abrupt and poorly written to not be a message to someone. So, friends, please share your ideas....