Sidney Blumenthal wrote November 3, 05 in "Bush's Bunker Strategy":

" "I would have wished nothing better," declared Patrick Fitzgerald in his press conference of Oct. 28, announcing the indictment on five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, "that, when the subpoenas were issued in August 2004, witnesses testified then, and we would have been here in October 2004 instead of October 2005. No one would have went to jail."

The indictment of Libby documents that it was Cheney who confirmed the exact identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame to him."...............

Dear Salon:

Just incredible. Explained in this fashion, it is very apparent that Judith Miller saved the President's reelection bid if not having thrown the race.

While my mind races, I also remain speechless due of the severity of the implication. How could Miller or Cooper for that matter, not see that their silence was enabling Bush's reelection?

I also recall how the New York Times did not want to print the story of President Bush possibly cheating during a debate, because they feared its effects on the race. (Thanks to the folks who Salon ran it). It's a sad irony then to realize that it's the complicity of one of the Time's own reporters in affecting Bush's reelection.

It's too bad, really - once upon a time, she was a pretty good journalist. I'm not sure what let her buy into the falsehoods and hype of the administration. Hope that it would turn out to be the Next Big Story blinded her to simple fact checking? Did she find herself so far in it was either "stay the course" and fail or admit that maybe - just maybe she totally screwed up?

Either way, good riddance. Maybe she will redeem herself someplace else. Maybe she'll wake up one day and say "What the hell was I thinking, anyway?" Odds are, she'll just blame other editors at the Times for "not trusting her" or "not seeing how important it was!".

Of course, this is just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Is it really retiring when no one wants you around anymore, and you've already disgraced yourself? Did Scooter Libby "retire"? You guys rock but you were tricked into using editorialized language like "retire." The facts are "Judy Miller steps down" or, since she's a shill for the Militant Cheney White House, "Judy Miller gets off with dishonorable discharge."

Judy Miller's retirement is appropriate because she failed her readers and the American public. She did not report what she knew in a timely manner. Had she done so, the election of 2004 might have turned out differently. That will always be a stain on her reputation.