The gossip and the bumbler

Those are the explained personalities of Sandy Berger and Richard Armitage--the bumbler and the gossip. Such characterizations are designed to explain away actions that might have landed the average person in jail.

Does nobody find it strange that Armitage was proved to have been the Plame leaker but only Judy Miller has so far spent time in jail, and Scooter Libby remains indicted, racking up legal fees? Meanwhile Armitage was bragging around the ole water cooler that he didn't have any such issues. But enough about Armitage.

Sandy Berger was the guy who stuffed classified information from the National Archives into his sport coat and socks while perusing Clinton administration terrorism papers in advance of the 9/11 Commission hearings. His friends quickly characterized Sandy as a sort of 'bumbler' who sometimes got lost in his paperwork.

Berger at least got a slap--he was fined 50,000 and lost his security clearance privileges for a whopping three years (just in time to get a job in a possible Hillary administration). Meanwhile average federal employees are harrassed yearly with online security courses designed to prevent such things. But all in all, history has so far painted Berger's act as a clumsy error.

Not everyone believes that, of course.

Among those might include some in the House of Representatives, who've decided to launch an investigation. Either the official story wasn't even good enough for them, or it's another pre-election stunt, admittedly a possibility.

Maybe they're curious as to how Berger could steal and destroy official records and not lose his security clearance privileges while Colonel Schafer from the Able Danger case lost his.

Let's hope they're somewhat more serious than with Able Danger, which went to the bottom faster than the Titanic. What's odd is the apparent lack of vigor in which the Bush Justice Department pursued the matter, with the twist of having a Clinton-appointed judge upgrading the suggested fine fivefold because it wasn't nearly enough. A suspicious person would think the Clintonistas were holding something against Bush, but it could be another example of Bush's overall non-combative approach towards the former administrations. We've seen it before.

How does this relate to anything now? Well, during his meltdown on Fox Bill Clinton repeatedly recommended Richard Clarke's book, suggesting it would clearly illustrate their relentless pursuit of bin Laden. Speculation was that Berger was stealing documents or notes related to a Clarke after-action report on the Millenium plot, perhaps something embarrassing. Others have more sinister motives in mind, generally related to airplanes, buildings and explosions.

Let's see what develops. Surely Clinton won't mind the House poking around in this matter because according to him Dick Clarke was the 'smartest guy on the planet' regards the terrorism threat, and all.