Bush Nailed?

Tom Maguire sees it differently:

"[A]s Mr. Gerstein noted, and as the excerpt printed by Mr. Sullivan makes clear, we don't know what Cheney and Bush discussed before Bush authorized the partial disclosure of the NIE.  President Bush may have been vitally interested specifically in discrediting Joe Wilson; he may not have heard the name, and simply authorized the disclosure to help with the White House side of the press coverage.  That said, Bush's involvement preceded the July 8 meeting with Judy Miller, (p. 19/20 of .pdf), which is not great news.
So, was "Bush Nailed" for helping with a White House PR pushback? I'll bet he gets involved with White House message management pretty regularly."

Make your own mind up. But it seems to me that a president who routinely decries leaking of classified information has now been revealed as someone who purposefully and with premeditation leaked classified information, gave his veep special clearance to do so, and did so during a very heated debate about possible malfeasance with respect to pre-war intelligence handling. Tom is within his rights to cling on to the scintilla of doubt that still exists. But at what point does that approach naivete? (When National Review maintains radio silence - ed.) Do we really think this president doesn't know how to play hardball? A reader speculates:

"It seems I recall headlines a few months ago that questioned the relationship between Bush and Cheney, suggesting that it was very brittle.  Those have since gone away, at least from the first few pages, so it's debatable as to whether there was any truth to the speculation.
Still, in light of the new information in the Plame case, might it be possible that Cheney and Bush have become so divided that Cheney, with the hunting dog (Fitzgerald) getting closer, has thrown the president under the bus?"

It may be a warning shot not to mess with Cheney, as the Bush meltdown continues.