Potomac Flacks: Isikoff Scoop on Armitage and Plamegate

August 27, 2006

Isikoff Scoop on Armitage and Plamegate

It's long been suspected that ex-Deputy SecState Richard Armitage was Bob Novak's first source for his column outing Valerie Plame -- the source whom Novak described as "no partisan gunslinger." Now Michael Isikoff has a blockbuster preview of his new book in which several sources confirm as much:

Armitage, a well-known gossip who loves to dish and receive juicy tidbits about Washington characters, apparently hadn't thought through the possible implications of telling Novak about Plame's identity. "I'm afraid I may be the guy that caused this whole thing," he later told Carl Ford Jr., State's intelligence chief.

A few thoughts:

It is simply amazing that this news has held as long as it has. Isikoff writes that Colin Powell, Armitage and Carl Ford were the only people who knew of Armitage's role. Does that make them somewhat culpable, from a PR or a legal perspective?
Does Armitage currently have a PR person on retainer to help him plot through his next steps. This certainly qualifies as a "crisis communications" moment.
Isikoff mentions that his new book, from which this news is adapted, is coauthored with David Corn, a prominent liberal and Washington editor of The Nation. Will the fact that Iskikoff's coauthor has a partisan ax to grind minimize the impact of his scoop? Will it make it easier for the RNC and White House to dismiss the report, and the book?

Other thoughts on the Isikoff scoop?

Posted by Matt Mackowiak on August 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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Matt Mackowiak is a Washington, D.C. and Austin,TX-based Republican strategist and communications consultant and President of Potomac Strategy Group, LLC. In his career he has managed a winning Congressional campaign and worked in the U.S. Senate, at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, at a leading international PR firm, on a presidential campaign in Iowa and in White House presidential advance. Follow him on Twitter - @MattMackowiak

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Laura Gross is currently president of Scott Circle Communications. She has served as deputy director of communications at the DNC, was Gov. Howard Dean's Communications Director and she worked in the press office at USAID during the Clinton administration. Her experience also includes time in the PR department of National Public Radio and she was part of Vice President Gore's advance team when he was in The White House.
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Blain K. Rethmeier - Contributor
Blain K. Rethmeier is currently the Senior Vice President for Public Affairs for the American Insurance Association (AIA). Rethmeier joined AIA from the White House where he served as Special Assistant to the President for Communications and directed communications for the National Economic Council and Homeland Security Council. Prior to joining the White House, Rethmeier served as Press Secretary for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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