Slate reports on the New York Times reporting on Esquire. I'll be curious to see if the tail on this dog gets any longer or if some other mongrel press outlet bites on the original Esquire story. I would be stunned if any Washington journalist actually interviews DiIulio themselves. Stranger things have been known to happen, but not to this administration. On a related topic, here are three reminders.
1. Bush announced his Homeland Security plan the day Agent Rowley testified before Congress.
2. Harvey Pitt "quit" on election night
3. Henry Kissinger was appointed to investigate 9/11 the day before Thanksgiving.

According to the theory of democracy which I learned in my younger days, it's the interest of the electorate in policy which is supposed to make vote-hungry politicians take an interest in policy, in much the same way that the self-interest of consumers makes profit-hungry producers take in interest in customer satisfaction. Kudos to DiIulio for exposing this example of total market failure in the political economy.

The ever mendacious left wing media,

From Mr. DiIulio:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,71919,00.html

"My work schedule being too packed to permit sit-down interviews ... I gathered up [Suskind's] questions and responded in a single long memo in late October 2002. However, several quotes and anecdotes concerning or attributed to me in the article are not from that response," DiIulio said in a written statement.

"Obviously, I cannot speak to the veracity or accuracy of comments in the article by numerous named and unnamed others, but, in my opinion, the article is unjustly hard on Mr. Rove and over-the-top complimentary to me, thereby creating a too-pat contrast that is, I feel, most unfair to Mr. Rove,"

I suppose the smear campaign against the adminstration will never end.

A small addendum:

Rereading the article (NYT) it doesn't appear that there was any attempt to verify the accuracy of these comments with Mr DiIulio. Journalism at it's finest. What was it Gore was saying about the right inventing stories and spinning it into the national zeitgeist?

Read carefully Brian -- according to what you recited, Mr. DiIulio did not say that Suskind invented anything, only that quotes and anecdotes are not from the memo he wrote. It sounds like what Woodward & Bernstein called a non-denial denial.

If you're right, "RPM", DiIulio is able to change personae quicker than anyone this side of Al Gore. They guy quoted in the Esquire excerpt is a latter-day David Stockman, a naïf who wades into politics and is appalled to learn that it's political. But just a bare month later, here he is issuing non-denial denials. A quick study, this DiIulio!

I copied the letter that's the source of these quotes off Drudge's website, before he took it down. It's much nastier to the administration than advertised, Dulio's caveats not withstanding.

I copied the letter that's the source of these quotes off Drudge's website, before he took it down. It's much nastier to the administration than advertised, Dulio's caveats not withstanding.

The stupid blogger links aren't working again, so just check the 12/2 entry.

I copied the letter that's the source of these quotes off Drudge's website, before he ends up taking it down. It's much nastier to the administration than advertised, Dulio's caveats not withstanding.

The stupid blogger links aren't working again, so just check the 12/2 entry.

Man, MT is having speed issues.

And in case you don't want to mess with Drudge's index, or just don't trust him, Esquire has the memo here.

Paul Z, it's not so naive of DiIulio to be appalled at what he finds in the Bush White House. As he points out, the Clinton White House put a lot of weight on policy.

And since you brought up Al Gore's persona-switching, I'm going to have to ask you to read this; scroll down to "Mistaken Identity." (Warning: it's partisan.)

Sorry, Jason, I misread your post about your link. In any case, gentle reader, using my link rather than Jason's will save you a click.

Hmmm. If the Triangulation Administration has such a reputation for exceptional wonkery (most likely justified-- though the assumption that this is a good thing could use a bit more scrutiny), doesn't that simply how little clout Brookings types ordinarily enjoy in Washington?