Thank you Jane, Christy, Marcy, Pach, Swopa, Huffington Post and all other contributors for all of your contributions of information and live blogging for the Libby Trial. Your leg work is much appreciated!
The perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr., former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, has drawn every major news organization in the country to the federal courthouse in Washington. But none has fielded a bigger team — or was more openly crushed by the defense decision this week not to put Mr. Cheney and Mr. Libby on the stand — than Firedoglake.com.
Even the Web-savvy may ask, Fire dog what? A collective of liberal bloggers, fueled by online donations and a fanatical devotion to the intricacies of the Libby case, Firedoglake has offered intensive trial coverage, using some six contributors in rotation. They include a former prosecutor, a current defense lawyer, a Ph.D. business consultant and a movie producer, all of whom lodge at a Washington apartment rented for the duration of the trial.
Ms. Wheeler, a business consultant from Michigan who writes under the nom-de-blog “emptywheel,” believes that some trial revelations have been underplayed in the conventional media because “once the narrative is set on a story, there’s no deviating from it.”
Ms. Hamsher, 47, created Firedoglake on a shoestring — its major expense is a $200-a-month charge for Web hosting. Online donors are paying trial coverage costs, including the travel expenses of the bloggers and the $3,500 a month rent on the Washington apartment, dubbed Plame House after Valerie Plame, the maiden name of the C.I.A. operative whose exposure led to the criminal investigation and Mr. Libby’s indictment.
The bloggers, some of whom are taking vacation or have flexible work schedules, are all unpaid. Ms. Hamsher describes the blog as “a collective watering hole” where contributors with diverse expertise “scour every possible source for information and then pool their resources.”
Its name is easily explained, she said: “I like lying in front of the fire with my dogs and watching the Lakers.”
Its name is easily explained, she said: “I like lying in front of the fire with my dogs and watching the Lakers.”
A movie producer best known for “Natural Born Killers, Ms. Hamsher, who recently moved to Middletown, Conn., from California, arrived at the trial just days after cancer surgery and is scheduled for chemotherapy after the verdict.
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