McCarthy in Denial

Outed CIA analyst Mary McCarthy is denying through her lawyers that she was the source for the Washington Post's Dana Priest in revealing the secret prisons that housed terrorists overseas. McCarthy's lawyers, though, aren't throwing cold water on the notion that McCarthy may have had political inclinations and agendas that came into play with what even they termed unauthorized or undisclosed contacts with journalists.

Perhaps that's why the Howard Dean and others at the Democrat National Committee are looking to some of their donors to set up a legal defense fund for McCarthy."

If Scooter Libby can have a legal defense fund and website, then McCarthy should have one too," says a DNC staffer. "The DNC wouldn't set it up, we'd have some of our donors do it on the outside. There are plenty of consultants willing to help on this one, we think."

Two big differences tootz. Libby's defense fund was not spearheaded by Ken Mehlman and "set up" by the RNC. Secondly, Libby's position was, by definition, political whereas McCarthy's is necessarily NOT.