UPDATED: The Dem Carter Page Playbook--For Today.

So, Politico this morning reveals the talking point of the moment for Democrats: Whatever Carter Page got from the FBI, he deserved it.  Because, Russia!

Why Carter Page Was Worth Watching

There’s plenty of evidence that the former Trump campaign adviser, for all his quirks, was on suspiciously good terms with Russia.

OMG! Suspicion! Embrace your inner totalitarian! We need wall to wall electronic coverage of that guy's life yesterday!

So the author starts with the whole 2013 episode, and he tries to play it ominous, yet can't help revealing the joke of it all:

The Russian spies, however, had one promising lead. This was a guy—an energy consultant based in New York City. Unlike the women, he was eager to help. And, it appeared, keen to make money in Moscow. There was a drawback: The source—whom the FBI called “Male-1”—was something of a dimwit.

There we are again: the hapless Carter Page. But, not so honestly, the author utterly fails to disclose, in the lengthy summary of 2013 events, that Page actually cooperated with the FBI against he Russians.


But think about that some more: "he was eager to help. And, it appeared, keen to make money in Moscow." Uh, can you say John Podesta? Bill Clinton? Hillary Clinton? Uranium One? And just to be bi-partisan about it, Paul Manafort? Yes, they were all almost certainly on the FBI's "radar." But did they all have their own personal FISA warrants? I'm guessing not--and they were all FAR more worth watching than Carter Page, as we have learned.

In fact, though, the article proceeds to disclose at great length just how hapless Page was--but still, we are to presume that he was worth watching. And finally, toward the end, as if by inadvertance, we learn:

Meanwhile, Page’s career as a Trump adviser was entering its terminal phase. His speech in Moscow had provoked comment, much of it adverse. The campaign’s ties with Russia were becoming a source of controversy. According to the Washington Post, quoting a campaign manager, Page wrote policy memos and attended three dinners in Washington for Trump’s foreign advisory team. He sat in on meetings with Trump. Apparently, his attempts to meet Trump personally failed.

Run that one through your downloaded copy of "the dossier," in which we are told among other obvious inanities, that Page was "a high profile player."

Desperation.

UPDATE: Conservative Treehouse has done their research. I stopped reading about the New York case against the three Russians that Carter Page was involved in after I read the complaint, but the case wasn't finished until March 2016. Which means Carter Page was carried on the FBI's books as an Undercover Employee (UCE-1) up to that point. So, after the "hapless" Page had fulfilled his function as UCE-1 for the FBI, the Bureau found another role for him in a matter of a few months: Master Spy for Putin! To me, this seems definitely corroborative of the view that Page himself was, in effect, the "insurance policy" the FBI was looking for. He was locked into that role when they got the FISA on him.

I think this development kinda blows up the Dem talking points for today. I'm sure they'll have new ones tomorrow.