From the notes of Lady MacCheney...

FDL:

It has legs. The story's not going away. We need to address Wilson motivation. The President should wave his wand. "Call Tim," Mary Matalin, he hates Chris, he needs to know it all. Underneath, Mr Libby's notes, Wilson's a snake. As a result, he calls Tim Russert. The fact that he would write that down goes to state of mind. Govt was interested in responding on the merits...

A source of mine told me that Matthews has been mad as hell for the longest time because he's not asked to guest host "Meet the Press." He feels that's his rightful place. This kinda clears up the reason he gets passed over when Russert takes time off.