LA Confidential, the gloriously seamy noir movie (from James Elroy's novel), has the following tagline:

Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush...

Compare Ari Fleischer today. From Firedoglake's live blog:

[FLEISCHER] What I recall Libby saying to me, reiterated that VP did not send Wilson. Ambassador Wilson got sent by his wife, she works at CIA, Works in CPD, I recall that he told me her name. This is hush hush this is on the QT….

(See also Newsweek--later, of course, and with inferior analysis.)

Apparently both Libby and Fleisher knew LA Confidential well; after all, they're quoting it to each other, much like one old DFH quoting Firesign Theatre to another. Why, you'd almost think they were using movie quotations to, um, send signals to each other. (As Firedoglake points out, there is a protocol for dealing with classified information, and movie quotations definitely aren't part of that protocol). We've already seen this handwriting of obviously coded messages sent en claire in Libby's famous though not decoded "aspens turning" note to Judy "Kneepads" Miller.

So what signal was Libby sending to Fleischer? It would be irresponsible not to speculate!

In the movie, and in the novel, "Off the record, on the Q.T., and very hush hush" is used as a sign-off or sig by Sid Hudgeons, a Walter Winchell-like tabloid hack--the Drudge of this day--who writes for the National Enquirer-like Hush Hush magazine.

1. Sid Hudgeons (played in the movie by Danny DeVito) kept files of the, er, personal habits and foibles of many prominent individuals in "the City of Fallen Angels."

2. Much of the information in the Sidster's files was gathered using the warrantless surveillance techniques of the day: Phone taps, wires, trailing. Sometimes Hudgeons used private detectives; at other times, he used police contacts.

3. Sometimes Hudgeons used his files to break stories in Hush Hush, destroying reputations and careers in the process.

4. At other times, Hudgeons used his files for blackmail. Then, he could use the hold he had over whoever he was blackmailing to leverage more stories, more files, more blackmail....

5. The movie begins with Hudgeons calling a corruptible cop with a tip, and an offer: Hudgeons knows that a Hollywood starlet and her beau have acquired some marijuana: If the cop will arrest them, Hudgeons will be there with a camera, getting himself a scoop and a story, and making the cop look good.

In other words, Hudgeons was a ratfucker. No wonder the quotation was cherished and shared by the anti-Democratic Bush White House.

So, here's what I'd say Libby, quoting Hudgeons, was signalling Fliescher:

1. On the overt channel: "Keep this conversation off the record" (as indeed, the tagline states)

2. On the covert channel: "Play ball, because we've got photos in our files that you, Ari, never want to see the light of day.

Off the record, on the Q.T., and very Hush Hush....

NOTE As long as we're looking at the White House through the LA Confidential lens, who's playing Lynn Bracken? "Jeff Gannon"? Was "Gannon" Ari's top, and is that the hold that Libby/Hudgeons/DeVito had on him? Possibly, instead of photos, Libby had pillowtalk recordings. Just asking....

UPDATE Booman has much more on Our Ari.