By Gabe Caggiano

Judith Miller and Marvin Kalb sat down together for a cozy chat before several hundred guests at the National Press Club Monday night, but I'm not sure we know a lot more about this woman than we did before her appearance on "The Kalb Report."

Kalb began the evening with a bizarre and head scratching statement: "Before I ask my first question I want to go on record as saying that anyone who claims Judy Miller deliberately went to jail to burnish her image or to improve her reputation as a journalist is clearly someone who has never spent any time in jail. And that is probably too polite. Anyone who says that is crazy."

A rush of applause followed from the crowd of mostly college students from George Washington University, but several seasoned journalists in the audience traded knowing glances at each other - they know better. Plenty of reporters are crazy to some degree, which is why they go into journalism.

Kalb also called Miller "A hero who is now referred to as a 'Woman of Mass Destruction,' according to a column written by her former colleague , Maureen Dowd." Kalb then asked Miller how she went from being a hero to a villain in such a brief period of time .

"That's an excellent question," began Miller, to much nervous laughter. "I'm still trying to figure that one out. The stories of my heroism have been exaggerated. I think I became a symbol of the fury over the public debate of the questioning of the war, about this administration, of WMD reporting, and I think it was easy to vilify me because I had been elevated to this heroic status."

When the questions from Kalb dug deeper, Miller knew what to say and what not to. Miller will not talk about "Scooter" Libby because Miller said, "I may very well be called to testify" at Libby's trial.

Miller doesn't work at the New York Times anymore and seems quite satisfied with her severance package. That means Miller was paid probably several million dollars in hush money to keep her mouth shut and go quietly into the night, sparing the "Paper of Record" another meltdown which may have been even more damaging than the Jayson Blair/Howell Raines affair.

Meanwhile there's no question Miller feels betrayed by former members of her own team.

"Maureen Dowd is a columnist and is free to express her opinions." Miller is learning fast it pays to be a diplomat as well as a journalist, especially if there is a clause in your severance agreement barring you from knocking the New York Times to the extent you would like. Miller said she had no idea the "Woman of Mass Destruction" column from Dowd was coming and said the criticism in-house was a "shock" to her.

I had to ask Miller one question. "You've said you had to leave the paper because you had become too much of the story, but Mike Wallace was involved in an ugly legal battle with General Westmoreland and kept his job. Woodward and Bernstein were enmeshed in the Watergate story and Maureen Dowd now has become enmeshed in the Judith Miller story with her 'Woman of Mass Destruction' article. All of those people kept their jobs. Why were you not afforded the same courtesy?"

Miller didn't blink. "I was afforded the same courtesy. I decided to leave. I wasn't fired and I wasn't forced out."

That may or may not be true. but it was reported Miller found out she was no longer working at the New York Times when she opened up her e-mail and read about her imminent departure from Times executive editor Bill Keller.

Clearly, there is a lot of spin taking place right now regarding Miller, Libby, the WMD issue and the New York Times. Something tells me Judy Miller will have plenty more to say when it's in her best interest to do so.

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