It seems Judith Miller and Bob Woodward have forgotton the most important role of the reporter in a democratic society: the right of the public to know.
Posted by Craig at November 15, 2005 10:38 PMDoes this torpedo Fritz? (bugger if it does)
Posted by shaggydabbydo at November 15, 2005 10:41 PM"What do Bob Woodward and Judy Miller have in common?"
You're forgetting Novak, who belongs in this group as well. Three mainstream news outlets, three big hits to the Bush propaganda machine.
Letting the purge continue.
(And I don't think this hurts Fitzgerald's investigation. Fitz can indict on a number of charges, and he can indict a number of people who may - at the time of the indictment - seem to be telling stories that contradict or cancel each other out. His mandate, as he so ably noted in his press conference, is to find out the truth. Bob Woodward is going to be part of that truth.)
Posted by Beacon at November 15, 2005 11:45 PMI see a conspiracy brewing here. First, Powell's people ie Wilkerson, then Poppy Bush's General Scowcroft and tonight WaPo got the secret energy memo which the WH fought all the way to the Supreme Court to keep secret. I see a conspiracy here. They are trying to save Jr's ass by pinning/deflecting evil deeds on Cheney and his people. Jr will fire all then declare that he would clean house. They are trying to keep both Houses in the red corner. Jebbie Bush is hinting that he will be running in 2008 so Poppy Bush is trying to clear the bush family name before 2008 prez race.
Posted by john at November 15, 2005 11:47 PMAnother point about Woodward/Pincus. As far as I know, it's still the case that Dick Cheney is on the record saying that Tenet (DCI) was the one who told him about Plame, while Tenet says he didn't tell Cheney. Hello? Hello???
These kind of obvious contradictions, of which Woodward and Pincus are now another, are the focus of Fitzgerald, and I have to believe that they remain the focus. If two people are telling you two different stories, at minimum one of them has to be lying, or misleading, or confused. And confused might just keep you from being indicted if you get unconfused fast enough. Right Bob?
(Carl Bernsteing must me laughing his ass off.)
Posted by Beacon at November 15, 2005 11:50 PMSeems Woodward has gone from hero to villian. He is truly a contradiction. "I'm quite confident we're going to find out that it started as a kind of gossip". Really? So let me get this straight. There was an accessment at the CIA and they found that the outing did "quite minimal damage" according to Woodward. Really? What I can't figure out is why Woodward is willing to destroy his reputation for this WH. It just doesn't make sense.
I grew up during the Watergate Hearings. Woodward and Bernstein have been my heros. Now I have to ask myself if Woodward was doing his investigative work during that time because of the corruption in the WH, or was it to make a name for himself and nothing more?
John, you may be right. As reported by a German Magazine, Jeb is quoted as saying "Let's say there's a vague chance" that he will run for President in 2008.
"Bush and McCain could end up as each other's best friends. Bush has been battling, with Rove's help, for a long-term political realignment in favor of the Republicans. The president could well come to see McCain as the only Republican with a chance to push a Republican era forward. McCain, in turn, knows that his only way around the Republican right is to run with Bush's open blessing, if not his outright endorsement."
"And here is where Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, could be the deal-closer. Jeb Bush has said he will not run in 2008. But that does not rule him out as a vice presidential candidate."
Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/13/AR2005061301461.html
"What profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul." Words that McCain might want to consider.
Posted by Judith at November 16, 2005 02:10 AMThe mill of the gods grinds exceedingly slow. And today another turn of the page reveals more and more that it's not just the Republican administration, or the major oil companies, or Haliburton that are wholly corrupt, it's the press. Not ALL the press. Just the NYT, WaPo, and of course big-time "journalists" like Miller and Woodward. We learn only what these people want us to learn. Not too long ago we read the MSM in the naive belief that we were getting honest reporting, free of bias. But look at what has come out. It's all bullshit, has been for a LONG time. Like, uh, since the presidential election before last. We've been betrayed. Screwed. And Woodward goes on Larry King (where the fuck else?) and brushes off the Plame outing as insignificant. I can't allow myself to believe that these people will all get thrown out, or put in jail. But I can hope. Hell, I'm an atheist/agnostic, but I'll even PRAY that justice will prevail.
Posted by John Palcewski at November 16, 2005 02:33 AMExcellent article. It is one thing to have a corrupt Government, but quite another to have a press that supports that corruption.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/reich.html
The Rise of the Fourth Reich
"Tyrants become obvious only when looking back, after what they have done becomes known. The German people did not stand up to Hitler because their media betrayed them, just as the American media is betraying the American people by willingly, voluntarily, even proudly, abandoning its traditional role as watchdog against government abuse."
"It is the very nature of power that it attracts the sort of people who should not have it. The United States, as the world's last superpower, is a prize that attracts men and women willing to do absolutely anything to win that power, and hence are also willing to do absolutely anything with that power once they have it. If one thinks about it long enough, one will realize that all tyrants, past and most especially present, MUST use deception on their population to initiate a war."
"No citizen of a modern industrialized nation will send their children off to die in a war to grab another nation's resources and assets, yet resources and assets are what all wars are fought over. The nation that wishes to initiate a war of conquest must create the illusion of an attack or a threat to start a war, and must always give their population of cowards an excuse never to question that carefully crafted illusion."
Woodward has now put himself in the position of being part of the corruption, the very corruption he fought so hard to uncover years ago. How sad.
Posted by Judith at November 16, 2005 03:18 AMSorry because this is off topic. However, I thought we could all use a little humor for a Wednesday morning. From: www.huffingtonpost.com
Frist's appearance on "The Today Show" Tuesday morning. There he was, resplendent in a white sweater and nail apron, standing on the National Mall, where Habitat for Humanity is building 51 homes that will be sent to the Katrina-and-Rita-ravaged Gulf Coast. While Frist fielded questions from Katie Couric, trying to put a happy spin on Iraq, Habitat workers continued to hammer away in the background. Could the aural symbolism have been any more perfect? The sound of nails being hammered into the GOP's Iraq policy coffin was unmistakable.
Posted by Judith at November 16, 2005 03:45 AMLet the speculation begin on who the unnamed 3rd administration official is? Woodward has access to the WH in order to write flattering portrayals in book form of Dear Leader. Woodward has stated publicly he is in the process of writing a second "I heart Our God Dear Leader, why you should too" book....hmmmm, I say all roads lead to Dear Leader himself as the unnamed 3rd administration official. Especially since Fitzgerald already nailed Cheney (and mentioned him by name too) in Libby's indictment. To me it makes sense as to why Woodward (Bush's # 1 fan) kept his mouth shut for so long.
Have I mentioned lately how much I dislike this administration and the Kewl Kids A-list beltway cheerleaders?
Emal, agree. Bush is the most likely person to have given that information to Woodward. Once he exposed, now he hides. Sad.
Posted by Judith at November 16, 2005 04:53 AMHere's another thing to consider. Isn't woodward insisting that he Bush showed him classified information during the course of the researching of one of his bush blow jobs?
a) Can woodward (will woodward) argue that he was "cleared" to receive classified information (which the information about valerie plame certainly was even in the truncated form in which he says he received it).
b) If he doesn't have some kind of "clearance" isn't the telling of her name/identity to him by that unnamed official ipso facto a breach of the laws on leaking classified information? I don't get why that official hasn't been charged yet, or at least isn't referred to as indictable unless that person is so high up that they are claiming infinite rights to spread classified information to journalists.
aimai
Posted by AIMAI at November 16, 2005 05:01 AM"unless that person is so high up that they are claiming infinite rights to spread classified information to journalists." Posted by AIMAI
Oh, let me see (as she scratches her head). Who could that be?
all liars can do is lie more. It's the old "tangled web" dictum. As serious as the Plame outing is, the most revealing and dangerous angle to this whole sorry mess is that it has revealed three highly regarded (by way of their circulation) and highly placed reporters, abetted by their editors and Publishers, conspired with a political force to mislead and lie directly to the American public on the most serious national endeavor - War. And amazingly, all walk free today. And more amazingly, they all know the answer to the who and why of this (as does the president of the United States).
Posted by T2 at November 16, 2005 06:34 AMI missed something...clarification please.
Is the basis for dismissing Cheney as the possible "3rd Administration Official" due to him being mentioned in Libby's indictment?
TIA
Posted by Simp at November 16, 2005 07:11 AMrobert woodward is the gollum of american journalism, a wide-mouthed, unctuous-voiced amphibian whose preciousssss is access to the powerful and famous, that he may serve as their scribe.
he has fawned and slavered over the bush presidency for five years now with little to show for it other than more promotional tours and more money.
not only power, but the promise of access to power, corrupts.
Posted by orionATL at November 16, 2005 07:49 AMHis testimony was slimy. If you read his statement carefully, he says only that he confirmed what's already in his notes, and maybe on tape (so he wouldn't contradict what Fitzgerald already has), and then speculate that his source didn't appear to know anything about Plame.
From his own point of view the key thing has to be where he says his source didn't know Plame's status, just that she was a WMD analyst. That "confirms" all his thumb-sucking for Larry King and everywhere else (see Atrios as he digs up more).
Who's the source? If I remember, he taped this one. So the source has to be very high up-- wouldn't want to lose a precious word. That can only mean Cheney, or bush, or Tenet-- cabinet or very high staff we don't know about yet. He was preparing a fluff job on the second term, so the idea would be to get background on whatever he thought was going to be the signature thing in the second term.
Not sure this helps Libby or how, but he must have been given the go-ahead by someone who thinks it will. Or at least that this muddies the waters so much that Libby's going to get lost in the overflow. Which would be a very Rovian thing to do.
What a sad, sad person he is.
The Mincing Reporter:
Read Woodward's release carefully - stop at the end of each sentence and ask yourself: Is this expressed in the positive tense or the passive tense? What EXACTLY did he say? What EXACTLY did he NOT say?
The release is as riddled with miscues and potential defences against charges as any we have seen to date from the Plame saga sorry cast of characters.
Amazing how few details (other than those recorded via tape recorder, or written down), he refers to.
Do you wonder whether he had a case of selective writing while taking notes? And, are there any breaks in the tape recording (pauses for, say, refreshments) ....?
Sad, Woodward, sad. There are many to whom you were a hero for what you did so fearlessly many years ago.
Posted by CuriosityKilledTheCat at November 16, 2005 09:41 AMNo wonder that Mark Felt's daughter urged him to release his identity as Deep Throat. She truly knew that Woodward would not care if his family was left broke. Good for her!!
I used to respect Woodward...toss that crap out with the trash!!
Posted by bbtb at November 16, 2005 10:54 AMBob Woodward has become part of the same machine he helped disassemble 30 years ago. Not revealing a source is one thing, not telling the story is another.
Posted by Calif4nian at November 16, 2005 12:32 PMWoodward makes Novak look honest.
Posted by rlp at November 16, 2005 02:03 PM"On the surface, this appears to be an effort by Libby and Cheney and the third senior administration official to undercut Fitzgerald by undermining a key claim in the indictment that Libby was the first government official to reveal Plame’s identity to a reporter."
Huh? Please enlighten me how this is "an effort by Libby and Cheney"...isn't Woodward the one testifying under oath? How are Cheney and Libby involved in this getting out?
Simp,
I am not sure if your above comment was directed at me, but I will answer anyway.
First off, I am just speculating based on some things I mentioned above..one of which happens to be the fact Cheney was already personally called out in Libby's indictment as helping to spread the name.
Other thoughts I have about it being Bush, perhaps remembering a detail we read that seemed very odd was that right before the indictments came out Fitzgerald went to Bush's lawyer. Why???? I have not seen any explanation for that manuever. Plus look at the close working history and access that loyal Bush PR tool Woodward has with the most secretive administration on record.
Who knows maybe it was/is Cheney or even Rove or someone else...it's just that Junior was the first person to come to my mind and one of the big reasons I feel Woodward kept quiet for all of this time. So far Bush seems somewhat insulated from the whole affair, and this bit of info certainly would place him front and center. It's just conjecture based upon some thoughts and maybe some wishful thinking on my part. Anything is possible.