MSM Is Back to Its Dissembling Ways

Both the New York Times and the Washington Post have decided that Bob Woodward’s day-late-and-dollar-short confession has put Scooter Libby in the clear. The NYT says, “The revelation left the special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, grappling with an unexpected new twist - one that he had not uncovered in an exhaustive inquiry.” Grappling? What grappling? Since Fitzgerald has not commented on Woodward’s deposition, who says he’s grappling with anything? And since Fitzgerald is engaged in an on-going investigation, why does the NYT make it sound as though the investigation is done and therefore was not thorough? WaPo quotes former federal prosecutor John Moustakas, saying, "I think it's a considerable boost to the defendant's case. It casts doubt about whether Fitzgerald knew everything.” Fitzgerald is the last person to claim he knows everything. Fitzgerald himself said, “Mr. Libby was the first official known to have told a reporter when he talked to Judith Miller in June of 2003 about Valerie Wilson”. Fitzgerald never claimed to have knowledge that Libby was the only official to have told a reporter about Valerie Wilson. The Woodward disclosure may well be the “bombshell” that Libby’s lawyer, Theodore Wells, claims it to be. But not because it casts doubt on the Fitzgerald investigation. It’s a bombshell because it casts doubt on Bob Woodward and his extraordinary access to the White House. It’s a bombshell because it casts doubt on Woodward and his vaunted reporter’s objectivity. It’s a bombshell because it looks like Bob Woodward has been working for the Republican Party for the last two-and-a-half-years. Woodward continually criticized the Fitzgerald investigation and said the Wilson/Plame affair was unimportant during a time when he could come and go to the White House at will. Now we find out Woodward has been smack in the thick of the smarmy attempt of the White to discredit Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame. What a thing. Bob Woodward turns out to be just a two-bit shill for the GOP. Cheap Throat.