The Press and The Plame Affair

While the left breathlessly and giddily awaits the impeachment hammer to drop on the hated Bush administration, those pesky facts keep stalling the process. As noted here and here, there remains substantial doubt over whether a crime has even been committed in the Plame Affair.

Today we noted a post by JustOneMinute [via The American Thinker] that suggests more press complicity in the Plame Affair. Here's the opening:

"I believe there may be a substantial, ongoing press cover-up in the Plame leak investigation. Various White House staffers claim to have heard about Ms. Plame from reporters, but not many reporters seem to have been subpoenaed - for example, in their recent coverage Adam Liptak of the Times only noted Matt Cooper of TIME, Judy Miller of the NY Times, Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler of the WaPo, and Tim Russert of NBC News, in addition to the shadowy Robert Novak."

The whole post is fascinating reading, and goes into significant detail on how the press is reporting the story.

I find it very interesting that the MSM is, on the one hand, shocked that someone leaked the name of a CIA employee (the facts surrounding her real status as a NOC notwithstanding), yet on the other hand has filed an amicus brief to maintain the confidentiality of their sources! In a town such as Washington, where the press and those actually in positions of power in government have such a symbiotic relationship that lives on leaks, it is amazing that the press has the audacity to feign shock at this leak, but at nearly the same time hold up as a 'triumph of journalism' the leaks of Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat.

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While reading JustOneMinute, I also saw this interesting post about the possibility that Ari Fleischer, who was White House Press Secretary at the time the Plame Affair emerged, may be the real leaker. The timeline certainly makes sense.