Newsweek Ventures Into More Tabloid Journalism

At times I read things and I can’t believe they are in print. Newsweek, that famous rag that brought us the Koran burning stories of last year, has published a story that can only be taken as tabloid journalism.

Prelude to a Leak

Read this story carefully. If is full of convenient ‘facts’, leaving out any opposing information and some of which is down right wrong.

Midlevel officials in the CIA's clandestine service quickly arranged to send Ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger to investigate the uranium claims.

Let’s conveniently leave out the fact that ‘midlevel officials’ means Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson’s wife. In addition, there is absolutely no mention of the fact that Joe Wilson is a long time supporter of the Democratic Party and a political hack.

Someone, perhaps to punish the loose-lipped diplomat, let it be known to columnist Robert Novak and other reporters that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was an undercover CIA operative, a revelation that is a possible violation of laws protecting classified information.

Lets repeat one word from this...'perhaps'. Great, they are making the story up as they go.

That paragraph is unbelievable. First of all, as we have long ago established, Valerie Plame was not a ‘covert’ agent. The special prosecutor isn’t going after Scooter Libby for ‘outing’ anyone. There is nothing there. That is why this has suddenly turned into a ‘gotcha’ attack on Libby. It’s an attempt to get him for making a false statement to a Grand Jury, not for ‘outing’ anyone. You can’t out someone that isn’t in. Yet Newsweek and Michael Isikoff make this statement as though it were fact.

Libby and other administration officials were quick to denounce Wilson's claims...

Well, considering that they were a pack of lies, why wouldn’t they discount his accusations?

...and to allege that it was his wife who had chosen him for the African trip. (Wilson and Plame say she merely recommended him to her supervisor when asked.)

And we are to take them at their word I suppose.

Democrats are looking for a Watergate and they won’t get even a nibble. Let's see, at best they may get a resignation from Scooter Libby. A resounding ‘who cares’ will be felt across the country. Anyone who does not believe Newsweek is agenda driven need look no further than this article. The same press that defended Clinton to the bitter end is cheerleading the prosecution of an aide to the Vice President. How pathetic.

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