To the hounds!

25 October 2005 15:22 EDT Posted by Highlander

Buried in what seemed like a fairly straightforward news report from FOX on the most recent Plamegate rumors, I found this:

For several months, sources within the investigation have been telling reporters that it was unlikely anyone would be charged with violating a 1982 act that made it illegal to intentionally blow a covert U.S. agent's cover. Plame's undercover status has been the subject of debate, and testimony indicates there is little to prove Rove or Libby knew her identity was a secret.
Plame's undercover status has only been 'the subject of debate' by conservatives, and a better phrase than 'debate' would be 'desperate frenzied bluster' or even 'unequivocal bullshit'. As far as I can tell, Plame's status as a CIA operative working under a classified cover is well established by, well, every CIA source that has been quoted over the course of this story. The only people trying to say Plame may not have been under cover and her status as a CIA op may not have been classified information are, well, the same people who keep claiming that Joe Wilson outed his wife himself by posing for public photographs with her while out on a dinner date. This is one of the right's most infamously ridiculous talking points on this matter, and finding it reported in such an inarguably factual tone... well, I can see why people have so much trouble taking FOX news seriously.

As to how little or much there is to prove that Libby and/or Rove knew Plame's status as a NOC was classified, well, that's something Fitzgerald has been working for two years to establish, and I presume he will establish it, one way or another, by the end of the week. Any 'testimony' which indicates that there is 'little to prove it' would pretty much have to come from Rove and Libby themselves.

Fox News: Fair and Balanced, as long as you don't pay very close attention. But then, I suppose that's pretty consistent with their target audience.