White House Aide Out Of The Woods, Web Reporting Into The Woodshed?

By: Vaughn Ververs
Topics: Blog Buzz

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Now that we know White House Karl Rove won't be indicted by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, we can move on with the case and start tying up some loose ends. One of those loose ends is pointed out by Washington Post media scribe Howard Kurtz this morning:

So after five grand jury appearances and many months of twisting in the wind, Karl Rove dodges an indictment bullet in the Valerie Plame leak case. I wonder if Truthout.org, which reported that Rove had already been charged, will be issuing a full retraction.

Truthout is the Web site which published a report a month ago claiming, as fact, that Rove had already been indicted. Despite direct denials from Rove's lawyers, the Web site and the reporter, Jason Leopold, continued to stand by the story. Leopold went so far as to promise to name his sources if they were proven to have misled him.

Well, we're waiting for that disclosure – and the retraction.

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by firstbillmon June 16, 2006 2:12 AM EDT: Web reporting into the woodshed??? That's pretty freaking rich, coming from CBS -- the network that gave us Dan Rather and the Texas National Guard memos from hell. P.S. to Chuck Simmins - The Senate Intelligence Committee's WMD report was a lie and a whitewash. I know it, you know it, Pat Roberts knows it. So why are you bringing that piece of $$@# up now?; Reply to this comment


by alphaa10-2009 June 15, 2006 2:58 AM EDT: Awestruck1-- Bush would not have tried his self-righteous denial unless he presumed the facts never would be known. Enough fact did emerge that McClellan resigned in embarrassment for having repeated the Bush denial to the press, even as Bush, Libby, Cheney and Rove scrambled for damage control. This is why the Bush team scrambles all the time to stay on message-- they have so much to conceal.; Reply to this comment


by awestruck1 June 14, 2006 10:04 AM EDT: July 2005 - Bush Quote On July 18, 2005, Bush said, "I would like this to end as quickly as possible. If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration." Now we see why Fitzgerald was appointed to "find out" what Bush wanted to know. Nearly a year after the above quote, we still don't know, or maybe "we" do.; Reply to this comment


by alphaa10-2009 June 14, 2006 8:53 AM EDT: Simminch-- Speaking of wrongs, you state. 1. "... Mr. Wilson's original report supported the view that Saddam sought to buy uranium from Niger." In fact, CIA did not publish the Wilson debriefing because it added nothing new to what already was known. According to CIA sources and the US ambassador, Niger denied both contacts and any contract with Iraq regarding yellowcake. Nigerian PM Malaki speculated Iraq wanted to talk about yellowcake in 1999, but never said he discussed the subject with the Iraqis. It was the British who made the claim in their intel reports for the region, and neither Wilson nor the US ambassador nor anyone at CIA could confirm the UK claim. 2. "There has never been an iota of proof that Ms. Plame was covert." SP Fitzgerald determined Plame was involved in "covert work overseas" on counterproliferation matters, and CIA accordingly tried to conceal her identity-- key elements in whether covert status applies. 3. "WMD have been found in Iraq, and used against our troops..." Certainly US troops expected biochem attack, but that is different than documented use. None other than Scott McClellan said in 2005 the US acted on erroneous assessments that Saddam was developing and stockpiling nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The ISG and Charles Duelfer concurred the WMD claim is false, and without evidence. That is why Duelfer came home in 2005 to write his report, and why the troops searching for WMDs were returned to regular duties.; Reply to this comment


by mailpro56 June 13, 2006 11:16 PM EDT: So the biggest Karl Rove bashers..Keith Olbermann, David Shuster and Jack Cafferty are all on vacation this week. So what are the odds of that?; Reply to this comment


by memekiller June 13, 2006 9:26 PM EDT: As I've said before, the blogs I read were skeptical of this story from the beginning, but no doubt about it, Truthout has egg on their face, and if Leopold is to have any credibility at this point (he shouldn't) he needs to out his sources as promised and explain himself. So far, he's still giving excuses -- it's like Bush claiming "Mission Accomplished" was referring to that particular boat's mission, at this point.; Reply to this comment


by mattcat25 June 13, 2006 4:05 PM EDT: Simminch, You forget there is no Global warming, Iraq is a better place than ever (with their new Unity Governtment). Arabs, Mexcans, and Gays are out to destroy America, and God only loves Republicans. There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction. The Bush Administration orchestrated their reasons to attack Iraq, the Iraq plan was only to loot the Federal Treasury, and there is no exit strategy. Mega dittos.; Reply to this comment


by centralcal-2009 June 13, 2006 3:41 PM EDT: Thank you mailpro56 for making the point that is quite obvious -- it isn't only "web reporting to the woodshed," now is it? Vaughn's headline here is about as accurate as the "reporting" by the MSNBC trio cited in your post. Dan Abrams will has his work cut out for him (grin).; Reply to this comment


by mailpro56 June 13, 2006 3:13 PM EDT: I'm waiting to hear from Chris Matthews, David Schuster and keith Olbermann...; Reply to this comment


by simminch June 13, 2006 3:12 PM EDT: Mattcat, oh, so many wrongs in one post. As two separate investigations found, Mr. Wilson's original report supported the view that Saddam sought to buy uranium from Niger. In fact, the Senate report specifically states that his op-ed in the Times was in direct conflict with what he reported to the CIA. In other words, Joe Wilson publicly stated something he knew was not true. There has never been an iota of proof that Ms. Plame was covert. WMD have been found in Iraq, and used against our troops. In addition, both Dr. Blix and the US investigators described in their reports active attempts by the Saddam government to conceal prohibited activities. There is one sealed indictment in this case. I expect it to be Joe Wilson. Chuck Simmins America's North Shore Journal http://northshorejournal.org; Reply to this comment