I was thinking during dinner that Miller, Williams, and Gannon have a lot in common. Each was willing to serve as a conduit to the public for the Bush Administration party line, Miller on Weapons of Mass Destruction, Williams on No Child Left Behind, and Gannon on just about anything.
We know what Armstrong Williams got out of it--a cool $241K from the U.S. Department of Education.
Gannon got to pretend to himself for a time that he was a respectable journalist, although he never really reported anything, but instead reproduced Bush Administration press releases.
What did Judy Miller get out of it? Was she a true believer in the neo-con cause, and a willing conduit, or was she so eager to have access to important political figures that she would report anything they told her, without any attempt to verify the information or at least provide context for it? We may have to wait for her book to find out, if then.
The big question--are there more Williams, Gannons, or Millers out there, and we just haven't smoked them out yet?