Jason Leopold who I diaried recently as being the new Woodstein, in the best sense, breaking countless details on the Plame case while everyone else sits on their asses, has a new one out where he fingers Libby outing Plame to Woodward at the direction of Cheney, as the first instance of the leak.
http://www.truthout.org/...
As usual, this gem of reporting for the wonderful site, Truthout.org, has a number of terrific revelations and ironies. Here's one, which I relish:
"Woodward, currently an assistant managing editor of the Washington Post, did not return calls for comment. Leonard Downie, the executive editor of the Post, would not comment for this story. A spokeswoman for Cheney said she could not comment for this story, and attorneys for Libby did not return calls for comment."
Assuming the line from the film isn't apocrophal, musn't Woodward be thinking about Ben Bradlee's exortation, "when is somebody going to go on the goddamn record on this story!" Oh, how far he has fallen, trading objective distance for access, in order to bring us all "THE TRUTH". Mmm hmm.
Here's another one:
"Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but the timing of an executive order signed by President Bush supposedly granting Cheney the authority to declassify such national security intelligence fits nicely into the time frame when he and his senior aides spearheaded a campaign to discredit Wilson.
The executive order was signed on March 23, 2003, four days after the start of the Iraq war, and two weeks after Wilson first appeared on the administration's radar."
Rampant speculation of course, but that's how stories are pushed further, by raising the logical questions. And its worth pointing out how much Bush is in over is head that he is giving away much of his executive privelege, or delegating in CEO speak, to his Veep.