A NY Times Reporter who covered the White House for five years, Elisabeth Bumiller, writes that "anonymous Republicans" were often White House-sanctioned leakers who would pass on information West Wing officials wanted, then the White House spokespeople would lie and act surprised about the leaks. Doesn't that sound familiar in the Plame case? Shouldn't Patrick Fitzgerald subpoena Bumiller?
She also calls the Bush administration "one of the most secretive White Houses ever," says Laura Bush "excoriated" her over a paragraph buried in a story, and Rove got so mad he put her email address in his spam filter - the nerve!
Moreover, Bumiller also claims most reporters she knew were not "passionately political, left or right. Our real ideology is a love of conflict." She must not know the same reporters I do. I've worked in the media for 25 years and know plenty of reporters who are passionately political, mostly on the right side.
Bumiller also confirmed that Bush "can be short-tempered, impatient and brusque," but that most regular White House reporters "have a friendly, towel-snapping relationship" with the commander-in-thief. Isn't that special? I guess that confirms more about what Robert Kennedy Jr. wrote about, how the large majority of media types stay away from reporting on issues that will really piss BushCo off, such as the 2004 election theft.
Check Bumiller's report out here.