Bob Woodward has claimed that hearing about Valerie Plame wasn't really a big deal because, well, his source didn't treat it as a big deal. He says that the the senior administration official "
casually told him" in mid-June 2003 that Plame worked as a CIA analyst. Woodward treats this as proof that this was all no more than idle "gossip," as he claimed on Larry King.
Here's why Woodward's claim is a pathetic whitewash.
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Woodward was working on one of his books, "Plan of Attack," at the time he was talking to the source. So his discussions were
confidential, not just in terms of naming his source -- but in terms of disclosing anything at all.
The source knew that, of course. In that context, the source isn't going to spend a lot of energy bending Woodward's ear about Plame. The source surely knew that Woodward wasn't allowed to print the story, and that the WH had other ways to get the story into the press (like Novak, and possibly Cooper, Pincus, and Miller). Plus the WH probably wanted golden boy Woodward to stay above the fray in day-to-day battles like this one. So they just gave him the story on background, "casually," so that they could maximize the newsroom buzz about the story while working other reporters (and their stenographer, Novak) for actual publication.
This is all in addition to the other reason that Woodward's inference from a supposedly "casual" or "gossipy" leak is so ridiculous. Novak said the same sort of thing. But doesn't Woodward realize that a skilled administration official might very well use tact, rather than bombast, to plant the seed? To ignore this possibility, Woodward seems to be an unwitting dupe -- or worse, a willing one.