Thursday, October 27, 2005
Bob Woodward on Larry King Show
Interesting panel on Larry King talking about Plame Affair. You have Sen. Dodd (D) and Michael Isikoff (Newsweek?), Sen. Lindsay Graham (R), David Gergen and Bob Woodward. Paraphrasing Woodward, who stands out here as the most balanced and objective:
1) No violation of Espionage Act - no "outing of Plame"
2) No "malice" toward Plame - more like gossip
3) The "bomb" - the first mainstream journalist I've heard who explicitly points out Wilson's op-ed was bull, and the Senate Intelligence Committee Report, "which both parties signed," debunks Wilson.
Hence Woodward expresses doubt that Fitzgerald will do anything.
He says, correctly in my view, this is all about Iraq, and the fact that there is a minority who tenaciously cling to the view that it is a mistake.
Dodd is the most aggressive in attacking the War and supporting Wilson -- clearly rooting for an indictment. Isikoff wants it too. Gergen seems to want it too.
Ah, Isikoff admits: "based on what we know, there is not enough evidence for a crime." Except Fitzgerald is working this so hard, it makes Isikoff believe he has to do something "or will have some explaining to do."
Amusing moment when Dodd challenges Woodward assertion on Senate Report -- Woodward says "I have it right here in my pocket," and Dodd backs off immediately. King quips to Woodward, "you carry this stuff around?" And Woodward responds "I knew I would be challenged."
Agree or disagree -- this is a very good discussion going on. It is interesting how bitter partisans in writing control themselves when faced with intelligent, well versed opposition.
I will stop now...summary later.
3 Comments:
By 
TigerHawk, at
Thu Oct 27, 10:15:00 PM:
You can stand to watch Larry King?
Glad you did, though. That's an interesting account.
I saw Woodward last year about this time complain about John Kerry's unwillingness to subject himself to an interview about American foreign policy. Bush, at least, had made clear his position on Iraq and subjected himself to extensive interviews on the subject. I got the impression then that Woodward kind of likes Bush personally, which Maureen Dowd does not.
On Dowd's ignorance of the Senate report on Wilson: only people who read conservative blogs or the National Review know that Joe Wilson is a Grand Vizier in the Order of the Weasel.
By Nobrainer, at
Thu Oct 27, 10:29:00 PM:
I, too, doubt that any idictments will come from the "outing" of Plame. It doesn't sound like everyone is out of the woods for a perjury/obstruction-of-justice charge.
By Cardinalpark, at
Fri Oct 28, 09:00:00 AM:
TH - Dodd wasn't ignorant of it. That's what is so disingenuous about the discussion. He's a Senator who signed the report. Of course he knows. But he thinks "his public" doesn't know. It's disgusting really. That's what's so helpful about an honest reporter there to point it out. Woodward made the point very clearly.
Now he has an axe to - and that is preerving the mastery of Watergate. Nixon did wrong and was taken down, and Woodward scooped it. In this case, Woodward is basically arguing nobody did anything wrong -- Wilson's op-ed was political, driven by opposition to war, but factually wrong. In his subtle view, there really isn't anything wrong with scrutinizing Wilson's credibility - including who was responsible for sending him.
A tempest in a teapot. Ultimately, this will lead at best to Marth Stewart like charges on Libby.
Pathetic really. Fram an Amherst guy.
