Miller is no martyr for First Amendment (Gene Lyons)

[struggle4progress]

By Gene Lyons / Syndicated Columnist
Sunday, October 9, 2005

<snip> Joe Wilson is a career diplomat who bravely defied Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War by sheltering persons the Iraqi dictator had threatened to hang inside the U.S. Embassy. But he'd earned this White House's enmity by publishing a New York Times column on July 6, 2003, basically implying that President Bush's claims about Saddam's attempts to buy African uranium for nuclear weapons were known to be false when he made them. <snip>

Then there's Judith Miller, the flamboyant New York Times reporter and neo-conservative pin-up girl whose discredited "exclusives" on Iraq's imaginary nuclear weapons helped drive the nation to war. Miller said waivers provided by her sources -- she never wrote a story about Plame -- were the result of prosecutorial strong-arming, hence worthless to so fierce an advocate of First Amendment press freedom as herself. <snip>

Then somebody leaked Scooter's letter to the press. It said Miller's truthful testimony would actually benefit him, helpfully reminding her of the legal tightrope her source is walking: "As I am sure will not be news to you, the public report of every other reporter's testimony makes clear that they did not discuss Ms. Plame's name or identity with me, or knew about her before our call." <snip>

Here's all I know: If Hillary Clinton had written Susan McDougal a letter like that, the Washington press would have exploded with indignation. The TV talking heads would be predicting indictments, and the phrase of the week would be "criminal conspiracy."

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/columnists/view.bg?articleid=111138&format=&page=1

[countmyvote4real]

1. Brilliant conclusion. n/t

[Selteri]

2. Excellent analasys of the So Called Liberal Media. NT