75 minutes more until airtime. Since you all seem to have something to say about KO I thought you might like to kibbitz about the show while it is on...a little "live blogging" of the "best show on television"

PRES. BUSH AUTHORIZED LEAK OF CLASSIFIED INFO:

The documents released by Fitzerald on Libby's grand jury testimony says that he (Libby) was authorized to leak "certain information" contained in the NIE. Not classified info.

Moreover, if the president de-classified parts of the NIE for Libby to inform the press about, it's clearly no longer "classified" info. And the chief executive clearly has the authority to de-classify material. It's been done before.

So the use of "certain information" means, it seems to me, that either the information was not classified or that it had been de-classified.

I'm sure that Dean et al. will emphasize the above points. If not, Mr. Olbermann will correct them, I'm sure.

SMG

Classified or declassified isn't the problem. IF what Libby is saying is true and involves Plame, then the President has repeatedly lied about this matter to the public. *That* is a problem. His plausible deniability about L'Affair Plame goes out the window.

IF what Libby is saying is true and involves Plame, then the President has repeatedly lied about this matter to the public. *That* is a problem.

Okay, but that's a lot of "ifs" on your part.

Is the news media now in the business of reporting conjecture and speculation?

That's okay for editorialists or opinion makers but not hard news reporters. Correct? After all, eventually Democrats will recapture the White House. Will you uncritically accept the media disseminating rumors and conjecture about a Democratic Administration?

Anyway, there is zero evidence in the materials released by Fitzgerald that the President authorized any information that involved Plame.

This report about Libby's testimony concerned the NIE and nothing to do with Plame or Wilson or anyone else.

And I must add: if the press is going to start reporting on every Administration that leaked de-classified - repeat de-classified - information to the press then we're going to have to a government jobs program for journalists.

SMG

Isn't amazing how John Dean becomes such a reliable source when he had bad things to say about Bush?

Keith moving into his real area of expertise - baseball.

Good objective reporting from Dana Millbank...worked in "Bush lied"..."hypocrisy"..."Bush going after journalists"...and the usual spiel.

Meanwhile...McKinney "apologizes".

Using such widely discredited sources such as John Dean, Dana Milbank, David Shuster, Craig Crawford and Richard Wolff equates Countdown to such notable publications as The National Enquirer and other grocery store checkout publications

And the continued stalking of Bill Orielly borders on pathological
KO makes Couric almost repectable

Good objective reporting from Dana Millbank...worked in "Bush lied"..."hypocrisy"..."Bush going after journalists"...and the usual spiel.[end quote]

I wonder why thats the usual? Maybe cause its true? Naaaaa thats, crazy

Note the sarcasm

That's a lot of if's...

Precisely. It's called waiting for more information before passing judgment. And news people are in the business of reporting what happens, as it happens, and researching it. Does any of us think they're really good at that last part, as a whole, anymore? I'm skeptical.

Yet, as a story comes out, part of their job really is to gather information from experts, discuss potential ramifications and outcomes (thought Olbermann did say, more than once, that nobody is accusing the President of leaking Plame's name or doing anything illegal, for instance).

The question is whether or not the information was declassified in the proper fashion, and what, if any, impact that will have on the President's previous statements that he does not want leaks in the White House and that he had no knowledge of who might've had this information to disseminate. For those answers, we have to watch it play out.

This comment thread is now closed.