How long can NBC allow Russert to host MTP,

[chieftain]

given Libby's reported testimony citing Russ' boy Timmy as his source on Plame? What shred of credibility can remain for this journalistic fraud when he becomes the pivotal figure in a charge of perjury against one of the most powerful men in an administration, with which Tim has cravenly cultivated favor?
There was a time in the not too distant past that news people kept a distance between themselves and the politicians they covered. Tim is the poster boy for the journalistic prodigals who salivate for the power dinner invitation and allow themselves to become the willing handmaidens for the rich and powerful. Timmy is not alone in this. But his reckless pursuit of acceptance by the Bushes and Jack Welch have landed him at a place where any self respecting news organization would recognize his conflict of interest . NBC has to remove him from any position where he could influence coverage of an administration accused of treasonous behavior since his testimony is critical to the outcome of the case.

[lanlady]

1. Libby's lying

How the hell would Russert know where Plame worked?

[chieftain]

4. I agree that Libby is lying. My point is that Russert will be called

to refute this testimony in order to prove a perjury charge.

[emulatorloo]

10. he already testified that he didn't tell Libby - LIBBY PERJURED HIMSELF

not Russert

IMHO Fitz is done taking testimony. . .he has other sources who told him who told Libby. And it was from inside, not from a reporter.

[chieftain]

15. If there are indictments, there will be a trial. That's when Tim

will be called again to help prove the perjury charge.

[Auntie Bush]

16. And that insider is Cheney...F***em!!!!!!

Even though bush* will pardon him because he's a sick man.
Yeah sick...sick in the head as well as the heart.

[gasperc]

14. Juan Cole has the dirt

It looks more and more like a plot to release the name "joe Wilson's wife" and not her actual name. The whole investigation has been focusing on who actually got the info, her actual name, and released it, and using the language "joe wilson's wife" as an end around of the 1982 espionage act. Juan Cole surmises that Cheney and company (WHIG) feared that the CIA was about to burn the administration on the bad intelligence bullshit, or the fact the intelligence was perfectly fine,there were no significant WMDs, but the administration warped public opinion to "sell" the war. Outing Wilson's wife was seen as an effective method to reign in any possible whistle blowing CIA agents.
Juan also goes into very lengthy detail about the logic of Wilson's wife is the same as Valerie Plame(duh) and how the conspirators plot to use the term "wilson's wife" gives them a legalese way out.

go to www.juancole.com

[PurityOfEssence]

20. Cheney was right

As Ray McGovern shows, none of the OVER 100 people he knows within the CIA who know of the deception have yet to step forward.

Spinning of the Plame affair would like to have us believe that it's revenge against Wilson, which is petty and not so readily acceptible. (These guys are vindictive enough, but this approach is clever: one doesn't buy it as readily as one does the idea of it being a warning shot to others who haven't come forward.) The real issue is that it was a threat against other career professionals: if you come clean, you will never work again and be tarred as disloyal.

So far, it's worked.

[gasperc]

21. so after indictments are issue(hopefully)

will a bunch of CIA analysts come forward or agree to testify?

[chieftain]

22. I think you are on to something. Either it was a shot across

the CIA's bow or a specific attack on Valerie Plame for something she was working on. Being able to characterize Wilson as dependent upon his wife for a job was the whip cream and cherry on top, not the main course.

[emulatorloo]

2. um what shred of credibility does Libby have?

Libby says his source was Russert and you beleive him?

"Tim Russert TOld ME!" is as credible as "The Dog Ate My Homework!"

[AntiCoup2K4]

8. Why are you defending TimmyWhore?

Maybe Libby's lying, maybe he isn't. Probably is, since it's all these pieces of shit do. But Timmy has shamelessly bent over and grabbed his ankles for these bastards every time, and he's even worse than the FAUX News fucks, because at least everybody KNOWS they're lying whores. Timmy gets away with the shit as far as the sheeple are concerned.

[emulatorloo]

12. Why are you so eager to claim WHIG learned Plame's status from a reporter?

Don't be silly. I have no use for Russert.

the simplest explanation is usually true. There are a lot of simple ways Scooter (Cheney's Cheney) could find out Plame's job, and they don't involve "Tim Russert Told Me!"

On edit for clarity

[Cocoa]

13. why are you defending Libby?

just kidding. That would be a silly response.

[Neocondriac]

3. More than Russert..

The whole network is complicit.I just wonder how the Christmas party mood shifts when Olbermann shows up.!

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

5. Rove tried to flip on Libby, so Libby needs someone to flip in return

Don't get me wrong...I think Russert is a good little lap doggie for the Bush administration, and my respect level falls somewhere around "none."

But this Libby allegation? Sounds like horse crap to me.

[goju]

6. Clearly you are not familiar with Watergate

There was a time in the not too distant past that news people kept a distance between themselves and the politicians they covered.

I dont know your age, but that statement of yours is very naive. Never, never has there been a time when journalists kept any distance between politicos and themselves.

News is made by journalists who are able to do the ground work. Be careful chastizing them, they have done remarkable things, in the not too distant past.

[Thirtieschild]

23. And there has never been a time...

that journalists, at least the Washington variety, didn't nurture their own egos. DH was transferred to the Washington bureau the day Kennedy was inaugurated. He said then that every day at 5 p.m. the air in the National Press Club absolutely reeked of ego, with almost every reporter telling the other reporters how important he (it was mosly he then) was, you'd think the government would have collapsed without any of them. We didn't stay long - DH hated politics and after two years, asked to be transferred out. But living in that place at that time was an education. And ego-driven or not, I loved having the Post as my morning paper.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Who was it who said he turned Fat Timmy and Tweety into neocons?

Was that Jack Welch? I think it was. There was a post or three right here on DU about the quote.

I wonder if Big Russ is proud of his corpulent son.

[kurth]

9. Russert is a newsreader for the Bush government

His whole life revolved around kissing up to the rich and powerful. Look at his broadcast at the Pope's funeral - he showed picture after picture of his family's visit with the Pope and the words he used was nothing but worshipful - I mean the guy was drooling. His interviews with Bush officials were simply scandalous, especially during the pre-war build-up, compared to his combative and suspicious stance towards Democratic guests.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

11. There's very little journalism on TV - it's mostly Presstitution

American broadcast journalism is mostly corporate shills in it for the money.

[WA98296]

17. TR has "credibility"? Are you sure? Thought Aaron Broussard finished him.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

18. With tears in his eyes he will give them a Big Russ story

and all will be forgiven. He is slicker than kkkarl.

[peacetalksforall]

19. How can some people sink so low that it causes people who listen

to them go from respect to disdain? It doesn't make any difference to me whether he is innocent or guilty on the Plame rumor/accusation - he is slime for his pimping, imo.