...And the WaPo Confirms My Little Bird
The WaPo reported this morning, during the political chat online, that Jim VandeHei "misspoke" and meant to say Libby on last night's Hardball instead of Hadley.
Lawrence, Kan.: Did Jim VandeHei misspeak on Hardball when he attributed Rove's knowledge of Valerie Plame to Hadley?I bet he did appreciate the opportunity to set the record straight. Wonder how that conversation went, exactly?
Peter Baker: Thanks for the question. Jim informs me he did misspeak. He meant to say chatter between Rove and Libby, not Hadley. That's the trick with television, it's hard to correct. Appreciate the opportunity to set the record straight here.
(Hat tip to reader Bush's Jaw for the heads up on the chat.)
UPDATE: Atrios is absolutely right in saying that the head nodding is shameful by Norah and Tweety. Especially given the fact that up until this point no one had reported any freaking person as expressly being Rover's source for the Valerie Wilson information. So even if VandeHei meant "Libby" instead of "Hadley," this is still news that takes us to a more concrete piece of information than all of us speculating based on innuendo in previous Luskin leaks.
It's nice to correct the record on just who VandeHei meant -- but how about letting those of us not on the WH cocktail weenie circuit know just how long the WaPo was planning to sit on the Libby piece of information? And how much other information they and all their cocktail weenie compadres might also be holding back from "reporting"? And, just because I'm the curious sort, how exactly did VandeHei know that it was simply "office chatter" about someone who was a CIA NOC, that people should only have been discussing on a "need to know" basis? I'm just saying.
UPDATE #2: Oh, and while I'm at it, if this is true that Rove heard it directly from Libby, doesn't this blow the whole Rover spin of "I heard it from a journalist." clean out of the water? I mean, I know there's been some selective leaking before the Libby indictment that tried to shade things this way, but it was never this concrete. If VandeHei truly meant to say "Libby," then this is not good news for Rover's "reporters told me and I was just gossiping" (to every freaking human being that I could put my hands on in the DC area).
posted by ReddHedd @ 12/13/2005 08:26:00 AM
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