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Plame-gate

The Valerie Plame scandal is, like Watergate, rapidly increasing in importance as the White House goes into full damage control. Yesterday Illinois Senator Dick Durbin brought the Joseph Wilson-Valerie Plame story to the public's attention, and, aside from the Internet, only one Canadian news outlet picked the story up.

Today, however, is an entirely different matter. Just this morning, The Hill came out with a well-timed story accusing Durbin of leaking sensitive information. Reporter Sarita Chourey dances around the Plame aspect, mentioning every aspect of the case except Bob Novak's outing of Wilson's wife.

Ironically, Durbin's best headline comes from hometown Sun-Times, with the headline "Durbin says White House trying to smear him." The Sun-Times does mention Durbin's comments about Novak and Plame, but only in an oblique way that provides absolutely no context:

[Durbin] cited a column by the Sun-Times' Robert Novak that revealed the name of a CIA operative whose husband, ex-ambassador Joseph Wilson, criticized the administration for ignoring his warning that Iraq was not dealing with Niger. Novak said in his column that the information came from two senior administration officials.

It's odd how suddenly reticent the major media is. No one wants to mention Plames' name now, but a Google search shows 172 hits for "Valerie Plame," all of which were posted in just the last week or so. Prior to Bob Novak's column, Plame didn't exist online. Further, undercutting Novak's defense that if not he, someone else would have published the story, there are no other articles in the media about Plame prior to David Corn's revelations about Novak outing a CIA operative.

Durbin went on the offensive last week, going on Good Morning America to discuss George Tenet's testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee. "[Tenet] certainly told us who the person was who was insistent on putting this language in which the CIA knew to be incredible, this language about the uranium shipment from Africa. And there was this negotiation between the White House and the CIA about just how far you could go and be close to the truth." That got Durbin a roasting from White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. When Durbin broadened his charges to include Plame, the White House moved immediately, planting a story in The Hill.

The Google News hit count on "Valerie Plame" is now up to 14, with a follow up article today by Newsday, but as of this morning, not one additional major media player has picked this story up. Just to cut them a break, I'm adding Mother Jones and the New York Press to their half of the list below, even though Google News doesn't consider them to be major media. A regular Google search of all websites brings up 172 hits for Plame (43 solid links, the rest duplicates), with bloggers jumping all over this story. Here is the coverage of this story to date:

As with the Trent Lott imbroglio a while back, bloggers should get some credit on this story, but the Pulitzers will go to the major media players who play dice with their careers and start speaking out.

UPDATES: Thanks to Kevin Drum (CalPundit) for reminding me to add David Corn and The Nation to the list. Corn blogged his contribution, but I'll be gracious and include The Nation on both lists all the same. The major media list is still very short.

And one more update. Buzzflash has an outstanding and more detailed look at the Durbin situation in this new editorial: "The Integrity and Dignity of the White House Become a Scum Pond of Betrayals and Gutter Smears Under Bush."

Thanks to Buzzflash again for a link to the Arizona Star's editorial on Plame-gate. I'll update again if there are any breaking developments later today.

— guest posted by Mark Gisleson

Posted by Steve Perry at July 23, 2003 9:08 AM

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