Miller's Time

Um, didn't Newsweek and the WashPost do stories about Rove being a source for Cooper?

"Just look at the way Newsweek handled the Rove-outed-Plame story in this week's edition. The editors obviously knew they had a hot story and could have pushed it hard. Instead, it's clear that they lawyered it within an inch of its life -- a bunch of legal eagles with faint hearts removing any juice and most of the meat from it."

I'd describe it as being careful not to go beyond the facts you have nailed down.

Salon pumps the Rove angle with a piece titled "All Eyes on Turd Blossom."

Layton at Sit Down, Have a Drink has a new war cry:

"Though it would be nice to see a member of the Administration jailed for releasing secret information to the press, I don't think it is worthy of setting a precedent that will vastly effect our nation's journalistic principles while also violating the rights granted to us in our Constitution.Free Judith Miller!"

Common Sense sheds no tears for Judy:

"I can't say I'm sad to see Miller get locked up. I just don't like her or her crappy reporting. And this is what she had to say when the judge ordered her taken into custody:

"Miller told the judge that if U.S. troops could risk death in their fight for freedom in Iraq, 'surely, I can face prison to defend a free press.'

"Judy Miller, war veteran. Please. I think the guys in Iraq wearing uniforms have it pretty bad, and trying to make your few months in jail so grandiose is in bad taste."

Jeff Epperly at Laquidas is fed up with the MSM:

"There are certainly good reasons to protect anonymous journalistic sources. But they are used so much to cover up shoddy reporting. And that's being generous. Mainstream journalists have become so enamored of traveling in powerful circles that they often appear to be more inclined to blithely further the goals of their sources than they are in exposing malfeasance or even questioning a source's motives. Why should reportorial laziness, ineptitude and venality have any higher protections than would the average person trading in gossip? That's really all many reporters do these days.

"Mainstream journalism as it's currently practiced is already damaging America enough that one reporter going to jail hardly seems very important -- especially one as loathsome as Judith Miller. Perhaps she'll do less damage there."

Vox Populi raises a question many people have been posing:

"I fail to understand where is Bob Novak? The man is as well hidden as Osama bin Laden as it relates to this matter. Has he been renditioned or just quietly hiding behind a convenient open book to the federal prosecutor and ultimately the White [House], to which he always support (Republican administration prerequisite). How does the author of the article, that is surrounded in legal and political debate, slip, slide away and others are expressed to the full-court-press of The Department of Justice? Judith Miller deserves considerable praise and support for a strong posture and dedication to professional ethics. Can we say the same for Mr. Novak?"

Slate's Tim Noah says a picture of Valerie Plame (sans sunglasses and head scarf) can be seen here

In other news, you don't usually see Bush faulting his own side, but the Los Angeles Times has him handing out bipartisan criticism:

"President Bush on Wednesday denounced advocacy groups on both the left and right that are trying to influence his choice of a Supreme Court nominee, and he insisted that he would not weigh candidates' views on specific issues.

"The president expressed exasperation as groups that supported his re-election lobbied aggressively for favorite candidates and tried to undercut others. With Bush indicating that the selection process might take weeks, the competition could become intense.

"In remarks to reporters in Denmark before he flew to Scotland for a summit of the leading industrialized nations, the president complained in particular about the denigration of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales by some conservative groups.

"Preparing for an anticipated fight in the Senate, the White House said that at Bush's request, former Sen. Fred Thompson would guide the eventual nominee through the confirmation process. In selecting Thompson, a Tennessee Republican and an actor -- he is a lawyer by training and portrays a district attorney on NBC's 'Law and Order' -- Bush has chosen a highly visible media star whose experience with politically sensitive Senate hearings goes back to his days as a senior Republican staff member on the Senate Watergate Committee more than 30 years ago."

Not to mention someone with star quality.