The Woodward Bombshell

The passion on the blogs is mainly on the left.

Arianna Huffington : "Bob Woodward. What a career arc. From exposing a presidential cover-up in Watergate to covering up his role in Plamegate. And being forced to apologize to his own paper. And asking a colleague, Walter Pincus, not to mention Woodward's role in the story. And failing to tell his editor that he had vital information about a major story.

"And, to bottom it out, doing the TV and radio rounds, minimizing the scandal as 'laughable,' 'an accident', 'nothing to it' and denigrating Fitzgerald as 'disgraceful' and 'a junkyard dog' without ever once divulging that he was not just an observer of the CIA leak case but a recipient -- perhaps the first -- of the leak.

"Hear that hissing noise? That's the sound of the air being let out of Woodward's reputation. Especially now that he's decided to challenge Pincus to a round of credibility one-on-one. My money's on Pincus, who was appropriately skeptical about the administration's WMD claims while Woodward was writing hagiography about the brave president and his fearless aides."

Slate's Jack Shafer : "What did Bob Woodward know, and when did he know it? . . .

"What sort of journalist publishes a 'statement' in his paper as opposed to writing a story? What sort of journalist refuses to talk to his own newspaper when making such a revelation, as Woodward did? Wednesday's story reads, 'Woodward declined to elaborate on the statement he released to the Post late yesterday afternoon and publicly last night. He would not answer any questions, including those not governed by his confidentiality agreement with source.'

"But wait, I have additional digressions! What sort of journalist, even one writing a book -- Woodward is always working on a book -- withholds blockbuster information about a major investigation, prosecution, and First Amendment battle from his editors until the 11th hour, as Woodward did?"

Atrios: "Booby's story just doesn't make any sense. Why would you grant confidentiality to something which is 'almost gossip' and told to you in an 'offhand manner.' What ethical issue prevented you from telling the world that an administration source had given you that information as you could do so without revealing the identity of the source? Why could you not tell the world about this when you felt free to share the information with Pincus (denied by him)."

Steven Clemons at The Washington Note: "Woodward's celebrity-status has seriously blinded him and affected his judgment about quality journalism and his responsibilities to the public. He should never have been making such comments on television about the Plame case if he was, in fact, involved. He should have RECUSED himself in such discussion."

John Aravosis at Americablog: "It's also beginning to sound a lot like Bob Woodward is becoming our next Judith Miller. His repeated rants in defense of this administration, and against the special prosecutor, certainly take on a very interesting edge considering Mr. Woodward didn't bother disclosing that he was quite involved in this story, and was hardly the impartial observer his silence suggested he was.

"Not to mention, he knew all along that HE TOO had received the leak, suggesting that a clear pattern of multiple leaks was developing, yet he still went on TV and said that all of these repeated leaks were just a slip of the tongue?"

More from Josh Marshall :

"Woodward had no obligation to discuss this publicly and in most respects probably no right. But he has been an aggressive critic of the investigation itself, challenging the premise that there was any underlying wrongdoing in this case. By becoming a partisan in the context of the leak case without revealing that he was at the center of it, really a party to it, he wasn't being honest with his audience. I don't see much way around that.

Now, his antipathy toward the investigation seems much easier to understand."

Matthew Yglesias : "Early speculation on why Woodward's undisclosed source on Valerie Plame's identity spilled the beans is that this is part of an effort to exculpate Scooter Libby. I don't understand how that's supposed to work. Libby stands accused of telling investigators that he first heard Plame worked for the CIA from Tim Russert. Russert denies this, as do several other reporters, as do several government officials who say they discussed the matter with Libby. What's Woodward got to do with it?"

Seems to me we'll be better able to judge the impact on the case, and Woodward's career, when we find out who his source was--assuming that, unlike Throat aficionados, we don't have to wait another 33 years.