Bob Woodward: political hack, White House fluffer

The halo continues to tarnish from Watergate breaker Bob Woodward, most notably with the fact that Plamegate special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald got his sworn testimony about further White House leaks of Plame’s name.

Here’s my two cents on it.

Leaks like this were part of a pattern of “softening the ground,” so to speak, as well as “testing the waters.” If the press would bite with only a minimum of due diligence as to whether the leaking of Valerie Plame’s name would actually damage CIA assets, then they would engage in more soft-shoe “softening the ground” leaks to set up the big play.

And Big Bobby was ready to play along

Woodward never mentioned this contact -- which was at the center of a criminal investigation and a high-stakes First Amendment legal battle between the prosecutor and two news organizations -- to his supervisors until last month.

Where have we heard Bob Woodward's “sudden memory recall” before? Could it be.....

"Oh, sorry, Patrick, I do remember that I have notes from that first interview after all, after you so graciously reminded me that my White House visit had been recorded on the log."

Maybe Miller was giving Woodward "private lessons" on the side, since she has a reputation of cozying up to the well-placed.

Third, note the shilling of Big Bobby W:

Woodward told Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald that the official casually told him in mid-June 2003 that Plame worked as a CIA analyst on weapons of mass destruction, and that he did not believe the information to be classified or sensitive, according to a statement Woodward released yesterday.

And shilling on top of shilling:

William Jeffress Jr., one of Libby's lawyers, said yesterday that Woodward's testimony undermines Fitzgerald's public claims about his client and raises questions about what else the prosecutor may not know.

Read the story for more fun tidbits, such as Big Bobby W’s claim he told Walter Pincus that he knew about Plame and what she did, which Pincus says is a laughable claim.

Further questions:

Did Big Bobby W. play an active role in the “soften the ground” phase of the White House’s pregame plan on outing Plame? In other words, did he tell other reporters and editoris, at the Post and elsewhere, that, “Here’s why Wilson went to Niger”? Beyond that, did he tell anybody, “As to the why, of the why Wilson went to Niger, did you know his wife might have been ‘in a position to know,’” letting his listeners read between the lines that she was with the Agency? What other role might he have played? Do we need to reread his books again?

Sounds plenty suspicious to me.