Bill Moyers: Fans of Libby

"BILL MOYERS: One beltway insider is quoted saying the neo-cons are "weighted down by the sheer, glaring unfairness" of Libby's sentence. And there's the rub. None seem the least weighted down by the sheer, glaring unfairness of sentencing soldiers to repeated and longer tours of duty in a war induced by deception. It was left to the hawkish academic Fouad Ajami to state it baldly, as he pleaded on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal for Bush to pardon Libby. For believing "in the nobility of this war," wrote Ajami, Scooter Libby had himself become a "casualty" -- a fallen soldier the president dare not leave behind on the beltway battlefield. Not a word in the entire article about the real fallen soldiers. The honest-to-god dead and dying and wounded. Not a word about the chaos or the cost. All the beltway warriors can muster is a plea of mercy for one of their own who lied to cover their tracks. There are contrarian voices.

PATRICK BUCHANAN: This is an open and shut case of perjury and obstruction of justice. And the Republican party, you know, stands for the idea that high officials should not be lying to special investigators.

BILL MOYERS: And from the former Governor of Virginia, James Gilmore, a staunch conservative, comes this verdict: "If the public believes there's one law for a certain group of people in high places and another law for regular people, then you will destroy the law and destroy the system." So it may well be, as the Hartford Courant said editorially, that Mr. Libby is "a nice guy, a loyal and devoted patriot"...but none of that excuses perjury or obstruction of justice. If it did, truth wouldn't matter much."

They Drank the Kool-Aid

The alarming, but at this point, not surprising fact, that I took from this program was it was only the non-beltway reporters who investigated the crap Shrub's administration was selling in the lead up to war.

Journalism is the only profession protected by the Constitution. By being a willing flak for this administration, these journalists violated the trust of the country. Their collective rational was fear of being unfair, liberal and unpatriotic.

You could hear the exasperation in Bill Moyer's voice.

Judith "Scooter" Miller is a disgrace. The management team of the NY Times is worse for not vetting her work. The real reporters work was buried in the newspaper, while Judy's work was given the front page, above the fold.

Phil Donahue is unemployed because he presented facts. Tim "I'm a working class kinda guy" Russert has a premo gig and is on the "A" list of "Beltway" parties. When journalists started socializing with the folks they are supposed to cover, their ability to be impartial was lost.

It also was a painful reminder of how Colin Powell, the only member of the administration who could have derailed this war, did not take a stand. By resigning before the speech, he would have sent a clear message, there a problem. Powell is worse than Judith Miller. In 90 minutes, he led the battle cry for war. An honorable career wasted. I would not pay to hear him speak.

Knight-Ridder reaches a larger audience. At the time of the lead up to war, they did not have the credibility of the NY Times and WashPo.

I trust there has been a shift in perspective.

Patriotric Pundits or Lazy Reporters