July 21, 2004 [LINK]

Josh Marshall spins intel mess

Democratic blogger Josh Marshall strains to uphold Joe Wilson's version of the whole Iraq-Niger-uranium-CIA-Novak mess, and does about as good a job as anyone could in that awkward position. He is truly a world-class spin doctor. In particular, he rebuts some key points in Susan Schmidt's previously-cited Washington Post article from July 9. I would grant that not all the facts are in, so we should reserve judgment on certain key issues. Do Marshall's blog posts show any such fair-minded reserve on controversial issues? No. Meanwhile, Michael Barone contrasts the hysterical charges that Bush is a "liar" with the scant coverage of the revelations about Wilson's disinformation crusade by the establishment media. Barone makes it plain, as if there were any doubt by now, that journalistic elites are engaged in an orchestrated campaign to discredit President Bush and whitewash his critics.

And if the web of deceit and intrigue that surround Joe Wilson wasn't enough, Clinton's national security adviser Sandy Berger is being investigated for having unlawfully removed highly sensitive documents relating to Clinton administration policies on terrorism from the National Archives. Given the deep partisan divide that exists right now, I would rather not wallow too much in the mistakes of the past, but it certainly does appear that they must have something to hide.