Reuters: Plamegate, featuring the fruitless investigation by Fitzgerald "one of the biggest scandals" of the Bush administration (Updated/modified)

One for the editorial-masquerading-as-news department.

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush did not know about a White House effort to leak the identity of a CIA agent but tried to protect staffers who were involved in one of the biggest scandals of his administration, former Bush spokesman Scott McClellan told Congress on Friday.

McClellan said he did not think Bush was involved in a 2003 effort to blow the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, whose husband had accused the administration of twisting intelligence to justify the Iraq war.

So. Even though no crime was discovered, there was a scandal. And not just a scandal. A big scandal. And not just a big scandal. Among the other (supposed) big scandals from the Bush administration, this was "one of the biggest."

Uh--what was the supposed scandal, Andy Sullivan?

But Bush, through his chief of staff, ordered McClellan to tell reporters that White House staffers Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby were not behind the leak, even though they both turned out to be involved, McClellan told the House Judiciary Committee.

This is not reporting. It is "reporting" editorial opinion as fact. This type of so-called reporting is an epidemic sickness in the mainstream press.

McClellan:

I do not know whether a crime was committed by any of the administration officials who revealed Valerie Plame's identity to reporters, nor do I know if there was an attempt by any person or persons to engage in a cover up during the investigation. I do know that it was wrong to reveal her identity, because it compromised the effectiveness of a covert official for political reasons. I regret that I played a role, however unintentionally, in relaying false information to the public about it.

Nice work, Scott. You're contradicting yourself.
So McClellan doesn't know if a crime was committed/it's wrong to reveal a covert identity for political reasons If that's not a crime then McClellan is using some careless language considering he's reading from a prepared statement.


This is the true beauty of Scott McClellan's book. It provides Democrats and their proxies in the mainstream press an excuse to continue spinning the facts surrounding the Valerie Plame saga.