From "Dewey Beats Truman" to "Rove Indicted": When Scoops Go Really, Really Bad

(Also crossposted to my diary at My Left Wing)

Now, it is important to remember before I go on that Karl Rove will more than likely ultimately be indicted (and probably more than likely pardoned, too); and that truthout.org's flameout on reporting his indictment last week should not yet be compared too much with the historic Chicago Tribune banner headline in 1948.

Nevertheless, after one week since Jason Leopold dropped his bomb that turned out to be more stink than WMD, and the first gleeful, then brooding response amongst the liberal/Left blogosphere and media which it created, the aftermath of it; the main issue remains the same:

How in the hell could some people be so freakin' stupid, inept, and gullible???

And what does this say about the liberal "netroots" and their assumed power..or the supposed superiority of the "independent media" over the evil "mainstream" media???

First off..any one of you MLW peeps who came away underwhelmed at the half-hearted attempt of a rebuttal/apology by truthout this past Thursday, please raise your hand.

On Saturday afternoon, May 13, 2006, TruthOut ran a story titled, "Karl Rove Indicted on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators." The story stated in part that top Bush aide Karl Rove had earlier that day been indicted on the charges set forth in the story's title.

The time has now come, however, to issue a partial apology to our readership for this story. While we paid very careful attention to the sourcing on this story, we erred in getting too far out in front of the news-cycle. In moving as quickly as we did, we caused more confusion than clarity. And that was a disservice to our readership and we regret it.

As such, we will be taking the wait-and-see approach for the time being. We will keep you posted.

Marc Ash,
Executive Director - t r u t h o u t [email address snipped]

I thought so...I did, too. I mean, if you are going to promise that if you were proven wrong that you were going to reveal your sources; then do the crawfish backwards to "well, maybe we got a little too far ahead of the news cycle..but we stand by our story" in the total abscence of proof that justifies your story....then how does that make you look any less like a schmuck who got played?? Especially considering Leopold's past history of malfeasance that plays seriously into questioning his legitimacy as a journalist??

Secondly, what can you say about those in Liberal Blogtopia, Goddess bless their hearts....left jilted at the bedroom door awaiting the breatless orgasms of seeing Unka Karl frogmarched into the DC jail..only to be left with their pants down and their vibrators running on empty??? Not to mention the field day that their enemies in Right Blogostan ara having over watching their enemies get punk'd, never mind those in the MSN who have chafed over the criticism that "independent media" is supposedly superior because they're not beholden to "corporate dominated" rules of conduct and standards.

The point being, though, that anyone who really understands the nature of reporting and deep cover and the political nature of scooping understands quite well that not all "intellegence" is that intellegent, and that unless it comes directly from the main source -- in this case, Patrick Fitzgerald himself -- anything and everything about his investigation should be taken with about 50 grains of salt and a chaser of vinegar. After all, he is still a registered Republican, and I don't think that he is that deep with the likes of William Rogers Pitt or other liberal bloggers that he would voluntarily share classified and confidential info with them and risk damaging his case.

All I will do, for the time being, is what all of us should probably be doing henceforth: just sit back and let Fitz do his work, and allow him to choose his time for ultimately dropping the bomb on Unka Karl. That way, when he gets enough to corrall the whole gang, including Tricky Dicky II (aka, the VP named Cheney), the orgasms will be that much sweeter and more powerful.
Besides, if the CIA scandal doesn't get the Bushclan in the end, there's always Hookergate, Abramoff, the war in Iraq, the tanking economy, the War on Sex/Drugs/Women/Mexicans/Blacks/All Non-Rich Non-White Non-"Americans" to hammer on their coffins.

BTW...the entry at MLW contains a poll about when you think Fitz will indeed drop the hammer on Rove...feel free to check it out and respond; Maryscott would love the additional traffic.