Abu Wabu

ABC News' Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross, who, judging by his blog photograph identifies strongly with his cellphone, has the skinny on yet another government leak to the MSM:

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation.

ABC News does not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls.

As they demonstrate daily, that's not all ABC News doesn't know. Brian Ross and ABC News might have conducted their own investigation rather than leave the incongruous NSA innuendo hanging in the air, but that's not part of The MSM Lifestyle™. It falls then to In From The Cold to place the story into context:

The MSM will scream long and loud about this one, but let's keep things in perspective. Under existing federal statutes, intelligence officials who divulge sensitive information to the press are likely in violation of the law. The unauthorized leak of such data results in a referral from the intelligence agency to the Justice Department, which launches a criminal probe. Federal prosecutors then have the right to gather and subpoena evidence in support of that effort, including phone records. If authorities discover a series of calls between the office phone or cell phone of an intelligence officer and Brian Ross of ABC News, well, that could certainly be relevant in identifying and prosecuting leakers.

I'm not a lawyer, but at first blush, there doesn't appear to be anything illegal about this practice, particularly if the acquisition of records followed a criminal referral to the Justice Department. The media is anxious to connect the warning to Ross as part of the NSA program, but I'm guessing that the records in question are, indeed, the result of Justice Department investigations into unauthorized leaks. That would indicate that the investigation is moving along quickly, and indictments of suspected leakers can be expected in the coming months. As for Mr. Ross (and other journalists), they might want to prepare for a grand jury appearance. I'm sure that federal prosecutors have lots of questions about those calls to their buddies in the intelligence community.

As usual, all it takes to cut through the bullshit in any MSM story is to consult public information readily available to, say, a college student researching a paper, which coincidentally describes the NSA terrorist surveillance program. But Brian Ross hasn't figured out that he is under investigation by the Feds. Legitimately. And for real.

Meanwhile, NRO's Stephen Spruiell notes:

Americans who are not members of the Pulitzer board seem to think the exposure of classified national security programs is serious business.

Spruiell repeats that a huge majority of Americans who correctly understand the NSA program support it. I would expect nothing less from grownups. MSM anti-Bush denizens who've made hay blaring classified information with which to burn George W. Bush could soon be facing both public and judicial scorn, and I'm going to want a front-row seat for that baby.

While we're at it, let's check in with one of the left's premiere idiots, Jason "Broken Clock" Leopold, who absentmindedly tugs at his pants at the merest thought of a Rove indictment:

Over the weekend, Jason Leopold at truthout.org reported that Karl Rove was going to be indicted today. If by "indicted," Leopold meant "speaking at the American Enterprise Institute," he got the story exactly right. If by "indicted" Leopold meant "charged with a criminal offense," he was wrong on a few of the details, as ByronYork noted last night.

Today, the indispensable Seixon has done some investigating and produced some interesting theories about Leopold's sources. Short answer? The "Wilsonistas": People like Larry Johnson, Ray McGovern and, of course, Joe Wilson, who have been trying to indict Rove in the press for months now. As Seixon points out, Leopold himself has been predicting Rove's imminent indictment since October.

Patrick Fitzgerald might or might not indict Karl Rove soon. But if he does, Leopold will only be right in the sense that a broken clock is right twice a day: He always says the same thing.

Read Media Blog every day-- it's an Abu Wabu Idiot-Free Zone™.