Abu Wabu

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz lays waste to countless idiots' Fitzmas dreams by shining journalistic light on Jason Leopold, who "broke" the "story" of the Fitzgerald indictment of Karl Rove, apparently quite some time before it happened, since as of this writing two weeks later it hasn't happened yet. Hey- that reminds me of Joseph Wilson's specialized grasp of document timelines!

The claim that President Bush's top political strategist had been indicted in the CIA leak investigation was written by a journalist who has battled drug addiction and mental illness and been convicted of grand larceny. That didn't stop more than 35 reporters -- from all the major newspapers, networks and newsmagazines -- from calling Luskin or Rove's spokesman, Mark Corallo, to check it out.

The reports appeared on the liberal Web site Truthout.org, run by Marc Ash, a former advertising man and fashion photographer in California. Jason Leopold, the author of the stories, directed inquiries to Ash, who says that "we stand by the story. We have multiple points of independent confirmation of what we originally reported. Our problem is, the prosecutor's office is under no obligation to go public."

Leopold acknowledges in a new book, "News Junkie," that he is a past liar, convicted felon and former alcoholic and cocaine addict. An earlier version of the book was canceled by publisher Rowman & Littlefield last year.

Salon retracted a 2002 piece by Leopold involving Thomas White, then secretary of the Army. The online magazine apologized, saying it had been unable to confirm the authenticity of an e-mail that Leopold attributed to White. Leopold, a onetime reporter for the Los Angeles Times and Dow Jones, accused the online magazine of being "wimpy" and caving to pressure.

Captain's Quarters:

This should serve as a cautionary tale for partisans who feel that their cause is worth more than their own credibility. Once that decision is made, neither cause nor credibility can ever be easily retrieved.

Dan Rather. Notorious Liar Joe Wilson. Jason Leopold. And now, ladies and idiots, Jesse MacBeth.

Credit to Protein Wisdom.

Bad News For Idiots: Evil Genius Karl Rove has been informed by the Special Prosecutor's office that he will not be facing charges relating to Patrick Fitzgerald's meandering investigation. The New York Times reports today:

The prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case on Monday advised Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, that he would not be charged with any wrongdoing, effectively ending the nearly three-year criminal investigation that had at times focused intensely on Mr. Rove.

The decision by the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, announced in a letter to Mr. Rove's lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, lifted a pall that had hung over Mr. Rove who testified on five occasions to a federal grand jury about his involvement in the disclosure of an intelligence officer's identity.

In a statement, Mr. Luskin said, "On June 12, 2006, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges against Karl Rove."

For all those idiots waiting for Jason Leopold's reality-based predictions to manifest in this universe, the only thing they know for certain today is that they've all been duped by shills, which is what makes them idiots in the first place. I mean, how far ahead of the news-cycle can you get? Leopold now has to either admit he was making things up out of whole cloth or out the source of the lies he has been spreading on behalf of someone else's agenda, because the only thing Jason Leopold can know for certain is that he will now go down in history as not just another discredited Rove-hating crank, but quite deluded and therefore eminently exploitable by a country mile.

Leopold will go down in history as one of America's great early blogging jackasses. That can't be good for him.

Truth, out.

UPDATE: I'm not the only one who thinks Wilson/Plame plaything Larry Johnson has been pillow-talking Leopold.

Also today, President Bush secretly flew into Iraq to meet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Bush also countered recent news reports and declared himself the new head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, replacing Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, who got his ass blown up last week.

"There's a new sheriff in town," Bush said to a bare-bones press conference in Baghdad's Green Zone, adding that, although he won't be there to manage every aspect of the insurgency, "we have in place over 130,000 deputies across the country who are ready to consult with insurgents twenty-four/seven, if you know what I mean, heh."

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™.

Via NRO's Media Blog, one of the most impeccably informative blog entries I have ever read.

Seixon's work connecting the dots between the VIPS, Joe Wilson, David Shuster, Jason Leopold et al is bearing robust fruit:

Truthout is whoring itself for VIPS and Wilson, with Leopold acting as a mouthpiece, William Rivers Pitt backing him up, and Richard Sale chiming in with his UPI-credibility. They’ve all been running numerous rumors and outright falsehoods fabricated by VIPS to influence public opinion and perhaps even Fitzgerald’s investigation. The Fitzgerald Niger forgeries story was invented by Vincent Cannistraro and Larry Johnson of VIPS; it was peddled to Justin Raimondo then Richard Sale and Martin Walker of UPI. Leopold carries the gig by repeating all of these stories in Truthout, while Larry Johnson conducts damage control when things get out of hand.

There can no longer be any doubt that most of these explosive and uncorroborated “news” stories are being manufactured by the tight-knit group of former intelligence officials in tandem with Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame, and most likely backers in the Democratic Party. It is also probably no coincidence that David Shuster and Chris Matthews of MSNBC have carried many of the same rumors and false stories, such as the one claiming that outing Plame damaged efforts on Iran. Shuster has been hyping a Rove indictment as imminent for over a month, something only one other source has been doing: Jason Leopold.

VIPS was started to compel intelligence officials to illegally leak classified information to damage the Bush administration, and is apparently now in the business of manufacturing false news and rumor-mongering to do the same. It should come as no surprise that a group of veteran intelligence officials would have the clout to pull off such an enterprise, and that they would cut any corner necessary to fulfill their agenda.

Media Blog points out,

Referring to these VIPS guys as "former intelligence officials" and nothing more is highly deceitful. They are activists, and granting them anonymity serves no purpose other than to conceal that fact from news consumers. How often have we seen this happen in major news stories about this case?

Drip, drip, drip.

DRIP.

History tells us that whenever the Democrats, the MSM and the idiot left "uncover" a "blockbuster" Republican scandal, it eventually blows up in their faces. Dan Rather forfeited his career when he presented as historical evidence easily-debunked, fabricated documents supplied by a Democrat operative, and look at all the Bush-haters forever marked by their own idiocy after swallowing Joe Wilson's lies. "Jason Leopold" is now a punchline, as is "Manwhore Jeff Gannon". The list goes on and on.

Strata-Sphere and Mac's Mind are discovering that the Foley affair is the latest example of that axiom, so they're compiling a roster of the players to help guide us through the story as it unfolds, or should I say unravels.

It pays to hold judgement until the facts are in, which is why I haven't addressed this story until now. I had a hunch that this was going to be as much about Democrat operatives and the perfidy of their leaders Pelosi, Dean and Hyde as it was about Foley, but only facts count. Everyone now knows the Democrat party leadership have knowledge the Republicans would like them to share with American voters. And everyone also knows that's the Democrats' worst nightmare.

Racing to the bottom against this Vanity Fair laugher, Rolling Stone's James Bamford regurgitates time-tested neo-con conspiracy theories with a sophomoric trasher aimed at Dr. Michael Ledeen, whom Bamford contends is using his gargantuan clout with the Bush administration to singlehandedly initiate a war against Iran. But the idiocy doesn't stop there. Bamford's tale (this isn't reporting) is the usual shambles: one of his more serendipitous revelations has Saddam hiding in Iran in 2001, amongst his mortal enemies, some two years before the coalition invaded Iraq.

Yeah, I know.

So, as Andrew C. McCarthy describes, James Bamford and Rolling Stone join the ranks of Jason Leopold and all the other idiots who are actually willing to sacrifice their careers and reputations in service to spreading hatred of President Bush.

The anti-Bush press is becoming ever more delusional in its attacks on the right. So often, as Christopher Hitchens mused recently about their reporting of nearly everything Joe Wilson has said in the last three years, the truth is the exact polar opposite of what they say.

Ed Morrissey has more here and here at Captain's Quarters.