Why no army of reporters in Richard Armitage’s driveway?

Kate O’Beirne has a point:

“For almost three years, at every minor twist or turn of Plamegate, there were media stakeouts at the offices and homes of of the suspected leakers that invariably made the evening news and played in constant loops on cable. So who’s on Armitage driveway duty? Richard Armitage isn’t being hounded to answer questions about his role in Plamegate because the media wishes he had no role.”

When Joseph Wilson’s dishonesty about his CIA-paid Niger trip was exposed in July 2003, he tried to change the subject by accusing President Bush’s political adviser Karl Rove of “outing” -- illegally revealing the name of -- Wilson’s CIA wife, Valerie Plame.

Ghosts of ‘Fitzmas.’ Late last year, Democrats even dreamed of “Fitzmas,” hoping special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald would indict Rove for this “crime” before Christmas. News reporters swarmed Rove’s house for months in anticipation of an arrest and “perp walk.” Rove was not indicted. No one was indicted for telling the press about Plame, because it wasn’t a crime.

This week, we found out that Richard Armitage, then a deputy secretary of state, was the real “leaker” of Plame’s name. Because Armitage opposed Bush on Iraq once the liberation began, it’s suddenly clear to even the Democratic news media that revealing Plame’s name was a purely innocent way to explain Wilson’s trip to Niger. (Plame is the one who suggested Wilson go.)

So no one is bothering Armitage today. The big media don’t care anymore. They won’t ask Armitage why he said nothing while Fitzgerald hounded Rove for three years over a crime that hadn’t been committed.

Corn’s apology? The real irony is that one of the two reporters today revealing Armitage’s role as “leaker” is The Nation magazine’s David Corn, who for these three years has been accusing Rove of illegally exposing “top secret agent” Valerie Plame.

If Rove was a felon in Corn’s eyes, what is Armitage? When can we expect Corn’s apology for inventing crimes and naming likely perpetrators?

Frank Warner

Comments

[Christopher Taylor]

I'll tell you what Armitage is in his eyes: a friend, a guy who opposed the war in Iraq, therefore someone he won't attack. He's following what Kevin Drum said openly.

[Rod Blanchford]

I have heard Rush say Fitzgerald had to have known Armitage was the leaker. If this is true, isn't Fitzgerald liable for prosecution? Would that not be a crime to prosecute someone knowing they were not involved in a crime? At the very least should he not be disbarred?

Shouldn't Joe Wilson be liable for prosecution also since he concocted this whole thing?

Libby could have gone to prison for 30 years. Shouldn't some heads be rolling about this?

[Frank Warner]

Weirdly enough, Libby still could go to prison. He lied to a grand jury, allegedly.

Fitzgerald still can argue that he had to proceed with the case because Armitage's mention of Plame's name wasn't enough. Bob Novak had to get someone to confirm it, and if Plame's name and occupation had not been confirmed, Novak might not have written the story.

Fitzgerald has spent so much time on the case he now has a vested interest in declaring that Libby (or maybe even Armitage) hurt Plame by revealing her CIA job. Otherwise, Fitzgerald can never justify his investigation. But the damage to Plame or her husband, Wilson, is difficult to see.

She and Wilson should be paying back the CIA (really, us taxpayers) for that 2002 trip to Niger. She abused her post by recommending a relative for the mission, and he abused the mission by misrepresenting its findings.

[Christopher Taylor]

Given all the leaks and things Fitzgerald released, let alone the steps he took as if he was unaware of this fact, I think the man ought to be hiding under a sheet and avoiding the press at this point.

But it seems like the job of Special Prosecutor deletes your sense of shame for whatever reason. Certainly he's guilty of some highly unethical decisions and actions given this knowledge.

And he had to know it would come out, eventually.