NOVAK: 'NOBODY IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION CALLED ME TO LEAK THIS'

Drudge Report ^ | 09/29/03

[Pokey78]

In July I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador Wilson's report when he told the trip was inspired by his wife, a CIA employee working on weapons of mass destruction. Another senior official told me the same thing. As a professional journalist with 46 years experience in Washington I do not reveal confidential sources. When I called the CIA in July to confirm Mrs. Wilson's involvement in the mission for her husband -- he is a former Clitnon administration official -- they asked me not to use her name, but never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else. According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operator, and not in charge of an undercover operatives...

[Dog]

, CNBC is reporting that Andrea Mitchell is denying that anyone from the White House tried to feed her info before the first Novak story was released.

Wow the rats are running from this stinker...

[Just mythoughts]

Totally agree, the liberals not being allowed to steal that 2000 election made an impact upon President Bush.

So I too "Trust our Heavenly Father".

[Peach]

Yes and I think it was today that NBC said no one tried to contact them either.

[sarasmom]

This is unreal!
I watched Brokaw try to keep this lie alive tonight.
(no cable)
The jerk did his best.
Rove better start firing back big time at the media.This is disgusting, even for Democrats.
How does the public get a special investigator to investigate the media?
Now that would be fun!

[cwb]

Yeah...I heard an advertisment for this weeks Time Magazine and one of the stories is why Iraq went so very wrong for the administration. There is a complete media blitz attacking Bush from every angle. I've never seen the liberal media this rabid.

[mitchbert]

I love watching the democrats fall all to pieces....

Amazing how the truth catch's up, eh?

Facts Are Stubborn Things

[Peach]

If I were Rove I'd appear on camera tomorrow morning for all the talk shows, with an attorney by my side, and discuss lawsuit.

[Allan]

Looks like this is over by Wednesday.

That's what Limbacher said. Turning out to be much noise about nothing.

[MasonGal]

Now that WOULD be fun, wouldn't it?!!

[Shermy]

they asked me not to use her name, but never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else.

Novak is weaseling here.

CIA asked him not to use her name. He did any way. He's a weasel.

His deflection is the "never indicated" qualification. Ask: need they? He's a jounalist with 45 years experience.

Interpreting Novak's paragraph requires the similar skills of one skilled in heiroglyphics.

[NYC Republican]

This could actually be a blessing in disguise, if the WH plays their cards right...

They could come out and say, while the spotlight is on them, that they've endured months and months of lies (they'll probably tone it down with a less rhetorical term), misrepresentations, and attack after attack, while the Reps and the WH have remained silent, but now they've gone too far with their quest for power. "They've engaged in one dirty trick after another while we're trying to fight terrorism on several fronts..."

While the spotlight is still on them, and they have the free publicity, they could also add in that despite what they claim (along with the complicit media), things are getting much better in Iraq and Afghanistan, showing as proof A, B, and C.

[piasa]

She hasn't has a sensitive position since her hubby retired, if ever. Assuming she did once, though, Wilson was her cover and his job enabled her to tag along to such exotic locales as Gabon, a uranium-selling country (at least up until 1999) his retirement, therefore, meant she no longer had cover.

But Novak never said she was an "undercover" agent; the CIA didn't say she was, either. The only source for that claim is from The Nation, which said she was an "unofficial undercover" operative and ironically, the Nation implied the info came from Novak, who hadn't wrote it in the first place. Since Novak didn't write it, then where did The Nation get it?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Yes, but this is the second time the yellowcake story has been dredged up. Some morons will believe that it MUST have substance, otherwise, why would it keep resurfacing?

[Pukin Dog]

You are correct but it is just one of their little scams, they have a big bag of tricks.

Yes, but so do we. We have the best possible team in Washington, and they are not about to be taken down by those Clinton lowlifes.

[NYC Republican]

Yes, but this is the second time the yellowcake story has been dredged up. Some morons will believe that it MUST have substance, otherwise, why would it keep resurfacing?

It will continue to re-surface time and again, until the cowardly Reps fight back. Cheney/Frist/Hastert/Powell are still silent. Disgusting.

[mewzilla]

Speaking of yellowcake, the CIA source was a busy little bird, tweeting to the Beeb last July. Here's a link to the story...

[Grampa Dave]

The best weapon we have against ABCNNBCBS re their phoney news is to never watch their phoney news.

Then, we donate monthly to Free Republic and learn what really happened and send emails to our friends and relatives. When more Americans start turning off ABCNNBCBS, and then they go to Free Republic and other conservative sources for the real news. We win!

It is obvious that ABCNNBCBS are pushing this phoney story to spike some real news that would hurt the rats even more.

[alnick]

Why is Novak attacking his own credibility? First he said Plame was an "operative." Now he claims he was specifically told that she was an "analyst" not an "operative." Why is he changing his story? What is he hiding? This stinks to high heaven.

A guess: "Operative" is a more sensational word than "analyst" and makes for a better story. "Journalists" with unnamed sources can take liberties because no one can double check those sources. In this instance, it has become a big issue, so Novak had to scale the sensationalism down a bit.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Thank you.

[Alas Babylon!]

Wasn't that NBC story over the top? I listened to this on the radio driving home (they simulcast with the TV station) right after reading this thread on Free Republic (the last thing I do before logging off at work). It's as if this was WATERGATE in the middle of July, 1974. Not ONE mention about what Wilson said on GMA, or Novak's statement. Rest assured, NBC knew about these two important stories, but chose not to tell us, as they have a DNC-inspired agenda. PATHETIC!