Common Sense

When they are earned, I have no problem giving kudos to anybody. Even Wolf Blitzer.

I’ve been pretty hard on him for a long time because I think he does a crappy job disseminating the truth to the viewing public. He seems to like just letting people say whatever they want without refutation. But not last Wednesday. Last Wednesday’s Situation Room had Donna Brazile and Bill Bennett as guests talking about Karl Rove’s fifth trip to the grand jury to testify in the Valerie Plame leak.

BLITZER: Let’s talk about Karl Rove making a surprise appearance today before the grand jury, his fifth time there. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic senator from New York state, one of two, said this: “While, obviously, no one knows what goes on in the grand jury, the fact that Karl Rove has been called back once again is ominous.”

What do you think, Bill?

BENNETT: Well, I understand he went there voluntarily.

But I have got to tell you, what fascinates me is the degree of interest by the all of the media in this case. We are talking about a — the name of an agent that was not covert. There was no damage done to the CIA or classified information. And, yet, the whole world of the media is absolutely obsessed with it.

BLITZER: Well, let me just point out…

BENNETT: Sure.

BLITZER: … we’re talking about the deputy White House chief of staff.

BENNETT: Yes.

BLITZER: That’s what we’re talking about.

BENNETT: Right.

BLITZER: And the fact that her name was classified or not classified, we don’t know what damage was done to any of the operatives she may have been working with in foreign countries. We do know that her assignment was now impossible. If she was going to be sent back out by the CIA to run spies in foreign countries, that would now become impossible.

BENNETT: No plausible case has been made for any damage. People have looked, and they haven’t been able to make the case. She was not covert.

But, indeed, it is the White House. That is what explains it, because it is a deputy at the White House.

Meanwhile, you have these two other situations, which we have talked about at length, classified information, national security, extremely delicate. I mean, you can’t — couldn’t get near a microphone in this town with Karl Rove, people calling for a special prosecutor. Where is the call for the special prosecutor in the CIA leak? Where is that call?

BLITZER: I want Donna to weigh in.

BENNETT: OK.

BLITZER: The CIA does say she was a clandestine officer.

BENNETT: Yes.

BLITZER: She was not an analyst.

BENNETT: Yes.

BLITZER: She was a clandestine officer who had a front company that they had established…

BENNETT: Yes.

BLITZER: … at great expense, trying to run spies…

BENNETT: Yes.

BLITZER: … and protect national security. And that, of course, had to be rolled up as a result of this disclosure.

But, Donna, go ahead…

BENNETT: But that…

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: … and weigh in on Karl Rove.

That’s what you do Wolf, when one of your guests goes on a little talking point flight from reality. Don’t be a doormat, letting any GOP pundit say whatever he wants. Your job as a journalist is the search for and report the truth. Kudos for not letting Bennett walk all over you.

Of course, we know Bennett is full of it because of revelations this week that Valerie Wilson was tracking nuclear materials heading into Iran, and that our ability to do so was seriously damaged when she was outed.

As MSNBC first reported yesterday, Wilson was not just undercover… but was, according to intelligence sources, part of an effort three years ago to monitor the proliferation of nuclear weapons material into Iran. And the sources allege that when Mrs. Wilson’s cover was blown, part of the administration’s ability to track Iran’s nuclear ambitions was damaged as well.

There is no evidence Vice President Cheney, who gave information to his now indicted chief of staff Scooter Libby, knew what Wilson was involved in. But intelligence experts say the Vice President appears to have had indications that Wilson’s responsibilities were sensitive. The Libby indictment says, quote, “on or about June 12, 2003, Libby was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson’s wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Division.”

In the Intelligence community, that division means something special.

So kudos to Wolf Blitzer for not being Bill Bennet’s bitch and good job NBC News breaking a story that we’ve been reasonably sure was true since the beginning of this year.