Yesterday, Josh Marshall exposed a serious error in both the Washington Post and Newsweek which was obviously put out by the White House. The Post actually ran a correction later in the day, which was documented also at E&P. Clearly, Rove's smear strategy was accepted by reporters without question. Think about that for a second. The same guy who has lied to them about the Plame affair (even though most of them already knew) is now able to lie about Katrina.
The MSM are Rove-aholics. They know he's bad for them. He lies to them. He gives them bad info. His only M.O. is to smear throught the media, and they let him.
In the NY Times piece that Michael expounds upon below, there is a key passage:
As is common when this White House confronts a serious problem, management was quickly taken over by Mr. Rove and a group of associates including Mr. Bartlett. Neither man responded to requests for comment.Of course neither man responded to requests for a comment, but we all know that you talked to them and they spun you. Their words are all through your article, but just not "on the record." Here's an idea for the MSM: Since you know Rove and company LIE to you, don't take their info. on super secret double background. Make them go on the record.
Let Karl Rove take credit for trashing Governor Kathleen Blanco, who is actually trying to save lives. Interesting that there is a theme...that Rove loves beating up on women -- Blanco, Cindy Sheehan, Valerie Plame -- but, only through the magic of blind quotes and off the record spinning.
But the MSM are complicit by letting him play this game over and over. They should set up a super double fact check program for anything Rove tells them. The MSM must know it's bad for them and their readers, but they just can't stop their Rove addictions.
