A Bizarre NYT Story
With all the debate about sourcing these days, I'm surprised that the Times ran this story on Karl Rove the way it did.
The gist of the story is that Rove mentioned that Joseph Wilson's wife was a CIA agent to Robert Novak, but only in passing and only when Novak called him, thus discrediting the idea that Rove was planting this information with anyone who would print it.
But there's just one source for this: "someone who has been officially briefed on the matter."
The source is later described thusly:
"The person who provided the information about Mr. Rove's conversation with Mr. Novak declined to be identified, citing requests by Mr. Fitzgerald that no one discuss the case. The person discussed the matter in the belief that Mr. Rove was truthful in saying that he had not disclosed Ms. Wilson's identity."
Sounds a lot like Robert Luskind, Rove's lawyer, to me....but then, that term "official" suggests that it's a White House staffer...perhaps White House counsel Harriet Miers (who?).
Regardless, we know just that there's one source, with a clear agenda, describing the details of this conversation. Is that really enough for the Times to go with it?
I'm not sure at all on this one....
