Qualifiers DO Matter

The Republican echo chamber is at it again--full force this time because they need to beat back Fitzgerald's hold on Libby desperately--and hope to sidestep the obvious next jump to Cheney. But we won't let them, no...

Media repeated Libby lawyer's falsehood : "In response to Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward's recent disclosure that he testified under oath on November 14 that he had learned from a senior administration official in mid-June 2003 about CIA operative Valerie Plame, lawyers for I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby claimed that this revelation undermined one of special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's key allegations against Libby. Attorney Ted Wells stated that, in his announcemenvt of Libby's indictment for perjury, obstruction of justice, and false statements, Fitzgerald asserted that Libby 'was the first government official to tell a reporter' about Plame -- a statement now proven to be 'totally inaccurate,' according to Wells. But Wells has misrepresented what Fitzgerald actually said: that Libby 'was the first official known to have told a reporter' this information [emphasis added].

Later in the press conference, Fitzgerald repeated that Libby was the first official to disclose Plame's identity to a reporter -- this time without the qualifier. But by making it clear at the outset that Libby was only the first official known to have disclosed the information, as MSNBC host Keith Olbermann noted in a weblog post, 'Fitzgerald was clearly and meticulously leaving his case open in case an earlier leaker later turned up -- as evidently he just did.'

Despite Fitzgerald's use of this crucial qualifier, numerous news outlets and media figures have repeated Wells's claim -- that Woodward's disclosure contradicted what Fitzgerald said -- as fact. They include the Associated Press, The Washington Post, NBC News correspondent David Shuster, Fox News chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle, ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas, and others."