The Washington Monthly

November 18, 2005

DECONSTRUCTING WOODWARD....OK, based on a couple of comments from the previous post, here's a possible scenario that explains why Woodward and his source (Mr. X) came forward only after they had listened in on Patrick Fitzgerald's press conference announcing the indictment of Scooter Libby:

Woodward hears Fitzgerald say on TV that Libby was the first administration official known to have talked about Valerie Plame's CIA status to a reporter.
However, Woodward knows that isn't true: Mr. X blabbed to a reporter (Woodward) before Libby did. What's more, Woodward knows that Mr. X has testified previously.
Woodward concludes that Mr. X must have failed to tell Fitzgerald about this conversation. He is shocked!
He immediately calls Mr. X and tells him that his previous testimony was faulty. Mr. X is shocked too! Woodward is right! Honest soul that he is, he agrees that he needs to immediately call Fitzgerald and tell him that he had, um, forgotten about his conversation with the most famous reporter in Christendom during his initial testimony.
Mr. X calls Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald calls Woodward, and the rest is history.

Then there's the more cynical version of this: Woodward realized that his pal lied under oath and that there was a good chance Fitzgerald might find out about it. So, the way any good friend would, he called Mr. X and told him he ought to refresh his memory pronto before he got hit with a perjury charge too.

Take your pick. I'm not sure that either of these scenarios sounds very plausible, but they're the best I've heard so far. Take 'em for what they're worth.

—Kevin Drum 7:03 PM Permalink | Trackbacks

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