Andrea Mitchell: Dazed and Confused

We all know that Andrea Mitchell said, early in the Plamegate silliness, that it was "widely known" among those who worked the intelligence beat that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA.

She has lately recanted that, claiming she was confused about the question. As Tom Maguire notes (as have many other people), it's hard to believe she was "confused," because the question was quite clear. Her claims that she thought she was being asked about someone else (Joe Wilson!) are simply not credible.

Worth reading. Maguire speculates maybe she just wants to avoid a subpoena.

Here's another possibility: She understood the question when posed to her, but she lied about knowing Plame was a CIA agent. Why? To demonstrate she was more in-the-know than she actually was. After all, this is her beat, and it had been suggested that it was known among reporters; so perhaps she just wanted to say that yes, she was among those well-connected, inside-information reporters who knew about Plame.

Now that there may be legal ramifications for her statement, she's forced to retract it. Clumsily, and dishonestly.

I don't know why she either lied then or is lying now, but her explanations on the point are nonsense, pure dogfood. She should state plainly at which time she was lying. Then, or now.

If she were lying back then, that doesn't help Scooter Libby or the administration any, of course. It would only speak to Andrea Mitchell's veracity as a reporter. But whatever the reason, it's time for her to be pressed doggedly on this point and get her past her I'm-Just-A-Girl Gwen Stefani bubblehead act.

posted by Ace at 01:02 PM

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