"Why doesn't the MSM, with its ostensible mission of accurate, fully, and dispassionately reporting the facts of major stories, ever give us this sort of a report? Why is actual newsreporting left to to the non-MSM?"

Bush's fault.

It's all a Rovian conspiracy.

Because the full story will go against the creeds the editors hold so close and true; because that would cost a reporter his or her job, let alone a Pulitizer.

Absolutely correct, Ace - it's an outstanding recap. For anyone who's disinclined to read the whole thing, although they should, the closing wraps it up perfectly:

As I say, seemingly exhaustive. But there is one curious omission: July 7, 2004. On that date, the bipartisan Senate Select Intelligence Committee released a 511-page report on the intelligence that served as the foundation for the Bush administration's case for war in Iraq. The Senate report includes a 48-page section on Wilson that demonstrates, in painstaking detail, that virtually everything Joseph Wilson said publicly about his trip, from its origins to his conclusions, was false.

This is not a minor detail. The Senate report, which served as the source for much of the chronology in this article, is the definitive study of the events leading up to the compromising of Valerie Plame. The committee staff, both Democrats and Republicans, read all of the intelligence. They saw all of the documents. They interviewed all of the characters. And every member of the committee from both parties signed the report.

It is certainly the case that the media narrative is much more sensational than the Senate report. A story about malfeasance is perhaps more interesting than a story about incompetence. A story about deliberate White House deception is perhaps more interesting than a story about bureaucratic miscommunication. A story about retaliation is perhaps more interesting than a story about clarification.

But sometimes the boring stories have an additional virtue. They're true.And if that's all still too prosaic to be read, try this on for size:

"Joe Wilson was and is a fucking liar".
I continue to be amazed that this inanity still causes such ignorant faux outrage from the loonier portions of the left.

(Friggin' web forms - the quote above actually extends down to the sentence "They're true". And it did in my preview, right up to the point where I hit post. This whole "internet" thing is never gonna take off)

"Joe Wilson was and is a fucking liar".

Joe Wilson was and is a serial fucking liar.

Joe Wilson is a pathological liar.

Joe Wilson has a hairy back and runs like a girl.

Joe Wilson has a hairy back and runs like a girl.

But he sips a mean mint tea.

And weeks ago Michael Barone, who is the best political analyst/pundit out there, called Mr. Wilson "Our Titus Oates", as the final condemnation of a great political liar. And Barone has more to lose on a hasty statement than Joseph Wilson ever did

The article is an excellent, politically neutral and thorough retelling of an essentially boring story.

There's got to be a big something or chunk of somethings missing. From everything that is public knowledge, I can't see any reason for this investigation to have dragged on this long, let alone end in indictments. Perjury, maybe. But even that...

Mmmmmmmm.......yellow cake.

With chocolate frosting.

I can't believe even YOU would call this piece by Stephen Hayes NEUTRAL. Sure, it has all the trappings, but is one piece very carefully written to create misleading chronologies, with key omissions etc. It is to date the absolute MOST biased account given. Consider these words, folks, and what you're losing sight of:

Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, narco-trafficking, people killing each other, fundamentalists killing each other in the name of God. These and more. Many more. As our analysts know, as our collectors of intelligence know - these are our enemies. To combat them we need more intelligence, not less. We need more human intelligence. That means we need more protection for the methods we use to gather intelligence and more protection for our sources, particularly our human sources, people that are risking their lives for their country. (Applause)

Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors.

Those are the words of the first President Bush.

Damn right, George Herbert Walker Bush.

Sorry for shouting here, but GODDAMN IT HAYES, THE CIA REFERRED THE CASE TO JUSTICE!

When you keep that simple fact in mind while reading that article, you realize Hayes is a completely 100% deceptive misleading lying sacking of shit.

The responses to Hayes' incredible package of lies are just coming in. The takedowns will be ferocious, and some will be extremely detailed I'm sure.

Who farted?
Was it you, Monty?
Dave?

It was that bean burrito, Bart. Monty loves the refried beans; but the refried beans, they do not love him.

Understandable. It's amazing how your flatulence manifests itself into left-wing flatulence.

Breaking (wind) news, reminding us never to trust Hayes:

As the investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's name hurtles to an apparent conclusion, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has zeroed in on the role of Vice President Cheney's office, according to lawyers familiar with the case and government officials. The prosecutor has assembled evidence that shows Cheney's long-running feud with the CIA contributed to the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame.

In grand jury sessions, including with New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Fitzgerald has pressed witnesses on what Cheney may have known about the effort to push back against ex-diplomat and Iraq war critic Joseph C. Wilson IV, including the leak of his wife's position at the CIA, Miller and others said. But Fitzgerald has focused more on the role of Cheney's top aides, including Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, lawyers involved in the case said.

One former CIA official told prosecutors early in the probe about efforts by Cheney's office and his allies at the National Security Council to obtain information about Wilson's trip as long as two months before Plame was unmasked in July 2003, according to a person familiar with the account.
-----------------

Champagne time? Time to chill it, anyway...

Every fart joke about outing CIA agents makes GHW Bush cry.

The CIA referred the case to Justice.

I really don't think that has sunk in.

Rove's gang of smear specialists have taken on the fucking COMPANY. The CIA can smear, but their scale of payback keeps right on going, to assassination.

Do you really think they are going to let Rove and Cheney get the best of them?

Think about it: The CIA referred the case to Justice.

An indictment for every fart joke, crybabies!

Every fart joke about outing CIA agents makes GHW Bush cry.

The CIA referred the case to Justice.

I really don't think that has sunk in.

Rove's gang of smear specialists have taken on the fucking COMPANY. The CIA can smear, but their scale of payback keeps right on going, to assassination.

Do you really think they are going to let Rove and Cheney get the best of them?

Think about it: The CIA referred the case to Justice.

An indictment for every fart joke, crybabies!

Does tubino wake up screaming in the night occasionally at the realization that everything Joseph Wilson said was a lie, before furiously masturbating while surfing Daily Kos to supress the doubt?

Maybe he draws little fantasy comics of Secret Agent Valerie Plame, deep undercover at... er... a desk somewhere in Langley.

But truthfully it is tragic she has been outed, for now she lives in fear along with her husband, only daring to come out for interviews with Vanity Fair.

Tubby, tubby, tubby. Joe Wilson lied. He lied like a filthy dog for personal gain and fame. His wife used him for a throwaway assignment and he lied, lied, lied, LIED about it. And you suckle at his teat frantically lest your warped worldview that requires the New York Times to be in on the VWRC come crumbling down around your TINY IGNORANT HEAD.

Think about it: the CIA referred the case to Justice because somehow the truth about Wilson slipped out along the line. He was a clown, a charlatan, a CRONY. Shouldn't that bother you?

I want you to take a moment and imagine where you are in one year. What will you be crying about when this puppet show of yours ends with a whimper and not a bang? Will you learn anything, or will you just move on to the next drummed up falsehood to be outraged over?

Basically, I want to know at what point will your conspiracy theories become so unwieldly that even you can no longer believe them? Or will Fitzgerald and the CIA also be IN ON IT in your tiny mind when this blows over?

Sortelli forgot to make any sense. His only source is a guy completely discredited by his over-the-top assertions about the presence of Al-Qaeda in Iraq while Saddam was in power.

All you guys have is Plan A, the original plan: smear Wilson at any cost.

Wilson was praised as a hero by GHW Bush. Try again, suckers.

What's beautiful is how the whole Judith Miller-NYT pack of lies about the war is coming out, Sortelli.

----------------
It's finally coming out.

From BARBARA CROSSETTE, New York Times UN bureau chief, 1994-2001: Obscured behind the large issues of weapons of mass destruction and Joseph Wilson's links with the CIA is another story. Over the last year or so, Judith Miller also wrote a series of damaging reports on the "oil for food" scandal at the United Nations -- in particular, personally damaging to Secretary General Kofi Annan because the reports were frequently based on half-truths or hearsay peddled on Capitol Hill by people determined to force Annan out of office. At the UN, this was interpreted as payback for the UN's refusal to back the US war in Iraq. As a former NYT UN bureau chief [now retired] I have been asked repeatedly by diplomats, former US government officials, journalists still reporting from the organization and others why Times editors did not step in to question some of this reporting -- a lot of it proved wrong by the recent report by Paul Volcker -- or why the paper seemed to be on a vendetta against the UN. The Times answered that question Sunday in its page one report on the Miller affair. Ms. Run Amok had at least one very highly placed friend at the paper, and many Timespeople were afraid to tangle with her because of that.