E&P: David Corn Denies Charge in 'WSJ' That He Outed Plame

[DeepModem Mom]

Editor&Publisher: Corn Denies Charge in 'WSJ' That He Outed Plame
By E&P Staff
Published: September 15, 2006 10:20 PM ET

NEW YORK David Corn, co-author with Michael Isikoff of the new book "Hubris" that has made so much news lately, today heatedly denied what he called an old and false charge in the Wall Street Journal that he -- not Robert Novak -- outed Valerie Plame as a CIA operative.

In the Journal on Friday, Victoria Toensing, the attorney, wrote in a column, "The first journalist to reveal Ms. Plame was 'covert' was David Corn, on July 16, 2003, two days after Mr. Novak's column. The latter never wrote, because he did not know and it was not so, that Ms. Plame was covert. However, Mr. Corn claimed Mr. Novak 'outed' her as an 'undercover CIA officer,' querying whether Bush officials blew 'the cover of a U.S. intelligence officer working covertly in...national security.' Was Mr. Corn subpoenaed? Did Mr. Fitzgerald subpoena Mr. Wilson to attest he had never revealed his wife's employment to anyone? If he had done so, he might have learned Mr. Corn's source."

On his Web site, Corn, the Washington editor of The Nation, writes that he has long been friendly with Toensing, and so, "I am disheartened to see her embracing a rather idiotic conservative talking point and ignoring basic facts to tag me as the true culprit in the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson. It is an argument that defies logic and the record. But it is an accusation that pro-Bush spinners have used to defend the true leakers and columnist Bob Novak, the conveyor of the leak.

"This is a canard that has been previously advanced by other conservatives--all to absolve Novak and the actual leakers (mainly Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, not Richard Armitage). And you see the suggestion: that Joe Wilson told me that his wife was an undercover CIA officer and that I then disclosed this information to the public. I've debunked this before. But for Toensing's benefit, I'll go through this again--though I doubt it will do much good."

The full explanation can be found at www.davidcorn.com. In a nutshell, Corn notes that Novak had already described Plame as a "CIA operative," which essentially means she was covert....

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003123296

[longship]

1. What? Swift-boating David Corn???

Is this something new? Or is this something that has been brewing for some time?

Wasn't Novakula the first to out Plame?
Aren't they reinventing history again?

[DeepModem Mom]

3. I think I missed it, if it's been out there before. nt

[BootinUp]

2. Friendly withToensing? not a chance. n/t

[grasswire]

4. friendly with the lizard lady?

That was a big mistake. The woman is a predatory political operative poised to strike for the kill. Dacor, how could you??!!

[Kagemusha]

5. Not the first time he's learned the hard way, politics trumps friendship

At least for Republicans.

[RedSock]

6. corn on 9/11

writer for the nation or not -- corn has been a BIG official 9/11 story supporter.

if this rumour is true, it wouldn't surprise me.

[struggle4progress]

7. WSJ has reeled and lurched on the Plame outing:

"She wasn't really covert. Even if she was, it wasn't a crime to out her. The CIA accidently outed Plame because they're incompetent partisans who hate our Dear Leader. Armitage did it: case closed! We blame David Corn. Blah blah blah blah blah."