From today's chat:
http://tinyurl.com/b4jt2Washington, D.C.: Howard:
With respect to the Plame matter, recent Republican talking points include the canard that Joe Wilson lied in his op-ed and elsewhere when he claimed that the Vice President sent him to Niger. Wilson claimed nothing of the sort, as the excerpt from the July 2003 op-ed shows:
----snip Wilson's description of how he was sent to Niger
What to do, then, when reporters repeat the talking points? Andrea Mitchell did, as did Post political editor John Harris in a chat here last week. Isn't the assertion that Wilson claimed the V-P sent him just the sort of question that is eminently confirmable by checking the record?
I'm tired of reporters unflinchingly repeating these sorts of distortions. What can be done?
Howard Kurtz: If anyone is saying Wilson claimed Cheney sent him to Niger,
well, I've never seen such a claim. But investigators have raised credibility issues about other aspects of Wilson's account.
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Howard goes on to the next question without elaborating on Wilson's "credibility issues."