Our Own Circular Firing Squad (Rove, Leopold, Fitzgerald)

Sometimes, we are our own worst enemy.

Today is a good case in point. With Rove's attorney's letter indicating that KKKarl is off of Patrick Fitzgerald's hook, what's the first response here?

For some, it's to demand the hide of Jason Leopold, Will Pitt (of all people!), and Truthout.

For, at worst, making a mistake.

Let's assume the worst case scenario, that Jason Leopold didn't do his job, didn't doublecheck, didn't multiple source.

That puts him in the category of nearly every journalist who ever lived. He ran with a story that didn't pan out.

Remember when the corporate media ran with the "live miner" story, only to find out they were already dead?

Did America shut off their TV's as a result? No. Did the corp media lose any credibility? Maybe a little, but I can't remember any mass hysteria over it. Their ratings didn't plummet.

Remember when Drudge tried to take down John Kerry with the made-up "mistress" story, which was quickly refuted? Does Drudge lack support among his faithful now?

We progressives want truth, more than any other people, perhaps. And when we are let down, we are angry.

But I think a lot of this anger is misplaced in this case. We are angry for untold reasons that I don't need to list. Today we are certainly angry if Rove is off the hook here.

Let us remember that in our search for truth, we have to wade thru a lot of chaff. I for one look at all sorts of sites that aren't sanctioned by DU, in my endless quest for information. I don't believe everything that Alex Jones says, or Rense, or Wayne Madsen. However, I'm glad these sites exist, because amidst the UFO stories and the anti-semitic rhetoric, there are nuggets of great information.

Let us also remember that even the biggest and best liberal/progressive sites have their truth filters set according to management preferences. I believe that 9/11 was an inside job. But DU admin does not, so we 9/11 truthseekers are relegated to a "special" room. Kos doesn't allow "conspiracy" discussion on his site despite massive evidence that the Bush adminstration is nothing but one big conspiracy.

Many of our best sites, including Salon and MyDD, don't support that the 2004 election was heisted, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

If you are really interested in the truth, you must keep an open mind and be willing to go places where the filters are set to "off".

This is not to complain about the above sites. Each of these sites has its place and each performs a valuable service. We wouldn't want them to go away.

My point is that the search for truth is perilous, fraught with frustration, red herrings, misleading information, lies, disinformation, and yes, mistakes.

No one has a monopoly on truth.

That Jason Leopold's story of a Rove indictment didn't prove to be true is a shame.

But let's keep our powder dry. No more circular firing squads.

We need every truthseeker we have, and we need to pursue that truth, relentlessly.

Let's put down our weapons and move forward. There's work to do.

Mistaking that Wishing for something to be true and Believing it are more important than Reality.

Magical thinking, unfortunately is not the sole province of the RW. We need to get away from that and focus on what reality is.

My main reason for being here is a healthy skepticism resulting from our Pravda-Like media. A place where what is 'real' can be vetted with sources outside the corporate media.

Skepticism is healthy. Blind Faith is the PROBLEM, not the solution

Line the fuckers up against the wall.

... gotta work on those who report things as truth without providing a shred of publically verifable evidence.

And (far more importantly) gotta work on those who BELIEVE things without being provided with a shred of publically verifiable evidence.

We need to walk the reality-based walk - not just talk the talk. It's just house cleaning.

It's all about: being asked to believe + lack of evidence.

Rove may have been "cleared" but he also may have flipped. We dont know. We may never see the complete letter, if once exists, from Fitz to Luskin. Luskin's words are carefully calculated, but the MSM is only going to report to the splash headlines of Rove being cleared.

Piled on top of each other.

There needs to be accountability.

I am not really defending Leopold. I am, though, disgusted at the haste in which people are jumping on him.

Reality is what I'm all about too. But Bushco has its way of altering reality, or hiding it.

Accountability is fine but let's have the facts first.

It's been a month? They had multiple chances to admit they got it wrong. And they still are sticking to their false story.

If TO is still trying to have their readers believe their story is true, we will never get any acocuntability from them. They are too far gone.

The facts are TO and Jason Leopold were wrong.

I'm going to wait before doing anything. but something changed at DU for me today.

This was Luskin news. It was cooperation between NYT and Luskin which is being hyped all over corporate propaganda networks.

I'm also going to wait and see how I analyze my disappointment in the attacks on Truthout.

I need proof that TO did not have good sources before I condemn them.

I need proof that something didn't change legally before I condemn them.

I need Wilson to say that he was fooled since he at one time said that he had been told the same as Leopold (paraphrased).

his M.O. ...

He's contributed A LOT of scoops that turned out to be true.

No way does any journalist make stuff up and then claim it as a scoop.

Sorry, I don't buy it.

by his own admission:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18624-2005Mar8.html

Mistakes like calling people fuckwits and cretins and worse...

Or else! :-)

case on Fitzgerald's website. Life interrupted and I didn't finish but I did get the impression that Fitz is really after Cheney, not Rove.