Team Bush

"Amen," I thought when I saw the guilty verdict against Libby pop up on the Internet this afternoon. That's one sleazeball down - out of many occupying the Bush White House. As Dave Lindorf noted on Common Dreams, if we have a press with any integrity left, this will be just a starting point for outing the rest of the thugs and liars running the executive branch. Regarding the Libby verdict, I also saw where Cursor.org picked up this prescient warning from Media Matters about lies in the media to watch out for.

And then I made the mistake of tuning in to ATC as they came storming out of the dugout to see what damage control they could effect for Bush-Cheney. Within minutes of the guilty verdict, someone at NPR must have been busy on the phone seeking out one of their many go-to right wing extremists. They rounded up one of their favorites, Dan Goure of the Lexington Institute (interestingly NPR has run into trouble with this creep before).

Here are a few of the whoppers that Goure, who at least is identified as a former employee of Libby's, is allowed to air without any challenge:

• "We now know that neither he nor Cheney first outed Ms. Plame.
• "No one in the Vice President’s was responsible for the leak."
• "Cheney did not leak."
• "...a miscarriage of justice."

So why does NPR want to have on a liar like Dan Goure to defend Libby? And if they are going to give such important airtime to him, where is the counterbalance? Why bring someone like him on the first news show after the Libby conviction? Why don't we get to hear from someone with a progressive viewpoint to challenge these falsehoods? (Interviewing Wilson doesn't count--he's not a progressive.) Why not at lease have on someone like The Nation's David Corn who has written about the full scope of the operation that was being waged against Wilson?

Whatever the reason, the fact is that the crucial first commentary NPR airs on the case, the first impression that its listeners get, is one that is fully loaded with misinformation favoring Bush and Cheney - and that is really sickening.

Added Wed. am: For a refresher on the whole sordid Libby-Bush-Cheney-Rove affair take a look at Juan Cole's Wed. post here.