Pundhackery--Richard Cohen style

As I reported below even the Republican Spin Machine has quit attacking Patrick Fitzgerald. But not the Washington Post's Richard Cohen who just doesn't seem to get it.

The best thing Patrick Fitzgerald could do for his country is get out of Washington, return to Chicago and prosecute some real criminals. As it is, all he has done so far is send Judith Miller of the New York Times to jail and repeatedly haul this or that administration high official before a grand jury, investigating a crime that probably wasn't one in the first place but that now, as is often the case, might have metastasized into some sort of coverup -- but, again, of nothing much. Go home, Pat.

The alleged crime involves the outing of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative whose husband, Joseph Wilson IV, had gone to Africa at the behest of the agency and therefore said he knew that the Bush administration -- no, actually, the president himself -- had later misstated (in the State of the Union address, yet) the case that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger.

"The alleged crime involves the outing of Valerie Plame". No Mr Cohen, the alleged crime involves a lot more than Valerie Plame it involves the outing of Brewster Jennings & Associates
and everyone who had ever worked in that CIA operation. Mr Cohen continues:

So it set out to impeach Wilson's credibility, purportedly answering the important question of who had sent him to Africa in the first place: his wife. This was a clear case of nepotism, the leakers just as clearly implied.

Not nice, but it was what Washington does day in and day out.

Let us hope Mr Cohen is wrong but if he is right it might explain recent intelligence failures. I'm sorry Mr Cohen but there was criminal activity here that represents a threat to the security of the United States. Your dismissal of it only indicates you are out of touch and way past your prime. It's time for you to retire from the punditry corps. Maybe you can get a part time gig on FOX news to supplement your retirement income.

Update
ReddHedd weighs in and it's worth a read.

and

Over at The LeftCoaster larre has a thing or two to say in an open letter to the WAPO Ombudsman.

Mr. Richard Cohen's column in today's Washington Post ("Let This Leak Go", Oct. 13, 2005) reveals a depth of ignorance so profound, about so many aspects of American political life, that it is difficult to imagine why the Washington Post believes he is qualified to comment about anything that requires logical thought or knowledge about the American legal system, American history, beltway politics, or the Valerie Plame affair.

It gets better, check it out.