I'm still a little blurry on exactly how I feel about the Valerie Plame, Judith Miller and maybe Karl Rove matter. I believe legitimate leakers — folks who disclose wrongdoing in powerful places — should be protected, but that protection should not extend to some of the excesses that are, alas, becoming the norm.
After I wrote my earlier post, I read a column by Michael Kinsley who, though a Liberal and a newspaperman, has come to some of the same conclusions. I also read a piece by Frank Rich, who makes some good points for the opposite view.
Also this weekend, I read The Secret Man, the new book by Bob Woodward on his relationship with Mark "Deep Throat" Felt. It's a quick read, more like a long article, and it leaves me (no surprise) with a generally favorable view of Felt. A lot of this is because Woodward reminds us of some of the slimy things the Nixon Administration was trying to do, making it quite credible that Felt believed they were trying to manipulate the FBI for political purposes, much as they were doing with the Internal Revenue Service. I can easily accept that Felt believed something had to be done to stop them, and that it's wrong to dismiss him, as some have attempted to do, as a guy who just ratted on his associates because he was mad he didn't get a promotion. There are plenty of moments in the book when I don't like Felt for things he says and does as Mark Felt, but I think what he did as Deep Throat was important and vital and heroic.
One of the more intriguing but sad parts of the book is how Woodward details his conversations with Felt after dementia had robbed the latter of most of his memory. Woodward is almost desperate, grasping at anything, to get Felt to recall his role as informant and to say something positive about their relationship. Eventually, the memories never resurface but the old man is friendly enough to give Woodward some satisfaction. It was also interesting to read about Woodward's struggle to keep the secret for so many years, including deciding to lie in a few instances.
Turning back to the Plame/Miller/Rove matter: Though the lack of leaks from the prosecutor's office is a good thing, and a welcome change from the way Judge Starr slimed those he could not indict, there's one downside. It's too much speculation by people who really don't know the details. At the moment, folks seem to be arguing that Rove might not be guilty of naming Valerie Plame as a C.I.A. agent because he didn't know her name and could only say, "Joseph Wilson's wife." I can't believe the actual case, if there is one, will turn on that distinction.