Let’s Play Hardball!

PATRICK FITZGERALD, the special counsel who charged I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby with perjury and obstruction of justice, warned reporters, “This indictment is not about the war. . . . The indictment will not seek to prove that the war was justified or unjustified. This is stripped of that debate, and this is focused on a narrow transaction.” But that admonition has not stopped some journalists from picking up the Democrats’ tune and pressing the question of whether the intelligence Bush used to justify Saddam Hussein’s overthrow was “cherry-picked”-a suddenly popular phrase-or otherwise “hyped” to make the case for war seem more compelling.

MSNBC exemplifies how some in the news media are themselves cherry-picking quotes and hyping polls to strengthen the case that Bush misled the public. Since the indictment, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and David Shuster have hammered away at two themes: First, President Bush deliberately exaggerated the threat Saddam Hussein posed to the United States. Second, Vice President Dick Cheney masterminded the leaking of Valerie Plame’s name to the media in order to retaliate against administration critic Joseph Wilson.