What About Bob?

We do need to get to the bottom of the Plame affair, beyond a shadow of a doubt, but there is the potential here for chilling ripples to reverberate outward throughout the press at large. It is also, though, a matter without precedent and therefore a case could definitely be made to break confidentiality...I think.

In any case, why hasn't Novak, the only "journalist" who took the bait and did the nasty, the only one who actually did the dirty work of the White House, why hasn't he been subpoenaed? Surely he has....he is the one, after all, who took equal part, along with the leaker, in the treasonous outing of Ms. Plame. The wording of the lede in the article below implies there are others, but as of deadline they could not be confirmed. From the NY Times:

WASHINGTON, May 22 — A federal grand jury has subpoenaed at least two journalists, Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press" and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, to testify about whether the Bush White House leaked the identity of an undercover C.I.A. officer to the news media.

Lawyers for both NBC and Time said they would fight the subpoenas. NBC said its subpoena could have a "chilling effect" on its ability to report the news. In a statement, Neal Shapiro, the network's president, said, "Sources will simply stop speaking with the press if they fear those conversations will become public."

Robin Bierstedt, vice president and deputy general counsel of Time Inc., said: "It is Time Inc.'s policy to protect its confidential sources. While we would like all of our reporting to be on the record, a promise of confidentiality is sometimes necessary to get information that would otherwise be unavailable."