Spinonymous Sources: Wash. Post quoted "senior administration
 
Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 21:53:03 -0400

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<p><b>Spinonymous Sources:<em> </em><em>Wash.</em><em> Post</em> quoted "senior
administration official" on White House's "comfort" with Libby decision </b></p>
<p><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200707040001?src=item200707040001">http://mediamatters.org/items/200707040001</a></p>

<p>In a July 3 <i>Washington
Post</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=item200707040001&http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070202060.html?hpid=topnews">article</a> on
President Bush&#39;s decision to commute former vice presidential chief of
staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby&#39;s 30-month prison sentence,
staff writer Michael Abramowitz reported that a "senior administration
official ... said there
is &#39;comfort&#39; at the White House that the decision will not hurt
[Bush] politically despite the Democratic outcry." According to
Abramowitz, his source "spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk
freely about the president&#39;s thinking." Abramowitz offered no indication
as to why his source deserved anonymity to assert the White House&#39;s "comfort"
with the decision.</p>

<p>Moreover, while the article reported that "Democrats
portrayed the decision as an example of Bush acting above the law and not
holding members of his administration accountable for misdeeds," it
quoted only Republicans and conservatives reacting to Bush&#39;s commutation
of Libby&#39;s sentence. Abramowitz quoted former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY)
and <i>Weekly Standard</i> editor Bill
Kristol praising the commutation, as well as GOP lobbyist Vin Weber and an
anonymous "Washington conservative who is close to Libby"
criticizing Bush for not pardoning Libby. The article did not contain a single
quote from a Democrat, progressive, or anybody who opposed pardoning Libby or
commuting his sentence.</p>

<p>In addition, the article quoted Simpson without noting that
he is a member of the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=item200707040001&http://www.scooterlibby.com/">Libby Legal Defense Trust</a>&#39;s
"<a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=item200707040001&http://www.scooterlibby.com/committee/">Advisory Committee</a>."
According to a June 25 Associated Press <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=item200707040001&http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/25/AR2007062500885_pf.html">article</a>, the trust
was formed with the goal of "rais[ing] more than $5 million to help
finance" Libby&#39;s legal defense.</p>

<p><i>Media Matters for America</i> has
documented several
instances (<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200705090005?src=item200707040001">here</a>, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200702220007?src=item200707040001">here</a>, and <a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200603100003?src=item200707040001">here</a>) in which the <i>Post</i> has allowed Bush administration
officials to praise the president or attack his critics behind the shield of
anonymity.</p>

<p>From the July 3 <i>Washington
Post</i>: </p><blockquote>

<p>

One senior administration official
said Bush quickly made his decision yesterday after hearing that the U.S. Court
of Appeals had refused to keep Libby out of prison while his appeal ran its
course. This source, <b>who spoke on the
condition of anonymity to talk freely about the president&#39;s thinking</b>,
said there is "comfort" at the White House that the decision will not
hurt him politically despite the Democratic outcry. </p></blockquote><table width="100%" style="background: #e8e8e8; 
border: 1px solid  #ffffff; font-size: 80%" cellpadding="1">
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<td style="border-right: 1px solid  #ffffff;" 
width="40%">
</b> Contact: <br />
<b>The Washington Post</b></td>
<td valign="top"><i><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/interact/longterm/stfbio/wpemail.htm">The Washington Post</a></i>
<br />The Washington Post
<br />1150 15th St. NW
<br />Washington, DC 20071</td>
</tr>
</table>



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