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Our Jed Babbin is developing the idea that the real U.S. opposition party is the mainstream media. Anyone who saw 60 Minutes' segment last night on "the exposure of Valerie Plame" wouldn't disagree for moment. It was breathtakingly partisan, turning Mrs. Wilson into a heroic undercover agent of 18 years standing risking life and limb for country until exposed by a vile administration. It just so happened that this segment ran two days after Patrick Fitzgerald issued his first indictment. It gave no clue at all that Plame's husband remains a man of dubious credibility. It never explained how an undercover agent takes time off to have children and help women with postpartum depression.

Hosted by the confused Ed Bradley -- at one point the segment reports that Robert Novak mentioned Plame's front company by name on CNN; only to have Bradley later erroneously say that Novak "published" the name of the fictitious company -- the segment introduced two star witnesses of similar CIA background. From one we got this observation: "We're not being undermined by the North Koreans. We're not being undermined by the Russians. We're being undermined by officials in our own government." The other, asked "What has this done to [Plame]? How's she handling it?" replied: "Well, first of all, CIA people don't like cameras. We don't like publicity..." No one brought up Vanity Fair, not even the photo of Plame in sunglasses alongside her husband in his sports convertible.

The upshot of this program: Fitzgerald's indictment of Lewis Libby doesn't begin to describe the serious damage that was done by those who leaked Plame's name. Sounds like a permanent Democratic talking point from now on.

topics:
Mainstream Media, Sports, Russia