What we've found out in the past year is that what passes for "journalistic standards" is completely insane. Claiming Rove & Libby were "sources" for Cooper is on par with Dan Rather & his defenders claiming the White House had essentially verified the phony NG memos by not shooting them down when shown copies.

This is tricky. In the world of classified information, the person with access to such information may neither confirm nor deny what someone else has gleaned through others sourcs or a lucky guess. If Rove confirmed such information for reporters, he needs to be talking about other defenses to the accusations. Merely asserting that, "Oh, well, the reporter aready knew," won't cut it.

"So Cooper's "sources" are two guys who agreed with what he told them he knew?"

Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes. -- Matt Cooper

Cooper has problems with the truth just like Joe Wilson. Matt seems to recall the same event differently depending who he talks to.

When he talks with Russert, it's Rove whose done the leaking. When he talks under oath in front of the grand jury, it's Matt that seems to have done the leaking. Pathetic.

"When he talks under oath in front of the grand jury, it's Matt that seems to have done the leaking. Pathetic."

Link?

"Links?"

For Russert:

Try this Reuters article

For Cooper to investigators and grand jury:

Try this financial times article

Fourth paragraph: "In an account of his testimony published on Sunday, Mr Cooper said that neither Mr Libby nor Mr Rove revealed the name of the agent, nor did they mention her covert status"

By the way, since we're showing our links, where's the link in your comment?

Has Mr. Mandy Grunwald (Cooper) ever disclosed his huge conflict of interest? Not to my knowledge, although I rarely read TIME.

capt. mike,

Contrary to what you said above, there appears to be no contradiction between what Cooper told Russert vs. what he told the grand jury (AFAWK, since we don't have access to grand jury transcripts). He said that he first heard that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA from Rove and nobody else. There is a weak and rather Clintonian defense of this hinging on whether Rove used her name, but "Wilson's wife" identifies her uniquely, as Wilson only has one wife.

We will have to wait for the outcome to the investigation to see whether Rove committed a crime, but I don't see anything to indicate that Matt Cooper told the grand jury one thing and MTP another.

There is no contradiction between:

Time correspondent Matthew Cooper said he told a grand jury last week that Rove told him the woman worked at the "agency," or CIA, on weapons of mass destruction issues, and ended the call by saying "I've already said too much."

He said Rove did not disclose the woman's name, Valerie Plame, but told him information would be declassified that would cast doubt on the credibility of her husband, former diplomat Joseph Wilson, who had charged the Bush administration with exaggerating the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs in making its case for war.

"So did Rove leak Plame's name to me, or tell me she was covert? No. Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes. Did Rove say that she worked at the 'agency' on 'WMD'? Yes," Cooper wrote in Time's current edition.

"When he said things would be declassified soon, was that itself impermissible? I don't know. Is any of this a crime? Beats me," Cooper wrote.

and

For the record, the first time you learned that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA was from Karl Rove?

MR. COOPER: That's correct.

MR. RUSSERT: And when Karl concluded his conversation with you, you write he said, "I've already said too much." What did that mean?

MR. COOPER: Well, I'm not sure what it meant, Tim. At first, you know, I thought maybe he meant "I've been indiscreet." But then, as I thought about it, I thought it might be just more benign, like "I've said too much; I've got to get to a meeting." I don't know exactly what he meant, but I do know that memory of that line has stayed in my head for two years.

MR. RUSSERT: When you were told that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, did you have any sense then that this is important or "I better be careful about identifying someone who works for the CIA"?

MR. COOPER: Well, I certainly thought it was important. I wrote it in the e-mail to my bosses moments later that has since leaked out after this long court battle I've been in. You know, I certainly thought it was important. But I didn't know her name at the time until, you know, after Bob Novak's column came out.

The link for the quote I pasted in my previous comment above is here. It's from Matt Cooper's TIME article.

The first link in your comment does not link to the Russert interview, btw. You can find that transcript here.