Does a News Story Have to Contain News?

If it weren’t for rampant speculation, would the MSM have anything to write about on l’affaire Plame?

WASHINGTON — Now that top White House aide Karl Rove is off the hook in the CIA leak probe, President George W. Bush must weigh whether to pardon former vice presidential aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the only one indicted in the three-year investigation.

He must, must he? Traditionally, there has to be an actual criminal conviction before there’s a pardon but let’s not let that little fact get in the way of some whopping good Magic 8-Ball peering.

But why “must” the President deliver a pardon, preemptive or not? Seems Newsday has a pocket full o’ conspiracy and a Republican willing to throw out some wild guesses.

Speculation about a pardon began in late October, soon after Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald unsealed the perjury indictment of Libby, and it continued last week after Fitzgerald chose not to charge Rove.

“I think ultimately, of course, there are going to be pardons,” said Joseph diGenova, a former prosecutor and an old Washington hand who shares that view with many pundits.

“These are the kinds of cases in which historically presidents have given pardons,” said the veteran Republican attorney.

The White House remains mum on the president’s intentions. Spokeswoman Dana Perino declined to comment Friday.

Well, thank you Mr. DiGenova for your guess which when combined with a buck and a quarter will buy you a Big Gulp.

Notice also that the paper uses that dodgy ol’ “many pundits” trick to imply that the belief is far more widespread than they can actually prove. You’re supposed to read that and think, “Oh dear! Maybe Libby really is in need of pardoning!”. The truth is that Libby is putting up a pretty spirited defense and that Fitzgerald’s case is about as solid as a chunk of swiss cheese.

So why in the world would the White House want to leap in with a pardon? Newsday gets helpful in that regard, too.

Bush has powerful incentives to pardon Libby, however. They range from rewarding past loyalty to ending the awkward revelations emerging from pretrial motions, a flow that could worsen in his trial next year.

Libby was indicted for lying in Fitzgerald’s probe into who in the administration leaked the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame to reporters in 2003, apparently to undercut her husband’s attack on Bush’s war-justifying claim that Iraq sought uranium in Niger.

By demanding sensitive, sometimes embarrassing materials, some say, Libby appears to be goading the White House into issuing a pardon. Libby’s spokeswoman did not respond to questions about a pardon.

Hey, there’s that undefined “some” again! So who says that the materials Libby wants are embarassing? Okay, let me reask that. Who, aside from the Fitzmas Dreamers on the left, say that the materials Libby wants are embarassing?

Is there any evidence whatsoever that Newsday claims “some” people believe is actually true?

I find it incredible that the President would want to pardon Libby, or even slow his trial down in the slightest, considering that Libby has a great opportunity to crush the Fitzgerald investigation entire, exonerate the entire administration, and show Joseph Wilson to be an inveterate liar one more time. Pardoning Libby has nothing but downsides while letting his trial run its course does nothing but help the administration.

So, aside from that, sure. The President might want to pardon Libby. If he were completely out of his mind.

I wonder if Newsday thinks that he is. Certainly, thanks to this newsless and tricksy news story, they must think that we’re gullible fools.

ABlogForAll sums up this nothing story perfectly:

So, we’re now witnessing speculation that Louis “Scooter” Libby will be pardoned by President Bush at some point for lying about telling the truth about a serial liar in a case where no crime was actually committed. What kind of loony logic is this?

It’s not logic. It’s not news. It is, to use a great word I heard Even Thomas use on “Inside Washington” use today, a “nothingburger”.

And the left eats it up like is was prime sirloin.