One of the things that confuses me about the Valerie Plame affair is why Judith Miller of the New York Times went to jail and Matt Cooper of Time didn't.
Matt Cooper says that his source released him from his pledge of confidentiality, which I believe. What I wonder is why didn't Judith's source release her from confidentiality.
Here are a few different explanations (all wildly speculative):
1. Judith's source is not the same as Matt's source, and hers is not someone that can be outed (like Vice President Cheney or Condi Rice) without great embarrassment.
2. Judith and her source discussed something more damning to the Bush administration than Matt's source (like everyone was lying about WMD).
3. "No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court".
4. Matt Cooper was scared and lying.
5. Matt Cooper's source seems to be Karl Rove. It could be that he has maintained enough principle not to send someone else to jail on his own behalf.
Isn't this fun?
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