Kurtz needs a clue There are some that feel Howie has a difficult time enough sorting out his own ethical dilemmas. He certainly can't see the problem with Miller.

Yes, there are those trying to make political fodder of the Plame case with the prospect of two senior WH advisors looking at indictments. Also, rightly so I think, there are those upset with Miller about her coverage on the WMD issue. It was shoddy work that in the years to come will stand far above Rather's Memogate in damaging the trust of journalists. But the kicking she is getting from inside the journalistic community is well deserved for her lack of scruples, even now. I say this as one who defended the principle she went to jail for to others who simply wanted Rove frog-marched out of the WH.

Kurtz is missing that journalists are rightly peeved at Miller. A bunch of them defended her and her decision to go to jail. We have all felt that a journalist should not be put in jail for doing his or her job. We defended Miller for being one of us and expect her to act as one of us. Now we see that she did not feel accountable to the system of editorial checks and balances that do a very good job usually of preventing the kinds of mistakes she made. Her story after the jail-house ordeal leaves us wanting her to act like a journalist. Instead we are left with the feeling that she is still covering for a malicious leaker and her role as a Washington insider is more important than her job as a journalist.  ¶ 10/18/2005 05:09:00 PM