Truthout's Credibility Problem; Ditch Rep. Jefferson

Roving Truthout

The Curmudgeon likes Truthout--we even include a handy link to the liberal website. But if you're going to have a name like Truthout, you need to stick to the truth.

In a recent report, Truthout contributor Jason Leopold gave a very detailed account of a meeting that had supposedly taken place at the office of Karl Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, with Plame-gate prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, in which Rove's indictment had been handed down.

Like many Truthout readers, the Curmudgeon was taken in, figuring that with all the details in the story--where the meeting took place, who was there, how long it lasted, who said what, etc.--it must be true.

The Curmudgeon emailed the report to several friends and waited giddily for the mainstream media to report Rove's impending resignation.

Then, nothing happened. Well, thank goodness the Curmudgeon held off reporting anything here.

It turns out the report was false. Whether it was a complete fabrication, a hallucination, a "miscommunication," a publicity stunt, or something else is yet to be determined.

However, Rove lawyer Ruskin says that on the day the big meeting supposedly took place in his office, he was at the veterinarian's office with his cat. Thus, he was pretty surprised when, after Leopold's report, his phone started ringing off the hook with inquiries from the mainstream media.

So what's up with Truthout? It turns out Leopold, a former Los Angeles Times and Dow Jones reporter, has some pretty severe credibility problems. He concedes, in a new book--News Junkie--that he is a former alcoholic and cocaine addict who once was convicted of grand larceny. He also has a history of stories that can't be confirmed--in 2002 Salon retracted a story about then Secretary of the Army Thomas White. Also, publisher Rowman & Littlefied cancelled an earlier version of Leopold's book last year. (All this is courtesy of the Washington Post.)

Truthout's operator, Marc Ash, reportedly claims to "stand by the story" Leopold reported.

Ash had better be careful. It's one thing to be taken in by a con man; it's another to stand by him after you facilitate his con.

Could it be that Leopold concocted the whole thing as a means to promote his new book (under the heading of "there's no such thing as bad publicity")?

We'll see. Meantime, the Curmudgeon is taking Truthout with a grain of salt.

Democrats Need to Ditch Rep. Jefferson

Good grief--do we really need this?

It appears that Rep. William J. Jefferson, an African-American Democratic congressman from Louisiana, was videotaped by the FBI taking $100,000 in cash from an informant who was wearing a wire; then, the FBI found $90,000 of it in Jefferson's freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed into various frozen-food containers. (The Curmudgeon didn't realize cash would go bad if just left in the fridge for a few days.)

Many other sordid allegations of extensive corruption by Jefferson are coming out as well.

This stinks to high heaven. To be sure, Jefferson has not yet been charged with anything, and of course, through his attorney, he denies any wrongdoing.

Here's what needs to happen: the House Democratic leadership and the Congressional Black Caucus need to denounce Jefferson in no uncertain terms and move decisively to get rid of him. And they need to do it fast.