TPM to MSM: Come On In! The Water Feels Fine!

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It’s been pretty clear for a while that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has repeatedly lied to investigative committees on Capitol Hill. But yesterday he took that fateful step of making a false statement about an event in which there are multiple fact witnesses available to contradict him. Indeed, the falsehood was apparently so great that even fellow members of the administration like FBI Chief Robert Mueller felt bound to contradict him publicly.

Actually, there’s even a little more to add: that is, yesterday was Gonzales’ chance to revise what were actually past false statements. And he did not. He took the plunge again, fibbing — even with a certain perverted consistency and honor — right in the congressional lion’s maw.

In any case, this is all being reported on very closely at TPMmuckraker. But I was curious to see that some major news outlets were at last coming around and pretty much telling this one how it is in their headlines. Some dragged kicking and screaming, I grant you. But at least a few glimmers of recognition.

So I thought I’d show some examples. And when you see others please send them in.

NYT: FBI Chief Challenges Gonzales’ Testimony.

Interestingly, the article itself uses the more full-throated “contradicted” instead of the more anemic “challenged”. But apparently the Times’ editors want to ease folks into it.

The Post, at least on the front page, appears not to be covering the Mueller/Gonzales story, though I’m confident Fred Hiatt is working busily on a “Questions over Mueller’s Credibility Mount” editorial. So we’ll keep an eye out. (ed.note: 9:19 PM, The Post’s up now and it’s pretty good — jmm)

CNN meanwhile appears to be going for a sort of editorial rope-a-dope with “FBI head apparently contradicts Gonzales”.

Wow, okay. Gonzoles is in serious trouble. Sure it’s buried down on the front page but Fox News, party organ of GOP bamboozlement, has “FBI Chief Contradicts Gonzales’ Sworn Testimony.” Frankly that’s the hardest headline I’ve see so far. Alas, on the story page itself it’s the quasi-bamboozling “FBI Chief Muddles Gonzales Sworn Testimony to Congress.” But, hey, it’s Fox. The frontpage headline may have been automated off the AP wire.

USAToday gets a little narrative action going with “Mueller contradicts Gonzales; Dems request special counsel.”

Late Update: WaPo’s got their piece up. And it’s a dive right in the lake: “FBI Director Contradicts Gonzales Testimony”

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