Examples of Unconnected Dots

Kit Seelye has been reporting on politics since 1992. But she thinks the American Enterprise Institute is "a nonpartisan group."

The fact that AEI is hardly "non-partisan" is basic. John Bolton used to be a Senior Vice President. The AEI probably put the "empire" into "we're an empire now." ThinkProgress has more.

Another example: Howard Kurtz has been the media reporter at the same newspaper as Walter Pincus since 1990. I am sure Pincus is familiar with the backstory of recent CIA intelligence failures--and the crucial role of the neoconservatives in that failure.

But during a chat session, Kurtz had the following to say:

Anonymous: New York Times, right now: "Breaking News 12:06 PM ET: U.S. Report Says Iran Halted Nuclear Weapons Program in 2003." This should be interesting.

washingtonpost.com: "Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003 under international pressure but is continuing to enrich uranium..." (AP, Dec. 3)

Howard Kurtz: I would just make a note about the attribution in the lead: "senior intelligence officials said Monday." They may well be right. But some intelligence officials were obviously flat wrong about Saddam's WMD.

But Kurtz, even though the right wing may have the chutzpa to make that argument, the neoconservatives are out. And the intelligence services are regaining their professional footing.

Couldn't Kurtz, some time over the past few years, wheel his chair over to Pincus's cube have a chat? Lunch with him in the WaPo cafeteria? I mean, Pincus's work is supposedly relevant to his job, considering that Pincus covered the whole Judy Miller fiasco.