Carol Marin writes a very good column on why Russert shouldn’t be subpeonaed.
Doing so would stop sources who are true whistle blowers from coming forward instead of nitwits trying to damage a perceived political opponent. The best solution is a new President–then the leaker will be unemployed–unless Patrick Fitzgerald has more than people are guessing.
I’m having a hard time with this argument. In this case, a ‘journalist’, disclosed the name of a covert CIA agent. This undoubtably compromised her contacts as well, possibly placing them in direct physical danger. Further, we are not talking about just one ‘journalist’ who was given this information, but possibly 5-7 others. Only this ‘journalist’ chose to disclose the secret information. He is very worthy of punishment. Of that idiot Russert, I suspect that the reason Fitzgerald may be pressuring him is that he is the dumbest of the group, and most likely to crack. my .02