There are five different reasons to believe that Russert lied instead of misspoke. Add them up, and the results are pretty damning...
-------------------------------
Fiderer's article goes on to point out how Russert attacked then Democratic Presidential Nominee John Kerry for his votes and statements on Iraq but how Russert's attacks were intentional misstatements of John Kerry's well known statements at the time of his votes and subsequently. This was not an isolated incident as the below articles show:
Russert challenged Democrats -- but not McCain -- about 2002 Iraq intel "caveats" - http://www.mediamatters.org/items/200705140008
Revisionist Tim Russert - http://pushingrope.blogspot.com/2007/05/revisionist-tim-russert.html
--------------------------------
Tim was in the middle of the Bush administration's illegal outing of covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame. Why is Libby calling Russert to talk with him about Valerie Plame at all regardless if it is a day or two before or after Plame's name was initially leaked? The below links and excerpts suggest something more was happening with Russert's role than what he officially has said:
http://www.newshounds.us/2006/05/24/tim_russerts_not_quite_complete_denial_about_role_in_cia_leak_case.php
After doing a bit of research, I discovered that Russert has consistently responded with the same cagey wording.
The exchange began with Alan Colmes asking, “UPI reporting that Patrick Fitzgerald, the prosecutor in the Plame case, said in court papers that Scooter Libby was told in 2003 that Valerie Plame was a classified CIA employee by his boss, Dick Cheney. Previously, it was claimed that he was told about Plame by you. Which is the truth? Do you have any idea?”
Russert(stuttering a bit): Well, all I know is what I know personally – that Scooter Libby called me in June to complain about something that had been on the cable TV show. I didn’t know who Valerie Plame was until I read Bob Novak’s column.”
----------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/07/AR2007020702437_pf.html
From the moment he hobbled into the wood-paneled courtroom on a single crutch from an ankle injury, Tim Russert seemed very different from the familiar television figure of Sunday morning combat.
He was careful, sober and subdued. He spoke in a flat monotone. He offered responses such as "I don't recall saying that specifically, but I may have," and "You'll have to refresh my recollection on that." Gone was Russert's usual bombast and showmanship.
With the perjury trial of Lewis "Scooter" Libby hanging in the balance, the "Meet the Press" inquisitor -- the man who puts all those quotations up on the screen and presses politicians about contradictions and evasions -- found himself on the receiving end of a tough cross-examination.
-----------
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17020411/
Speaking before a packed courtroom, Russert said he never discussed a CIA operative during a July 2003 phone conversation with Libby. Libby has testified that, at the end of the call, Russert brought up war critic Joseph Wilson and mentioned that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.
"That would be impossible," Russert testified Wednesday about such an exchange. "I didn't know who that person was until several days later."
Unlike previous witnesses who discussed the tense atmosphere inside the West Wing and revealed some of the administration's press strategies, Russert offered little in the way of fireworks. But the discrepancy between his account and Libby's is at the heart of the perjury and obstruction trial.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
