Last November I told you that Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), a group of anti—Administration lefties closely linked to Kerry and the Democrats, were spreading the Ambassador Munchausen fable with the assistance of a complicit media which disingenuously referred to them as "former intelligence officials".а

NRO and Seixon note that farce continues, singling out Tim Russert's cohorts at MSNBC as the biggest VIPers' shills:

What do Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, Joe Wilson, David Shuster and Jason Leopold all have in common? Seixon connects the dots:

There can no longer be any doubt that most of these explosive and uncorroborated 'news' stories are being manufactured by the tight—knit group of former intelligence officials in tandem with Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame, and most likely backers in the Democratic Party. It is also probably no coincidence that David Shuster and Chris Matthews of MSNBC have carried many of the same rumors and false stories, such as the one claiming that outing Plame damaged efforts on Iran. Shuster has been hyping a Rove indictment as imminent for over a month, something only one other source has been doing: Jason Leopold.

VIPS was started to compel intelligence officials to illegally leak classified information to damage the Bush administration, and is apparently now in the business of manufacturing false news and rumor—mongering to do the same. It should come as no surprise that a group of veteran intelligence officials would have the clout to pull off such an enterprise, and that they would cut any corner necessary to fulfill their agenda.

Referring to these VIPS guys as "former intelligence officials" and nothing more is highly deceitful. They are activists, and granting them anonymity serves no purpose other than to conceal that fact from news consumers. How often have we seen this happen in major news stories about this case?

Clarice Feldmanаа 5 24 06