WaPo Ombudsman Punts Obama Rumor Story

WaPo, Deborah Howell, Ombudsman: Refuting, or Feeding, the Rumor Mill?

Howell whines that people are angry that the WaPo put rumors about Barack Obama's Muslim ties on the front page and didn't identify them as false. Now, horrors, readers are saying bad things about the WaPo and the breakdown of journalistic standards! She may as well have published a column entitled: "Wahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Here's how I'll describe Howell, using the immortal stylings of the author of the Obama hit piece, Perry Bacon:

"Despite [her] denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Howell (Ombudsman), is a "Potted plant" in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected dogcatcher, she would take the oath of office using toilet paper, rather than the Washington Post, as Perry Bacon Jr. did in his front page article on Obama in the Washington Post last week."

Libby Juror Exposed to Outside Information

Yesterday the world's most incompetent ombudsperson, Deborah Howell of the Washington Post, defended the Post for publishing Republican mouthpiece Victoria Toensing's partisan article attacking the prosecution of Scooter Libby. The article also attacked prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald personally and was accompanied by a graphic with a mugshot-like picture of Fitzgerald. Readers and media critics were understandably upset that the slanted article was planted in the middle of the trial. In her column Howell addressed this complaint from a reader:

Chris Webster was among dozens who complained: "Publishing her partisan version of history and parsed interpretation of the law the weekend before jury deliberations could be considered jury tampering."

with this answer:

This wasn't tampering. The judge has instructed jurors to stay away from news reports.

Today's news from the Scooter Libby trial:

Libby juror exposed to outside information.

Deborah Howell is once again proved the fool. And the Washington Post may have allowed the wingnuts to influence this trial. Shame, shame. No wonder firedoglake has dubbed her "Lil' Debbie".

UPDATE: The juror was dismissed; the jury will continue to deliberate, with 11 jurors.