Ari vs Washington Post
White House Smearing of Dana Milbank Goes Public
Post Itself Targeted By Fleischer
Covering Up Dubya's Bie Lie, Ari Lies Again
Lies About Clinton, Too

Ari Fleischer, in a bid to fend off the impact of Dana Milbank's devastating article on the big lies of George W. Bush, has taken the White House smearing of Milbank public, in a menacing letter to the Washington Post.

Not only does Fleischer fail to refute any of Milbank's charges. He also covers up Bush's lies with more lies - and spreads other lies about, who else, Bill Clinton. (When the Bush White House or any Republican outfit is backed into a corner, count on it to smear Bill or Hillary Clinton once again.)

In his report, Milbank nails no fewer than eight falsehoods that Bush has delivered lately - either outright whoppers or amazing one-sides stretches of the truth that are false. These range from statements about Iraq's direct military threat to the United States to statements about Bush Administration spending on education.

Ari sneers that "every point in the Post's story is refuted by the facts". But Fleischer can only come up with two lame "refutations" - one a baldfaced piece of nonsense about Bush REALLY meaning that Iraq could launch an unmanned vehicle attack from a ship or even from inside the U.S.; the other not disputing Milbank's evidence that a report Bush citied in defense of the claim that Saddam Hussein is 6 months away says nothing of the kind, but exactly the opposite.

"Every point", Ari? No, Ari, that's just your usual bluster, now varnished by your own lies and attacks on the integrity of both Dana Milbank and the Washington Post.

Oh yes, of course, there's also Bill Clinton, who in passing Fleischer smears as someone who committed "crimes that shook the nation". What crimes?

Clinton was indicted for nothing, and pardoned for nothing (unlike the criminal Richard Nixon). On the partisan impeachment charges he was, of course, acquitted. How dare this White House call the President that came before it a criminal? Clue: It's because this White House, when nailed, starts smearing Clinton quicker that you can say "Ken Starr".

By going public, Fleischer has taken the attack on the press to a new level. A White House reporter, Dana Milbank, stands accused of peddling a story "that is dubious, if not wrong". And the leading newspaper in Washington stands accused of printing that story.

Of course the Washington Post owed Ari the courtesy of printing his evasive, tar brush of a letter.

But now that is has, the Post owes it to its own reporter, to say nothing of its readers, to run a defense of Milbank, and an exposure of Ari's contemptible efforts to cover up for his boss - and in the process to impugn the reputations of a journalist and a paper that have at last summoned the nerve to stand up to this secretive, vindictive, and mendacious Administration.