Reply #8: Some things to add....

[Sammy Pepys]

First off, great post. Now, in no particular order...

1) I think that whatever happens with this story there will be a silver lining, as you've said. It seems like in our push to get rid of Bush, we've kind of thrown caution to the wind and grasped on to anything that looks like a light at the end of the tunnel. I think we need to be more careful than that...and if Leopold is wrong hopefully this will drive home the point.

2) If Leopold is wrong and he has either fabricated the thing or been taken for a ride by someone, that can certainly damage some reputations other than him...it may even start a culling process. While this would probably be pretty ugly, it may be necessary. While Leopold certainly isn't a widely-known reporter, we don't want him to be come widely known because of his foibles.