When you get all your journalistic information from the White House,
you make a point to mention under which administration this guy worked for:
Sandy Berger, former President Clinton's national security adviser, is under criminal investigation by the Justice Department after highly classified terrorism documents disappeared while he was reviewing what should be turned over to the Sept. 11 commission.
Okay. Fair enough. But when quoting the high-profile person who comes to his defense, you can go two ways. You can report it thusly (as AP did, and as a result is being
published verbatim in hundreds of newspapers and said verbatim on hundreds of TV and radio stations):
David Gergen, who was an adviser to Clinton and worked with Berger for a time in the White House, said Tuesday, "I think it's more innocent than it looks."
Or,
you can report it thusly (and a little more honestly):
David R. Gergen, the longtime political strategist who worked in the administration of President Bill Clinton as well as in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan White Houses, said he thought what Mr. Berger did was "more innocent than it looks."
Class? CLASS?
WAKE UP!!! Now can anyone tell me who launched this anti-Clinton barrage moments before the release of the 9/11 Commission's report and days before the Democratic convention? Anyone?
