Smear without Fear

Krugman goes light today, and I don't think I want to use other phrase to discuss his column: Smear without Fear -- it really fits, already. This is about Letterman's Night Show's take on Bush last week. Letterman diplayed a clip showing a boy got bored with Bush delivering a speech. The boy's gesture was extremely funny. When I saw the rerun (I was then waiting for a connecting flight from Denver to Bloomington in O'Hare airport, Chicago) in the CNN, I couldn't help myself laughing outloud. But, honestly, I wasn't sure if it was real or not. I didn't even notice it was originally brought by Letterman. Anyway... Krugman writes about it today. The story about how the CNN anchor Kagan had to explain what was "supposedly" going on (allegedly under White House pressure), how Letterman denied it, etc are even funnier than the show itself. It appears that Krugman just got another small little side weapon to attack W. A quote for you:
"... And administration officials shouldn't be able to spread stories without making themselves accountable. If an administration official is willing to say something on the record, that's a story, because he pays a price if his claims are false. But if unnamed "administration officials" spread rumors about administration critics, reporters have an obligation to check the facts before giving those rumors national exposure. And there's no excuse for disseminating unchecked rumors because they come from "the White House," then denying the White House connection when the rumors prove false. That's simply giving the administration a license to smear with impunity..."