Reply #20: McClellan's book is a

[H2O Man]

result of his being angry that he was played for a fool on the Plame scandal. It uses the war in Iraq as a vehicle to show what the motivation was for Cheney, Libby, and Rove to attack Joseph Wilson in the manner they did.

Mr. Matthews did a few very offensive segments on the war. He also did some that were very good. So, although the record shows he was against the war when it started, it is fair to say that his reporting was inconsistent, and sometimes troubling.

Mr. Matthews reporting on the range of issues involved in the Plame scandal was the best in the corporate media. The Libby trial exposed the fact that Cheney and Libby were monitoring his show as closely as J. Edgar Hoover monitored his enemies' bedrooms. Libby and Wolfowitz called Matthews' supervisors, and Tim Russert, to complain about Matthews' reporting on the scandal. Joseph Wilson mentions Matthews calling to warn him about the call from Karl Rove on the first page in his book.

During the Libby trial, Mr. Matthews continued to focus attention on VP Cheney's role, and made clear that he believed Cheney was a co-conspirator. Mr. Matthews has also been on the record -- again, on page 1 of Wilson's book -- as saying he would confirm the things he knew "if asked." We should be pressing the people in Congress to bring Mr. Matthews in, as well as Scott McClellan. I am confident that he could provide a Congressional committee with some valuable information.