Self Defense

Michael Getler, ombudsman for the Washington Post, isn’t impressed with Josh Marshall‘s complaints about WaPo’s Joe Wilson coverage:

Almost all the readers who had complaints relied for their objections on some critical comments by Joshua Micah Marshall, an online commentator who writes the “Talking Points Memo” Web site. Another critic, of both the story and the reporter, is Wilson, who sent me a copy of a letter to The Post that appeared in Saturday’s paper.

There was one mistake in the Schmidt story, which was not central to the main points and which The Post corrected on Tuesday (more on that later). If I were the editor of this story, there are one or two places where it might have been better to use the exact words from the Senate report, or to have another sentence of background. And there was one paragraph of speculation about the possible impact of the report on the administration’s case in the investigation that, in my view and the view of critics, should have been left out.

But in general, I didn’t find the criticism of this story persuasive. The story, in my view, reflects the points, interviews and conclusions laid out in the Senate study.

Better luck next fake scandal, Josh.