Woodward, woodward...

I'm in no state to decaf... but I guess I'll try.

This is a shame. His career really began when he worked as the journalist looking for the truth in the institution. Now, we all know that he's become too entrentched inside that establishment to see clearly. But even then, this is still disheartening:

Bob Woodward apologized today to The Washington Post's executive editor for failing to tell him for more than two years that a senior Bush administration official had told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame, even as an investigation of those leaks mushroomed into a national scandal.

Woodward, an assistant managing editor and best-selling author, said he told Leonard Downie Jr. that he held back the information because he was worried about being subpoenaed by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel in the case [...]

The abrupt revelation that Woodward has been sitting on information about the Plame controversy has reignited questions about his unique relationship with The Post while writing books with unparalleled access to high-level officials, and about why Woodward minimized the importance of the Fitzgerald probe in television and radio interviews while hiding his own involvement in the matter.

The disclosure has already prompted critics to compare Woodward to Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter who left the paper last week--after serving 85 days in jail in the Plame case--amid questions about her lone-ranger style and why she had not told her editors sooner about her involvement in the matter. Miller discussed Plame with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was Vice President Cheney's chief of staff and has now been indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. Woodward said he testified that Libby did not discuss Plame with him.

See, even during Watergate, Ben Bradlee knew what was going on. It almost seems that Woodward was TOO GOOD to answer to anybody higher than him. Yes, he's a legendary journalist, but that should only make us expect more from him, not serve as a justification for his actions.