BOTH SIDES AGREE: WOODWARD IS A SHILL

Bob Woodward, the hero of Watergate and an inspiration for countless journalists since 1974, lost his soul, it was announced on Wednesday.

Under questioning from Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, Woodward acknowledged under oath that a senior administration official told him about Valerie Plame's employment at the CIA.

In an interview with Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, Woodward on Wednesday apologized to the paper's senior editor for holding back that nugget of information until last month -- about two years after the fact.

From Kurtz's fingers to your eyeballs:

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.

"I apologized because I should have told him about this much sooner," Woodward said in an interview. "I explained in detail that I was trying to protect my sources. That's Job No. 1 in a case like this. ...

"I hunkered down. I'm in the habit of keeping secrets. I didn't want anything out there that was going to get me subpoenaed."

Bravo, Bob. You laid low till the heat was off, till that pesky Fitzgerald -- and yeah yeah, he's heard the joke -- was almost finished with his case. Almost made it, too. Until somebody ratted out Big Bob and the feds came calling.

Only that's not true. Woodward didn't lay low. He dismissed the CIA leak scandal as much ado about nothing on Oct. 27. He was pushing buttons on this scandal without full disclosure -- without any disclosure, really. On Oct. 27 he denied he had any "blockbuster" to report in the next day's paper; he said he didn't even have a firecracker to offer. That turns out to be a pantload.

Woodward has managed to do the impossible and unite the fringes of America's political broadcloth. Posters at Free Republic and Democratic Underground agree that Woodward is a shill.

OK, the far right believes Woodward hates Bush and is pushing a leftist agenda. The far left thinks Woodward is a Bushbot. They are at least united in their disdain for the once-great God of Journalism, who now suffers from karma. A prosecutor asked the dreaded question: What did Bob Woodward know, and when did he know it?

We ask: Where have you gone, Bob Woodward?