Woodward enters the Plamegate fray

Out of the blue we now have Bob "Deep Throat" Woodward entering the Plame game. Apparently an administration source came forward earlier this month and tipped Fitzgerald that he'd given Woodward a scoop about Plame sometime in mid June 2003. Woodward was subsequently deposed, but has signed a confidentiality agreement with his source that precludes him naming names. Rove's people say it's not him. Wonder whom?

Interestingly, Woodward spoke to Scooter Libby in June 2003 while doing research for his book "Plan of Attack". Woodward had questions written down regards Plame, Wilson and yellowcake, but he doesn't remember asking them. Speaking of amnesua, it was alleged that Woodward tipped off fellow WaPo reporter Walter Pincus about Plame's role in Wilson's little escapade, yet Pincus can't rememeber any such thing.

This is getting stranger and stranger.

UPDATE 11/16

Is Woodward going to be tarred as another Judith Miller? Perhaps. Matter of fact, the follow-up Post apology column already broaches it:

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.

There does seem to be a strange symbiotic connection between the two. Both are (were) known as veteran journalists with reputations for being on top of high-profile stories through the years. Both had recently done a lot of work with Bush administration officials, Miller for her book "Germs" as well as numerous WMD articles published in the Times, and Woodward for his two behind the scenes books about Bush's run to the WoT and Iraq.

Woodward's stall tactic certainly kept him out of the Grand Jury room, and he was allowed to limit his testimony to just the conversations he had with the Bush officials. Miller had to go to jail for 85 days to make sure her testimony was similarly limited.

The expert bloggers are all over this, as left and right dance around claiming bizarro victories of some sort. But truthfully, The crux of the matter is why Miller and Woodward would be so afraid of sitting before a unfettered Fitzgerald, lobbing questions in all directions. Was it really just to defend the age-old reporter-confidential source relationship, or something a tad more important?