Josh Marshall is way more charitable towards Karl and his ABC News “bombshell” about the Benghazi emails:
Well, “I guarantee you Karl had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach when he saw that explanation,” says Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo. The truth is, “Karl pretty clearly got burned by his source,” and then he “seriously singed himself by making it really, really look like he was looking at the emails themselves when he wasn’t.” So, who burned him?
Marshall speculates that Karl’s source was “quite likely congressional staffers who were allowed to review the emails but not make copies,” and then “took notes which were misleading, either willfully or through wishful thinking.” He adds: “I don’t know for certain these were notes from a House Republican staffer, but it’s awfully likely.”
Karl deserved to have a sinking feeling because it was entirely his fault. He’s a reporter who printed bullshit from a likely GOP congressional staffer without verifying his information. That’s reprehensible and if I was his editor, I’d at least demote him for such shoddy reporting — coupled with his repackaging of old news and his misleading description of “warnings.”