Howard Kurtz Slams Jason Leopold

It's one thing to question the veracity of a story. It's another thing to smear the person who wrote it in an attempt to destroy their credibility - which is exactly what WaPo's Howard Kurtz has done to truthout's Jason Leopold:

The claim that President Bush's top political strategist had been indicted in the CIA leak investigation was written by a journalist who has battled drug addiction and mental illness and been convicted of grand larceny. That didn't stop more than 35 reporters -- from all the major newspapers, networks and newsmagazines -- from calling Luskin or Rove's spokesman, Mark Corallo, to check it out.
[...]
Leopold acknowledges in a new book, "News Junkie," that he is a past liar, convicted felon and former alcoholic and cocaine addict. An earlier version of the book was canceled by publisher Rowman & Littlefield last year.

Whether or not the Rove indictment story is true, for Kurtz to stoop to Rovian tactics to attack Leopold in this way is nothing short of malicious.

Perhaps Kurtz forgot that his president is also a 'past liar' and 'former alcoholic and cocaine addict'. Does that, in itself, negate everything Bush says? Absolutely not. Each man ought to be judged based on actual factual evidence that would confirm or deny whether they are telling the truth in the present.

Kurtz just took the easy way out. That's not journalism. That's intellectual laziness.