Republican Leaders Love the Press

CHATTY Libby, Wolff (inset)

The press corps has spent the last six years convinced that it is held in the highest contempt by the Republicans running the country. But was it all a misunderstanding?

Writing about the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vanity Fair's Michael Wolff maintains that it was a right-wing bias that got him in trouble—but not the kind you're thinking of.

"The one constant I've observed, in 27 years as an on-again, off-again political reporter, is that Republicans return reporters' calls and Democrats don't," claims Wolff. "To a great extent, this is what got Scooter Libby into trouble, calling back The New York Times's Judy Miller and Time's Matt Cooper."