Mark Steyn: How a serial liar suckered Dems and the media

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 07/18/04 | Mark Steyn

[Pokey78]

Well, the week went pretty much as I predicted seven days ago:

BUSH LIED!! Not.

BLAIR LIED!!! Not.

But it turns out JOE WILSON LIED! PEOPLE DIED. Of embarrassment mostly. At least I'm assuming that's why the New York Times, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, PBS drone Bill Moyers and all the other media bigwigs Joseph C. Wilson IV suckered have fallen silent on the subject of the white knight of integrity they've previously given the hold-the-front-page treatment, too.

And what about John F. Kerry? Joe Wilson campaigned with Kerry in at least six states, and claims to have helped with the candidate's speeches. He was said to be a senior foreign policy adviser to the senator. As of Friday, Wilson's Web site, restorehonesty.com, was still wholly paid for by Kerry's presidential campaign.

Heigh-ho. It would be nice to hear his media boosters howling en masse, "Say it ain't so, Joe!" But Joe Wilson's already slipping down the old media memory hole. He served his purpose -- he damaged Bush, he tainted the liberation of Iraq -- and yes, by the time you read this the Kerry campaign may well have pulled the plug on his Web site, and Salon magazine's luxury cruise will probably have to find another headline speaker, and he won't be doing Tim Russert again any time soon. But what matters to the media and to Senator Kerry is that he helped the cause of (to quote his book title) The Politics Of Truth, and if it takes a serial liar to do that, so be it.

But before he gets lowered in his yellowcake overcoat into the Niger River, let's pause to consider: What do Joe Wilson's lies mean? And what does it say about the Democrats and the media that so many high-ranking figures took him at his word?

First, contrary to what Wilson wrote in the New York Times, Saddam Hussein was trying to acquire uranium from Niger. In support of that proposition are a Senate report in Washington, Lord Butler's report in London, MI6, French intelligence, other European agencies -- and, as we now know, the CIA report, based on Joe Wilson's original briefing to them. Against that proposition is Joe Wilson's revised version of events for the Times.

This isn't difficult. In 1999, a senior Iraqi "trade" delegation went to Niger. Uranium accounts for 75 percent of Niger's exports. The rest is goats, cowpeas and onions. So who sends senior trade missions to Niger? Maybe Saddam dispatched his Baathist big shots all the way to the dusty capital of Niamy because he had a sudden yen for goat and onion stew with a side order of black-eyed peas, and Major Wanke, the then-president, had offered him a great three-for-one deal.

But that's not what Joe Wilson found. Major Wanke's prime minister, among others, told Ambassador Wilson that he believed Iraq wanted yellowcake. And Ambassador Wilson told the CIA. And the CIA's report agreed with the British and the Europeans that "Iraq was attempting to procure uranium from Africa."

In his ludicrously vain memoir The Politics Of Truth, Wilson plays up his knowledge of the country. He makes much of his intimacy with Wanke and gives himself the credit for ridding Niger of the Wanke regime. The question then is why a man who knew so much about what was going on chose deliberately to misrepresent it to all his media/ Democrat buddies, not to mention to the American people. For a book called The Politics Of Truth, it's remarkably short of it. On page 2, Wilson says of his trip to Niger: "I had found nothing to substantiate the rumors." But he had.

That's what lying is, by the way: intentional deceit, not unreliable intelligence. And I'm not usually the sort to bandy the liar-liar-pants-on-fire charge beloved by so many in our politics today, but I'll make an exception in the case of Wilson, who's never been shy about the term. He called Bush a "liar" and he called Cheney a "lying sonofabitch," on stage at a John Kerry rally in Iowa.

Saddam wanted yellowcake for one reason: to strike at his neighbors in the region, and beyond that at Britain, America and his other enemies. In other words, he wanted the uranium in order to kill you.

The obvious explanation for Wilson's deceit about what he found in Africa is that his hatred of Bush outweighed everything else. Or as the novelist and Internet maestro Roger L. Simon put it, "He is a deeply evil human being willing to lie and obfuscate for temporary political gain about a homicidal dictator's search for weapons-grade uranium."

Technically, it's weaponizable uranium, not "weapons grade." But that's the point. Simon isn't the expert, and, as Ambassador Wilson trumpets loudly and often, he is. This isn't a case of another Michael Moore, court buffoon to the Senate Democrats, or Whoopi Goldberg, has-been potty-mouth to John Kerry. They're in show biz; what do they know?

But Wilson does know; he went there, he talked to officials, and he lied about America's national security in order to be the anti-Bush crowd's Playmate of the Month. Either he's profoundly wicked or he's as deranged as that woman on the Paris Metro last week who falsely claimed to have been the victim of an anti-Semitic attack. The Paris crazy was unmasked within a few days, but the Niger crazy was lionized for a full year.

Some of us are on record as dismissing Wilson in the first bloom of his unmerited celebrity. But John Kerry was taken in -- to the point where he signed him up as an adviser and underwrote his Web site. What does that reveal about Mister Nuance and his superb judgment? He claims to be able to rebuild America's relationships with France, and to have excellent buddy-to-buddy relations with French political leaders. Yet anyone who's spent 10 minutes in Europe this last year knows that virtually every government there believes Iraq was trying to get uranium from Africa. Is Kerry so uncurious about America's national security he can't pick up the phone to his Paris pals and get the scoop firsthand? For all his claims to be Monsieur Sophisticate, there's something hicky and parochial in his embrace of an obvious nutcake for passing partisan advantage.

Any Democrats and media types who are in the early stages of yellowcake fever and can still think clearly enough not to want dirty nukes going off in Seattle or Houston -- or even Vancouver or Rotterdam or Amman -- need to consider seriously the wild ride Yellowcake Joe took them on. An ambassador, in Sir Henry Wootton's famous dictum, is a good man sent abroad to lie for his country. This ambassador came home to lie to his. And the Dems and the media helped him do it.

[Gritty]

I wonder "when" and even "if" the American public is going to get fed up with the perfidy of the Democrats and news media?

So far, I don't see a lot of hopeful signs. I think the clinton years innoculated much of the public to accept evil in high places as the normal fare.

[Hacksaw]

The PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE CEO is also a big Kerry supporter.

[demkicker]

The media controls what is aired. And morning shows are recorded. That is why they air at different times in different cities. If someone says something the media doesn't like they don't air it.

They don't attack like Democrats because the media won't air it!!!!

I'm sick of that excuse. The President has the bully pulpit. All he has to do is call a press conference to refute the lies and the media hounds will all come a runnin'. Bush is almost paralized when it comes to communicating the truth to the many democrat lies and if he's not careful, it may well cost him the election. I keep waiting for some OFFENSE, but I'm getting weary that it'll ever happen.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

"According to C-SPAN this morning, Yellowcake Joe is scheduled to be on Wolf Blitzer's Late Edition tomorrow (Sunday). Should/could be interesting."

Wrongo, as I type Wolfy is opening all escape hatches, laid glow in the dark yellowcake tape on the floor to same so Joe can navigate in total darkness.

CNN & the other alphabets made Joe W., they must now extract him from his dilemma and rehabilitate hiss sorry lying arse.

Naught will come of this except a media whore & democRAT Blitz to confirm original lie and hammer Bush further.

[spodefly]

Non-excerpted BTTT

[Gothmog]

Here is something I noticed from David Corn's defense of Wilson in The Nation, 7/16/04:

http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=1558

"What Wilson told his CIA contacts, what he told reporters, what he said in public--accurate or not--did not justify disclosing Valerie Wilson's identity. Nor did it justify the subsequent White House effort to encourage other reporters to pursue the Valerie Wilson story. The leak was thuggish and possibly felonious. And the Wilsons and others are waiting to see what comes from Fitzgerald's investigation. (NBC News reported recently that the probe had expanded to examine possible acts of perjury and lying to investigators.) There is no telling if the investigation will end with indictments or whitewashing. It has been a mostly leak-free probe, and even senior people at the Justice Department say they have no idea where Fitzgerald is heading--if anywhere."

Hopefully the expansion of the investigation into lying and perjury means the FBI is pursuing Wilson, but I think that's just wishful thinking.

[88keys]

You could use "too" and "to"...

"At least I'm assuming that's why the New York Times, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, PBS drone Bill Moyers and all the other media bigwigs Joseph C. Wilson IV suckered have fallen silent [ too ] on the subject of the white knight of integrity they've previously given the hold-the-front-page treatment [ to ].

LOL! Otherwise, I think the "too" in the original sentence refers to having "fallen silent", as bitt says...it's a rather unwieldy sentence, but it works for me! Steyn's great!! ;)

[Darnright]

Bump

[DaiHuy]

Ok let me get this straight. Joe Wilson lied, almost every major player in the media condoned it without checking the validity of his assertions. Now he is found out, and all those same media players are mum on the issue.

Now on the other hand we have moveon.org trying to sue Fox News for using the terms "fair and balanced" because they tend to lean to the right, even though you actually do get two sides of an issue, and the news is not a Kerry love-fest.

What does not add up here? Are the leftists just losing their minds?

[Tall_Texan]

Nice slam, Mark. Worthy indignation.

[Tall_Texan]

I think Wilson should be prosecuted for TREASON. He intentionally aided and abetted the enemy in a time of war. Perjury isn't good enough.

He should be tried for treason and, if found guilty, executed.

[RottiBiz]

Wow!!!!

Enthusiastic Steyn bump!

[arbee4bush]

Stunning Steyn Ping

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

...by the time you read this the Kerry campaign may well have pulled the plug on his Web site...

It's still up so far.

[maica]

...with the hullabaloo over the forged Italian documents,
^^^


The same documents that Joe Wilson claims to have seen 8 months before they were available to him? How DID he know they were a forgery? Inquiring minds have been thinking abut this for a long time!!

I would LOVE to see this scumbag doing a perp walk someday.

[Eva]

My guess is that ALL of Joe Wilson's claims in that NYT article were scripted by Chris Lehane.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Ruth A.]

Some of us are on record as dismissing Wilson in the first bloom of his unmerited celebrity. But John Kerry was taken in -- to the point where he signed him up as an adviser and underwrote his Web site. What does that reveal about Mister Nuance and his superb judgment? He claims to be able to rebuild America's relationships with France, and to have excellent buddy-to-buddy relations with French political leaders. Yet anyone who's spent 10 minutes in Europe this last year knows that virtually every government there believes Iraq was trying to get uranium from Africa. Is Kerry so uncurious about America's national security he can't pick up the phone to his Paris pals and get the scoop firsthand? For all his claims to be Monsieur Sophisticate, there's something hicky and parochial in his embrace of an obvious nutcake for passing partisan advantage.

The killer paragraph. Go, Steyn!

[maica]

Chris Lehane is the truly despicable character who was behind getting the "DUI" history of President Bush out to the public 4 days before the election.

[Let's Roll]

And that is what it comes down to in the end.

We must elect people of integrity so that when they are attacked 24/7 the way GWB has been, we can say/think with assurance that the attackers are the liars, it just may take awhile for it to come out.

But people are apathetic, they allow people like Clinton, McAwful,Teddy etc. to have power and then run around frantically trying to plug the hole in the dyke with "solutions" like campaign finance reform which only makes corruption more likely.