It is pretty shameless.
First, talking point #1 Wilson Insisted That The Vice President’s Office Sent Him To Niger refers to all the subequent information and quotes under that heading, not just the CNN interview. In his July 6th Op-Ed with the NYT, Wilson said, " The agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president’s office.” As it turns out, the VP did not ask the CIA to conduct this inquiry. It was done at the Agency's initiative and not at the behest of the VP or his office.
CIA Director George Tenet: “In An Effort To Inquire About Certain Reports Involving Niger, CIA’s Counter-Proliferation Experts, On Their Own Initiative, Asked An Individual With Ties To The Region To Make A Visit To See What He Could Learn.” (Central Intelligence Agency, “Statement By George J. Tenet, Director Of Central Intelligence,” Press Release, 7/11/03) I am sure that Tenet's statement was in response to Wilson's July 6th NYT OP-Ed, which created the impression that the VP's office initiated the Wilson visit.
CIA Director George Tenet: “Because This Report, In Our View, Did Not Resolve Whether Iraq Was Or Was Not Seeking Uranium From Abroad, It Was Given A Normal And Wide Distribution, But We Did Not Brief It To The President, Vice-President Or Other Senior Administration Officials.” (Central Intelligence Agency, “Statement By George J. Tenet, Director Of Central Intelligence,” Press Release, 7/11/03)
Joe Wilson: “[W]hat They Did, What The Office Of The Vice President Did, And, In Fact, I Believe Now From Mr. Libby’s Statement, It Was Probably The Vice President Himself ...” (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 8/3/03)
This is an exact quote from Wilson. The implication is that the VP'office and more than likely the VP asked that the CIA to initiate a trip to Niger. Wilson goes on to say, "They asked essentially that we follow up on this report -- that the agency follow up on the report. So it was a question that went to the CIA briefer from the Office of the Vice President. The CIA, at the operational level, made a determination that the best way to answer this serious question was to send somebody out there who knew something about both the uranium business and those Niger officials that were in office at the time these reported documents were executed." This was a CYA statement made after the CIA's July 11 press releases. You can call it selective editing by the GOP, but why quote Wilson's cover-up statement?
Wilson made these statements to CNN after the CIA press releases on July 11 essentially shot down Wilson's assertions in his July 6, Op-Ed piece in the NYT. What I Didn't Find in Africa
If you read Wilson's pompous, self-promting Op-Ed, you can see what his partisan, political objective was.
"Though I did not file a written report, there should be at least four documents in United States government archives confirming my mission. The documents should include the ambassador's report of my debriefing in Niamey, a separate report written by the embassy staff, a C.I.A. report summing up my trip, and a specific answer from the agency to the office of the vice president (this may have been delivered orally). While I have not seen any of these reports, I have spent enough time in government to know that this is standard operating procedure. "
"Those are the facts surrounding my efforts. The vice president's office asked a serious question. I was asked to help formulate the answer. I did so, and I have every confidence that the answer I provided was circulated to the appropriate officials within our government." The implication is that the VP received this report or was briefed on them.
"The question now is how that answer was or was not used by our political leadership."