MSM: "Never mind."
Posted on 08/31/2006 10:08:00 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Edited on 09/01/2006 5:56:51 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
WE'RE RELUCTANT to return to the subject of former CIA employee Valerie Plame because of our oft-stated belief that far too much attention and debate in Washington has been devoted to her story and that of her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, over the past three years. But all those who have opined on this affair ought to take note of the not-so-surprising disclosure that the primary source of the newspaper column in which Ms. Plame's cover as an agent was purportedly blown in 2003 was former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage.
Mr. Armitage was one of the Bush administration officials who supported the invasion of Iraq only reluctantly. He was a political rival of the White House and Pentagon officials who championed the war and whom Mr. Wilson accused of twisting intelligence about Iraq and then plotting to destroy him. Unaware that Ms. Plame's identity was classified information, Mr. Armitage reportedly passed it along to columnist Robert D. Novak "in an offhand manner, virtually as gossip," according to a story this week by the Post's R. Jeffrey
Smith, who quoted a former colleague of Mr. Armitage.
It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House -- that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame's identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson -- is untrue......
Nevertheless, it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame's CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming -- falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.
Me either
MSM: "Never mind."
News to me.
What's more probable is that the WaPo can no longer deny the obvious.
See ! I knew it was all that evil Karl Rove's fault !
Wait, the WaPo just admitted that the whole thing was a lie made up by Joe Wilson? Will they apologize to the president for this?
I see they still have to get their parting shots in at Cheney and Libby, though it's nice to see Wilson finally baring the brunt of it. What goes around comes around. Wonder if Libby has any legal moves he can make on this now.
> Can't believe the Washington Post wrote that.
They are signalling the rest of the Resident Enemy Press
to drop this entire story down the memory hole, like it
never even happened.
She was not an undercover CIA agent in the field, or on the CIA's NOC list at the time of public disclosure.
I don't want to see ONE MORE FREEPER write that the MSM are dinosaurs.
It is a false claim.
Just look at what they have done to this President.
One big smear after another, this President is no longer even human to the public worldwide.
Bastards, they should be dead, why do we let them get away with destroying our troops too???????????????????????
They WILL NEVER return with honor they deserve.
Holding my breath.
A more glorious act of journalistic hypocrisy I have yet to witness.
SCOOTER PING -- BIG TIME!!!!
They weren't "reluctant" when they were pushing this bogus story, back when that FRAUD Joe Wilson was the first to claim George W. Bush purposely exxagerated the Intel reports on Iraq
Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming -- falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife.
He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.
"
It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House -- that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame's identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson -- is untrue. The partisan clamor that followed the raising of that allegation by Mr. Wilson in the summer of 2003 led to the appointment of a special prosecutor, a costly and prolonged investigation, and the indictment of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on charges of perjury. All of that might have been avoided had Mr. Armitage's identity been known three years ago."
Help me out.
I'd like to get the quotes from Democrats making the false allegations against Rove et al.
We need to make Democrats eat a big plate of crow here. They deserve it.
I had to read it twice to make sure I was reading what I thought I was reading!
Because Joe Wilson has been busted as a liar. They'll of course want to "move on" now.
I understand that Powell was a particpant in keeping quiet Armitages involvement. Nothing like having sharks in your swmming pool.
"BTT. That last paragraph was pure dynamite. Mr. Wilson will now be relegated to the likes of The Village Voice and Vanity Fair and even less reputable rags such as the NY Times. As long as he resides in a comfortably liberal city where reality is very slow to sink in he'll do just fine."
Alger Hiss was Soviet spy and a traitor to this country. To people with a brain he was discredited by Whittaker Chambers in the Hiss-Chambers case in the lat 1940s.
To Liberals he remained a hero until his death, and only when KGB fiels confirmed he was a spy for Stalin, 50 years later, did the hard-core believers relent.
Dont underestimate the liberal capacity for self-delusion.
However, there are still many falsehoods being written by WashPO in this editorial.
If the truth were to be told about this scam, John Kerry and his campaign staff have their fingerprints all over this deception of the American people by his people and the DNC enablers in the MSM
Couldn't disagree more. Like all useful liberal idiots once they have outlived their usefulness, Joe Wilson is now officially "Joe Who?" This piece cements it.
Beltway cocktail party lists are now being adjusted accordingly.
I give the Wilson-Plame marriage less than six months. It's outlived its usefulness, too.
I agree! Have Tony Snow start each presser by announcing "Karl Rove will be indited in 48 hours."
The only thing the Post is reluctant about is having to admit that it wasn't the President's staff who leaked Plame's name. But they still get in a few digs at Liddy and VP Cheney.
How many trees lost their lives for Joe and Val? How many did the WAPO cut down?
They neglected to mention Mr. Armitage's scum pal, Colin Powell. He knew, too.
Me, too. I guess the only real fact is Joe Wilson pimped his wife to sell books..
You are so right.
The bottom line, is one should not lie under oath, ever, and rarely otherwise, unless a "white" lie. That is hard core wiring with me. I don't give much slack to liars. That is something I have learned over time. Just tell the truth, and let it all hang out. It does a body good.
If they had the capacity for SHAME, they would become hermits. However, we can expect another op-ed in the NYT from Joe any day now.
Armitage, Powell, and Fitzgerald are still silent about their own perfidy.
Who said he lied? Fitzgerald, who knew from the beginning exactly WHO "outed" Valerie Plame?
I hope they do go forward with their case. I need something to enterain myself with next winter.
maybe this will be the end of plame's book deal
Yes and that Fitzgerald knew this back then as well. I really hope Libby and others affected can somehow get their legal costs reimbursed, their bills must be dreadful.
It will certainly be a howler. Nothing worse than to be laughed AT.
And I'm waiting to hear of the sanctions that the Washington Post is going to take against their reporters who falsely reported aspects of this story and fanned the flames... I'm waiting... I'm still waiting... Still waiting...
And that's why they buried the lead in the last graph. This story is a classic example of telling the truth in a way that won't attract the attention of an average reader who scans the headline and maybe the first 2 or 3 graphs.
Hmm...you might be right. If their civil suit doesn't get any traction John and Vanna may well be relegated to "non-person" status within The Party. Wait, that wasn't right - Jerry and Veronica? Jack and Victoria? Throw me a bone here...
If the case was to go forward.... Richard Holbrook will need to stock up on "Depends". Because he is the one who had the most to gain if John "Do You Know Who I am" Kerry won in 2004
Scooter was deposed, and allegedly lied about what he said to three reporters, per their testimony. That is the prosecutor's case - nothing more, nothing less.
After signaling that "we just need to move on", proceeded to bury the story on A20.
Hell froze over?!?!?
I wonder...has anyone told Fidel to pack his ice skates?!?
And Scooter and his attorneys beg to differ.
I'll wait.
Good idea.
All I can say is this sucks big time
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