Plamegate - How Wrong Could The Media Get?

Sweetness & Light ^ | September 4, 2006 | N/A

[Sam Hill]

From the researchers at GOP.com:

FLASHBACK: Wilson Claimed He Was The Victim Of An Organized Smear Campaign:

Joe Wilson: "[T]he smear campaign ... was being undertaken by the Republican National Committee and this administration's right wing allies." (CNN's "Larry King Live," 11/1/05)

• Wilson: "Obviously, there's been this orchestrated campaign, this smear campaign. I happen to think that it's because the RNC, the Republican National Committee's been involved in this in a big way ..." (CNN's "Late Edition," 7/18/04)

• Wilson: "[T]here have been a number of articles written attacking me. ... I've since learned from a couple of different reporters that White House sources have been telling [them] the story is Wilson and his wife... It's a breach of national security. My understanding is it may, in fact, be a violation of American law." (NBC's "Today Show," 7/22/03)

• Wilson: "It's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words." (Timothy Noah, "Did Rove Blow A Spook's Cover?" Slate, 9/16/03)

FLASHBACK: Democrats Have Hailed Wilson As A Hero Of The Left:

On The Eve Of His Lawsuit Announcement, Joe Wilson Attended Senate Democrats' Policy Luncheon. Fox News' Brit Hume: "Plame [was] seen ... with her husband Joe Wilson arriving for a policy luncheon with Senate Democrats today." (Fox News' "Special Report," 7/13/06)

• Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): "It was you [Nutroots] who defended Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson against Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove." (Sen. Harry Reid, Remarks At YearlyKos Convention, Las Vegas, NV, 6/10/06)

• Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY): "I am pleased to be here today with Ambassador Joe Wilson ... his wife, an undercover CIA employee, was exposed for what appeared to be political motivations. ... [Joe Wilson] has served his country, has - and his wife as well - have risked themselves in many ways for this country. And it was they who had politics played upon them, not the other way around." (Sen. Charles Schumer, Press Conference, 7/14/05)

• Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA): "Joe Wilson is here my pal! ... [Joe] you deserve the thanks of a nation and instead of that they went after your family and it is despicable and cowardly and I'm so proud of you." (Sen. Barbara Boxer, Remarks At The Yearly Kos Convention, Las Vegas, NV, 6/9/06)

Joe Wilson Attended Fundraisers For Democrat Parties, Candidates, And Causes. "Joseph Wilson ... will headline two DFL Party fundraisers in the Twin Cities ... and has made numerous appearances in recent years on behalf of Democratic candidates and causes ..." (Conrad Defiebre "Lightning Rod On Iraq War To Headline Two DFL Fundraisers," [Minneapolis, MN] Star Tribune, 12/7/05)

Some more samples of the opinings of our betters, adapted from a post byYaYa123 at Free Republic:

"This is one of the most reckless and nasty things I’ve seen in all my years of government," Schumer said. "Leaking the name of a CIA agent is tantamount to putting a gun to that agent’s head. It compromises her safety and the safety of her loved ones, not to mention those in her network and other operatives she may have dealt with. On top of that, the officials who have done it may have also seriously jeopardized the national security of this nation." -- SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER

"Interest emerged again following the September 30, 2005, grand jury testimony by Judith Miller, released from jail the day before... As the CIA leak investigation heads toward its expected conclusion this month, it has become increasingly clear that two of the most powerful men in the Bush administration" -- Karl Rove and I. Lewis Scooter Libby-- were more involved in the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame than the White House originally indicated... -- JIM VANDEHEI and WALTER PINCUS

"Sparked by today's Washington Post story that suggests Vice President Cheney's office is involved in the Plame-CIA spy link investigation, government officials and advisers passed around rumors that the vice president might step aside and that President Bush would elevate Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice... The rumor spread so fast that some Republicans by late morning were already drawing up reasons why Rice couldn't get the job or run for president in 2008..." -- PAUL BEDARD

"How far up the White House food chain does the rot of treason go? 'Bush has always known how to keep Rove in his place,' wrote Time in 2002 about a 'symbiotic relationship' that dates to 1973. This isn't some rogue 'plumbers' operation [ like Watergate ]. Rove would never go it alone on a high-stakes action like Valerie Plame. It's a safe bet that other, higher-ranking figures in the Bush cabal--almost certainly Dick Cheney and possibly Bush himself--signed off before Rove called Novak. For the sake of national security, those involved should be removed from office at once." -- TED RALL

"'Definitely a political problem but I wonder, George Will, do you think it’s a manageable one for the White House especially if we don’t know whether Fitzgerald is going to write a report or have indictments but if he is able to show as a source close to this told me this week, that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions.' "This would explain why Bush spent more than an hour answering questions from special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. It would also fundamentally change the dynamics of the scandal. President Bush could no longer claim he was merely a bystander who wants to 'get to the bottom of it.'" -- GEORGE STEPHANOPOLIS

"It is about the president of the United States. It is about a plot that was hatched at the top of the administration and in which everyone else, Mr. Rove included, are at most secondary players." -- FRANK RICH

And this woefully typical piece from the (self-styled) elite publication Vanity Fair:

All Roads Lead to Rove

By MICHAEL WOLFF

The revelation that Karl Rove was Time's "double super secret" source for the outing of C.I.A. operative Valerie Plame started the unfolding of a much bigger story: what the White House did to sell the Iraq war. And the greatest irony of Rovegate? That the press was part of the cover-up...

Excerpted because of Vanity Fair content. Read the rest at Sweetness & Light.

[Sam Hill]

Where are all these Solons now?

And why do any of them still have jobs?

[Sam Hill]

More Plame blame.

[MaestroLC]

How Wrong Could The Media Get?

Give them time....

[Clara Lou]

The media doesn't care if it's right or wrong, factually or morally.

[onedoug]

How can they ever get anything right?

[P-40]

They don't need to be right. They just need to get viewers so they can sell ad time.

[God luvs America]

bump...you should call your senators and ask them for a public apology...I will be calling schiester tomorrow...

[Wristpin]

Yep...This story is no different than C-BS' behavior with the fake Natioal Guard memos. Heads should be rolling. Probably why they are trying not to cover it.

[tje]

The media doesn't care if it's right or wrong, factually or morally.

This is the truth! Their prime objective is to sell newspapers, magazines, and ad time.

[gunnedah]

The MSM has been a Democrat operative for years and no matter how low their circulation gets that wont stop. Hollywood,the MSM,the ABA,Organized Labor,the NEA and government are fronts for the Democrats and are bringing this country to its knees.The rest of working America supports these do nothing liberals.

[gunnedah]

The MSM has been a Democrat operative for years and no matter how low their circulation gets that wont stop. Hollywood,the MSM,the ABA,Organized Labor,the NEA and government are fronts for the Democrats and are bringing this country to its knees.The rest of working America supports these do nothing liberals.

[Personal Responsibility]

How Wrong Could The Media Get?

Neville Chamberlain levels of wrong don't begin to approach the level to which the media can get things wrong.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

You assume the media got in wrong by making a mistake. Trust me, most people in the media knew it was Richard Armitage who let slip Valerie Plame being Joe Wilson's wife and that she worked at the CIA. And they knew Colin Powell knew, but they wanted to damage President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, and as many others as possible.

[Sam Hill]

"You assume the media got in wrong by making a mistake."

I assume no such thing.

I was being highly ironic.

[Lancey Howard]

"Office lady, waiting to be free.
Now watch the hero man with his delivery."

"I want my W B."

[Grampa Dave]

The leftwing, maggot infected mediots are not capable of reporting the news.

They try to make their pro Islamofascist wet dreams and Hate GW agendas appear to be news. This is just another example that blew up on them.

Fauxnews is all they are capable of.

[Lancey Howard]

You are correct. The scumbags knew all along about Armitage but the mystery is how they could have thought that Armitage would not eventually be exposed. For one thing, they knew that Novak knew. That's the part that makes no sense.

[RedRover]

You could add the odious Maureen Dowd to the list who said that all anyone needed to know about Plamegate was "Dick Cheney".

[martin_fierro]