Unbelievable!...and indefensible.
Hitchens is truly good to have unearthed this stuff. I never imagined it would turn out this way. I always thought Wilson's report, confirming those of our amabassador to Niger and the General the CIA also sent, was ok...and the Bush administration was responsible for bringing Plame's name into this...and that it was mistaken for doing so.
I'm curious, has this episode changed your perceptions of your side of the aisle's and the medias motives at all?
Kudos for an open mind. Your statement confirms my belief that some liberals are worth saving...
But...
I always thought Wilson's report, confirming those of our amabassador to Niger and the General the CIA also sent, was ok...and the Bush administration was responsible for bringing Plame's name into this...and that it was mistaken for doing so.
...jeez, I always thought you were smarter than that...!!!
liberallarry: Unbelievable!...and indefensible.
Indefensible, yes. Unbelievable? Hardly, from my POV.You say later that more free speech is the only answer, and you are absolutely correct. But I emphasize that "more speech" cannot mean louder speech by the same people who already have the biggest microphones.
What is actually required is less credulity for the big talkers. If someone tells me that they are objective, I sometimes reflexively sucker for the con. I admit it, I was raised that way. The way I intend to react to that sort of claim is to ask, "Oh yeah?? What other lie are you gonna try to sell me?"
And what I like about FR is the fact that if I don't ask the hard questions someone else generally will. The motto of FR should be Adam Smith's dictum:
It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity, and they very seldom teach it enough. - Adam Smith
You really thought that the Bush administration (I assume you mean the President and/or VP or at least with their knowlege) has the desire to spend valuable time playing these sorts of low political games when they are trying to wage war on an enemy hell-bent on destroying us?? All the while being attacked here at home by the Party of the Criminally Insane and their media shills?
I never once thought that was the case and fully expected it to turn out as it has. Except for actually naming Armitage (and there was certainly speculation of him being the leaker) Freepers and the conservative blogosphere debunked Wilson's lies and the PlameNameGame literally just a couple of weeks after the story broke.