It seems to me we need to know if that is true, or if it is yet another example of his "excess of zeal" when discussing this story.
Someone also needs to write an op-ed regarding the eerily similar "excess of zeal" displayed by the Washington Post. Their coverage of this has been in lockstep with Wilson's wild claims. A (backpedaling) bicycle built for two? I need to go back and reread, but did they every openly cite Wilson as a source of claims in the Sunday story, or did they try (by ommission) to imply independent verification?
Now does that make any sense at all? I will bet dollars to donuts that here is what really happened:
1. Novak writes his story. He called his contacts. They didn't call him.
2. Other reporters pick up on the Novak story and start calling their White House and Administration sources.
3. These sources agree that Wilson was playing politics and he got the Niger job because of his wife.
4. Wilson then morphs this into the "White House was calling them" comment as if Novak has launched a WH PR campaign to get the message out to a bunch of reporters.
Someone should ask Wilson to clarify that statement: Did the WH call the reporters or just respond to their questions by affirming that they agreed with Novak's assessment that Wilson was politically motivated and got the job through his wife. Fox should put it to him. CNN never will.