[MeekOneGOP]

This story in today's Washington Post seems to indicate that Joe Wilson is a monumental liar, publicity hound and partisan hack. Truly a must-read. Spread the word.

Thanks! No doubt about it .....

Joseph C. Wilson IV has denied his wife's input.

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Wilson last year launched a public firestorm with his accusations that the administration had manipulated intelligence to build a case for war. He has said that his trip to Niger should have laid to rest any notion that Iraq sought uranium there and has said his findings were ignored by the White House.

Wilson's assertions -- both about what he found in Niger and what the Bush administration did with the information -- were undermined yesterday in a bipartisan Senate intelligence committee report.

The panel found that Wilson's report, rather than debunking intelligence about purported uranium sales to Iraq, as he has said, bolstered the case for most intelligence analysts. And contrary to Wilson's assertions and even the government's previous statements, the CIA did not tell the White House it had qualms about the reliability of the Africa intelligence that made its way into 16 fateful words in President Bush's January 2003 State of the Union address.

[Happy2BMe]

It would be interesting to know how many contacts Wilson has had with Kerry.

[Howlin]

Well, I wonder if he'll have to give this back?

• The Ron Ridenhour Award for Truth-Telling, awarded to an individual or organization that has brought an important issue to light. Winner Joseph Wilson , former ambassador to two African nations - Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe - and the senior American diplomat in Baghdad during the first Gulf War, was recognized for challenging the assertion in President Bush's State of the Union address that Iraq had sought to purchase significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Wilson investigated the charge at the request of the CIA on a trip to Niger and reported back that it was "highly unlikely." Wilson's revelation called into question the Bush Administration's truthfulness, and undermined its claim that it had ample evidence to justify an invasion of Iraq.

"Thanks to Joseph Wilson and those like him, we have access to truth instead of 'spin,' " said Fertel Foundation president Randy Fertel. "His courageous act came at a high personal cost, when this career diplomat and his wife were attacked by the conservative press. However, in the spirit of Ron Ridenhour and My Lai, the benefits of his action to foreign policy and to our democracy were great."

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My gosh, this is like shooting fish in a barrel:

Any goodwill that has come my way, and there has been an overwhelming support from Republicans who are highly indignant about this as well as some Democrats, but any goodwill accrues to my wife. Not to me. And my wife has made it very clear that—she has authorized me to say this—she would rather chop off her right arm than say anything to the press and she will not allow herself to be photographed [italics Chatterbox's]. So while I believe she would make a wonderful politician, it is tough to run a campaign if you're not talking to the press and you're not being photographed [italics Chatterbox's].

—Joseph Wilson on Meet the Press, October 5.

—Vanity Fair, January 2004 (on newsstands today). The photograph, by Jonas Karlsson, was taken Nov. 8 and "styled by" Ann Caruso. Hair, makeup, and grooming by Terri Grauel for T.H.E. Artist Agency.