SCANDAL IMPLOSION (Rove/Cooper/Wilson)

NY Post ^ | July 12, 2005 | John Podhoretz

[Howlin]

I WROTE a column on Oct. 10, 2003, about the strange case of Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame.

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...I offered my speculation of what an administration official might have said to a journalist to explain just how Wilson — a Clinton administration official — got the assignment in the first place: "Administration official: 'We didn't send him there. Cheney's office asked CIA to get more information. CIA picked Wilson . . . Look, I hear his wife's in the CIA. He's got nothing to do. She wanted to throw him a bone.' "

Hate to say I told you so, but . . .

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There's no mistaking the purpose of this conversation between Cooper and Rove. It wasn't intended to discredit, defame or injure Wilson's wife. It was intended to throw cold water on the import, seriousness and supposedly high level of Wilson's findings.

While some may differ on the fairness of discrediting Joseph Wilson, it sure isn't any kind of crime.

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So if the offense wasn't against Plame, what of the offense against Wilson? There was no offense. As many of Joe Wilson's own hottest defenders would no doubt argue in relation to President Bush, exposing a liar is not only not a crime, it's a public service.

And Wilson lied. Repeatedly.

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What isn't controversial is this: Karl Rove didn't "out" Valerie Plame as a CIA agent to intimidate Joe Wilson. He was dismissing Joe Wilson as a low-level has-been hack to whom nobody should pay attention. He was right then, and if he said it today, he'd still be right.

And if Valerie wants to live a quiet spy life, she should stop having her picture taken by society photographers and stop getting stories written about her on the front page of the Times.

[Howlin]

So why – with a special prosecutor now threatening to toss Time magazine's Matthew Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller in jail if they don't give up their sources in the Plame case – aren't their lawyers invoking the "no laws were broken" defense?

Explains the National Review's Rich Lowry: The Miller-Cooper defense hasn't made this argument because it would be too embarrassing to admit that the Bush administration's "crime of the century" wasn't really a crime at all, especially after a year and a half of media chest-beating to the contrary.

"It was just a Washington flap played for all it was worth by the same news organizations now about to watch their employees go to prison over it," says Lowry.

"That's the truth that the media will go to any length to avoid."


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1348716/posts

[Txsleuth]

Thanks for the ping---

Boy, do I want to get into this and post, but, I have my 5 month old granddaughter for the night, and she is jealous of the computer....lol

But, I will be reading...

[cmsgop]

Hi, I'm Mandy, Look Out Angelina !!!!!

[Howlin]

I know this is tacky, but the first thing that came into my mind when I look at that is

*HONK*

[Howlin]

This one ought to put you right over the edge:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1441468/posts

[cmsgop]

More from DU..

Shakespeare (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-12-05 06:04 PM Response to Reply #22 42. No, it's Matt Cooper being Matt Cooper (I know the guy)

Matt used to do stand up at DC's Improv, if that gives you some idea. He's a good guy (and a funny guy), and that was an informal office email to his editor. Those are Matt's words with matt being funny to reinforce how "deep" the source was.

[cmsgop]

The first thing that comes to my mind is RUN !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eva]

Yes, Wilson met with Chris Lehane in May, according to Wilson's own statements regarding when he started working as an adviser to the Kerry campaign.

Yes, the NYT called for an end to the investigation at one point when Miller was being pressured to reveal her sources. The NYT claimed that there was no point to continue the investigation, now that it was apparent that no crime had been committed.

[John Lenin]

Rove has the RATS looking like fools once again and we have a member of the NYT journalist staff in the slammer for what looks like a long time !

[eddie willers]

Whoa!....hey, how'd I get dropped from your ping list?

This one's hot!

[nopardons]

Lowery is just brilliant, isn't he? I love to read his articles.

[nopardons]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...........................

[Eva]

What, you don't believe it?

[nopardons]

Of course I believe it! If I didn't, I would has posted "HUNH?" instead of the "hmmmmmmmmmmmmm"; which means that you connected a lot of dots.

[Eva]

Yeah, I think that I have it about right. I have been following this pretty closely. Chris Lehane is the center piece that everyone is overlooking.

[nopardons]

Yes, I bet he is and YOU are the ONLY one who managed to find that missing piece to the puzzle. BRAVA!

[WoodstockCat]

get a good laugh, John Dean coming up on CNN to hawk his "Worse than Watergate" drivel...

[Howlin]

Look! You're still on MY list, bud!

[EverOnward]

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