"I think Mr. Wilson did a great sevice to our country by exposing the false claims made by the Bush administration during the lead up to war. I would think that conservatives would rally around someone with the courage to do just that, just as they did when Linda Tripp became a hero for her exposure of Mr. Clinton's lies. The double standard that so-called conservatives display on this forum is incredible."
The only problem with your comment is that the story Wilson shouted to the world has been documented as a lie. British Intel stands by the yellowcake story to this day and the Senate Intel committee concluded that the Wilson trip essentially supported Iraqi interest in obtaining uranium from Niger. The other night on Larry King, Bob Woodward used this information to slap down Chris Dodd, who was spouting the Wilson lie. Dodd's non-rebuttal was that it was a complex issue.
Wilson may be a hero to the Left, but in reality he is proven to be a propogandist, an opportunist, and a treasonous liar. And the Dim party, aided by the MSM, continues to perpetuate his dishonesty.
Joe Wilson is no hero and no whistleblower. He is an incompetent gasbag with delusions of grandeur. He got his wife to use her CIA connections to get him a couple of free business trips to Niger. He sold his fake story to the Kerry campaign, which retailed it to the Washington Post and the New York Times. He thought he would be the next Secretary of State and toast of the liberal cocktail party circuit. The Post and the Times bought his bogus story, because it fit their agenda (and the Times especially was frantic to cover up their own incompetence in running Judy Miller's fake stories of WMD in Iraq.)
When Bob Novak outed Wilson as a liar, the Kerry campaign had to scramble. They had to somehow restore the luster of their new hero. Then they hit on the idea of creating a new story, that the White House was trying to ruin Joe Wilson by deliberately ruining his wife's spy career. That way they could change the subject from Joe Wilson being a liar to Karl Rove trying to ruin Joe Wilson. But that wasn't true either, as we now know after a two-year investigation.
The real hero here is Bob Novak. He told the public the key fact WE HAD A RIGHT TO KNOW, namely that Joe Wilson's wife, NOT Dick Cheney, sent him on his bumbling trip to Niger. Without Novak's work, for all we know the Kerry campaign would have gotten away with their plot and Kerry would have been elected President. I hope you do not think that would have been a good outcome!
No it hasn't. In fact, many government officials have backed away from the yellowcake/Niger story, including Condaleeza Rice.