PING PING PING!! Everyone, be sure to listen to the 1:47 min. tape posted by CNN. The Armitage/Woodward conversation of June 13, 2003 is incredible! ..... and just what a number of us have posted about these past 3+ years, that informed people were just sitting around shaking their heads about what a bozo Joe Wilson is, what a crock the whole "send Joe to Niger" mission was, and how Joe was calling "everyone" according to Armitage pushing his tall tales (remember, this is a MONTH before the Novak column!!).
http://www.strata-sphere.com/blog/ But Armitage goes further and explains HOW everyone knew. Woodward repeats back incredulously “Everyone knew”? and Armitage provides the hard evidence of who was talking about Plame” .. because Joe Wilson has been calling everybody! He’s pissed off ’cause he’s looked at as some low level guy…”. I predicted long ago, and again just prior to the trial, it would come out that Joe and Valerie were both sources for Kristof and others. Armitage is not saying ‘everyone knows’ who Joe Wilson is (though they did). He is saying “everyone knows” who Plamne is because Wilson was calling everybody and spilling the beans on his wife! It is quite clear what Armitage is saying, and what I am betting he will testify too.
I have maintained the reason Fitz could not charge anyone with exposing Plame was because Plame had exposed herself (or Wilson had) to back up Joe’s wild claims about forged evidence. Seems I was right. Clearly Armitage is saying everyone is finding out about Plame because of Joe’s calls. Now Mitchell and Russert must be sweating right along with Fitz-Magoo. I wonder if Wilson called more than Grossman. We know by Wilson’s own admission he was calling the State Department. Wonder if he got hold of Armitage? Did Wilson blab to Armitage?
Update: Make that pretty much a given that Armitage heard about Plame from Wilson (or Grossman). As we know Wilson called Grossman right before the Woodward meeting with Armitage (June 8-9th). So what Armitage is saying is only a few short days after these calls and he confirms HE KNOWS it was Wilson blabbing about Plame. Now with a transcript we can see Armitage admits personal knowledge (H/T Atlas Shrugs):
2:15 WOODWARD: But it was Joe Wilson who was sent by
2:16 the agency. I mean that’s just —
2:17 ARMITAGE: His wife works in the agency.
2:18 WOODWARD: — Why doesn’t that come out? Why does —
2:19 ARMITAGE: Everyone knows it.
2:20 WOODWARD: —that have to be a big secret?
2:21 Everyone knows.
2:22 ARMITAGE: Yeah. And I know [ ] Joe Wilson’s
2:23 been calling everybody. He’s pissed off because he was
2:24 designated as a low-level guy, went out to look at it. So,
2:25 he’s all pissed off.
3:1 WOODWARD: But why would they send him?
3:2 ARMITAGE: Because his wife’s a [ ]
3 3:23 3:2 Woodward & Amitage Interview -