Ed Morrissey caught an amazing interview on CNN today with Wolf Blitzer interviewing Gary Bauer. Ed find’s it amazing that Wolf is so clueless. I don’t find it amazing since every single person at that network is a few braincells short of a full deck. What I found amazing is the that Gary Bauer was allowed to give a point of view that differ’s big time from the moonbats at CNN:
BLITZER: But even if there were no criminal — if there was nothing criminal about the release of the Valerie Plame, was it appropriate for senior officials in the Bush — Bush White House, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, to be talking about Joe Wilson’s wife instead of simply arguing with him over the merits of the case.
BAUER: Well, Joe Wilson’s wife — they have their own political agenda, which I think is fairly obvious as we have watched this unfold in recent months…
BLITZER: Well, we don’t know what her agenda was, if any. We know what Joe Wilson’s political views were. He wrote about them in the New York Times.
BAUER: But one of the things we may find out, however, as this unfolds and the trial is held and so forth, is what some of the agendas were of everybody involved…
BLITZER: But do you feel comfortable, do you feel comfortable with the very narrow issue of — for example, some people that have problems with you, and they say, well, let’s go to his — let’s see what his wife is up to, and we’ll try to drag her into this?
BAUER: But, Wolf, in this case, his wife allegedly played a role in sending him on a mission that ended up in a very real way being used to undermine the president’s desires in foreign policy areas…
BLITZER: So you don’t have a problem dragging her into this?
BAUER: Well, I would have trouble attacking somebody’s spouse if that spouse had nothing to do with the controversy. I’m arguing that in fact she did have something to do with the controversy. Look, this is a tough city…
BLITZER: I’m going to move on to Harriet Miers…
BAUER: Sure.
BLITZER: … and the Supreme Court. So even if no criminal law was broken, the fact that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby spoke about Valerie Plame with reporters, that’s O.K. as far as you’re concerned?
Ed then goes on to detail the REAL facts in the case such as Plame recommending her husband for the job:
Some CPD officials could not recall how the office decided to contact the former ambassador, however, interviews and documents provided to the Committee indicate that his wife, a CPD employee, suggested his name for the trip. The CPD reports officer told Committee staff that the former ambassador’s wife “offered up his name” and a memorandum to the Deputy Chief of the CPD on February 12, 2002, from the former ambassador’s wife says, “my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.” This was just one day before CPD sent a cable DELETED requesting concurrence with CPD’s idea to send the former ambassador to Niger and requesting any additional information from the foreign government service on their uranium reports. The former ambassador’s wife told Committee staff that when CPD decided it would like to send the former ambassador to Niger, she approached her husband on behalf of the CIA and told him “there’s this crazy report” on a purported deal for Niger to sell uranium to Iraq.
But of course the left will continue to ignore the fact that this whole thing was an attempt by some rogue agents in the CIA to bring down this President. Instead they print their belief’s as if they are fact. Case in point is this recent article by Jonathan Alter for Newsweek: (h/t The Anchoress)
But Fitzgerald was wrong on one count, at least metaphorically. “This indictment is not about the war,” he said. Oh, yes, it is.
[…]Why were top White House officials and Vice President Cheney so concerned about an obscure former diplomat like Wilson? Because he had the temerity to offer public dissent. By showing how evidence of Saddam’s WMDs had been cooked, Wilson undermined the very reason Augie Schroeder and the rest of the U.S. military went to war.
[…]The good news about the president’s bad week is that even his conservative backers are no longer willing to keep quiet when they think he’s wrong. And Fitzgerald was so impressive that the normal White House response?to savage the critic?was not an option this time. So Karl Rove survives, but the fear he stoked is easing. Four years after September 11, we’re beginning to get our democracy back.
I’m just dumbfounded that there are human beings walking this planet that are this freakin dumb. “By showing how evidence of Saddam’s WMDS had been cooked”? Hmmm:
[Wilson’s] intelligence report indicated that former Nigerien Prime Minister Ibrahim Mayaki was unaware of any contracts that had been signed between Niger and any rogue states for the sale of yellowcake while he was Prime Minister (1997-1999) or Foreign Minister (1996-1997). Mayaki said that if there had been any such contract during his tenure, he would have been aware of it. Mayaki said, however, that in June 1999,(REDACTED) businessman, approached him and insisted that Mayaki meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss “expanding commercial relations” between Niger and Iraq. The intelligence report said that Mayaki interpreted “expanding commercial relations” to mean that the delegation wanted to discuss uranium yellowcake sales. The intelligence report also said that “although the meeting took place, Mayaki let the matter drop due to the UN sanctions on Iraq.”
At least the lefties are always good for a laugh.
I?m just dumbfounded that there are human beings walking this planet that are this freakin dumb.
See author page
“dhamma” is obviously ignorant of the facts. Long before Wilson ever went to Niger, he issued a political diatribe castigating the White House for their policies. It had all the requisite lefty talking points, so to claim he was “neutral” is simply false.
Furthermore, the issue of whether or not Iraq sought uranium from Africa (not just Niger) was germane to the discussion of WMD. Wilson’s trip CONFIRMED Iraqi attempts to obtain uranium, yet Wilson published several bald-faced lies about his trip precisely because he wanted to “prove” Bush was lying.
The “cabal”, as you call it, had a deal with Saddam to send him into exile, just prior to the war. It collapsed when the Arab League wouldn’t go along with it. So much for your misleading the public to get into an unneccesary war. Had the Arab League not nixed the deal, there never would have been a war.
What would you bitch about then?
I find it utterly reprehensible that you would rather deal with a side issue–one about the character of Joseph Wilson and his wife’s role in his going to Africa–rather than look at the merits of what is the heart of this whole affair. That of course is the deception perpetrated by the Bush administration–and its cabal–to get America into a war. Regardless of Wilson’s politics (which at best were neutral before he became shocked by the deceipt about yellow cake put forth by the White House), the fact remains that the Bush administration willfully misled the American people to get us in this fiasco that is Iraq. To gloss over or simply ignore what this is really about shows you as being the one who will use whatever means possible to support your position, even if it means ignoring the elephant in the room that even many pundits on the Right can smell stinking up our democratic system.
“Instead they print their beliefs as if they are fact.”
I’m more cynical than you on this. I don’t think they even believe what they put out is factual. If it supports their liberal agenda, true or false, they go with it.
reverse_vampyr
Tag this
Looks like I’ve been tagged. So to pay it forward, here are a few of the blogs I’ve been reading recently (I read all the blogs in my blogroll shown at the right, but these are a few selects):