Somebody explain how Wilson's party affiliation matters.

[FlashHarry]

I seriously don't get it. Why is GOP chairman Gillespie even bringing it up? Somebody in the government leaked the name of a CIA covert operative to Bob Novak. That's a fact. It's in print.

The fact that Wilson has donated to Democrats and works with John Kerry has no bearing on this. The only possible explanation of this red herring is that the GOP is intimating that Wilson's party affiliation somehow justifies this criminal act, which is totally reprehensible.

[Stephanie]

1. I think they are trying to intimate that he got his wife to get him sent

to Niger because he secretly wanted to sabotage the PNAC war agenda. I think that's what they're trying to imply. Never mind that everything that he said has proven to be true and everything Bush said has proven to be a lie.

[opiate69]

2. I've been going 'round and 'round

With some wing-nuts all weekend about this, and I honestly can't tell you. It's like you said.. somehow his party justifies it, or makes the "allegation" of the outing seem suspicious, even though we know it's fact. I swear, trying to understand the mind of the freeper will lead to an aynurism.

[Loyal]

3. it doesn't matter

FlashHarry, repeat after me:

I will not pay attention to right wing spin.

I will not pay attention to right wing spin.

I will not pay attention to right wing spin.

You'll be fine. :hi:

[FlashHarry]

5. LOL! I try... I really try.

I just can't believe they're even trying that one. It seems so, well, weak.

[soothsayer]

4. I see it the other way. It PROVES that WH did it, out of rivalry

Or at least gives more evidence of a motive for the repukes in the WH

[DrBB]

6. It is utterly irrelevant and a typical attempt at distraction

Keep yellling about the one thing you can latch on to to try and deflect attention from what's actually going on.

It is not relevant. The case is being brought by the CIA about the leaking of the identity of one of their agents. Wilson did not instigate that investigation, nor did he (obviously) leak the information. It is utterly irrelvant whether he is a liar or truthful or an alien dressed in a man-suit. He just happens to be married to the person whose identity was leaked.

[FlashHarry]

7. Has Wilson (or anyone else) said this?

I haven't seen it yet. I figured that Joe Conason, at the very least, would be all over this red herring.

[Ediacara]

8. Wasn't Wilson the author

of a NYT article very critical of the Bush administration concerning the Nigerois Uranium data?

That's why Gillespie is making a big deal out of it... to paint Wilson as a partison Dem trying to bring Bush down.

BUT, you're right, it doesn't matter anymore since Gillespie's party has outed an undercover CIA agent in a petty act of revenge.

[FlashHarry]

12. Wilson could have burned an effigy of Bush on Penn. Ave

and that still wouldn't justify what happened.

[Ediacara]

13. I am with you 100%

I am just trying to unravel their "logic" just like you.

[jburton]

9. Don't you get it?

All Democrats are soft on security, love Saddam, and hate America!

:eyes:

on edit: oh yeah, and he probably is a French appeaser!

Lets Roll!

:eyes:

[roguevalley]

10. it doesn't. However, flinging irrelevancies worked in the past

and they are too dumb to change.

[uberotto]

11. IT'S SOOO SIMPLE...

And if you aren't simple minded enough to understand why it matters, well then you need to start considering joining a new party, because the repuglican party doesn't need troublemakers like you.

[Stephanie]

14. I just have to post this somewhere - Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg in Salon

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/03/ellsberg/index.html

If the leaker really was someone high up in the administration, what do you think is going on in the White House now? Is the dynamic of a scandal like this something they can control?

I think we can predict from past experience what's going on in the White House. First, there's the realization that they have one of these daily or weekly crises. There may be a growing sense -- but here I may be a little ahead of them -- that this one has real possibilities for bringing them down. Part of that is because the administration has said that the president knows of no one in the White House being involved. That is almost surely a lie, and it's a lie that is now entangled in a legal process. The FBI is going to be asking who knew what when. McClellan says the president knows that Rove has no involvement. That statement is going to be declared inoperative. At the very least, Rove was clearly involved in calling people up and saying Valerie Plame is fair game.

They have already made statements they are going to have to reverse. It is not going to end up that there was no White House involvement. One leak, even of an undercover agent, is not going to look like an impeachable offense, but the lies and obstruction of justice going on now, that stuff is going to come out, and that stuff is going to look impeachable. I can see just how this is going to go down now that there's a legal process as there was in Watergate.


<big snip>And they could get away this time. They can cover up anything with enough help from the Congress, enough help from the media and enough apathy from the public.

But if guys like Sens. John McCain and Chuck Hagel , if they want to hold hearings, we could move ahead. In that case, this leak could turn out to be very good. It could bring down a terrible administration. If Rove made that leak, it would be the best thing he ever did for the country, given that he got caught.

[FlashHarry]

15. Good stuff. I'll kick it for ya

:kick: