Smearing the Wilsons

"The Washington power elite, like sharks, smells blood in the water. The midterms may well be a political earthquake. If the Dems take the House, investigatory committeess are suddenly going to be subpoenaing documents on the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush adminstration. Traitor Rove's and Traitor Libby's outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA agent to the press to punish Joe Wilson for blowing the whistle on the Bush administration's foreknowledge that Iraq had not brought yellowcake uranium from Niger is likely to be item number 1 on the indictment list. The recennt revelation that the first leaker to journalist Bob Novak was Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, in a book by David Corn and Michael Isikoff, is irrelevant to the facts of the case. It is possible for Armitage innocently to banter with Novak about something that Libby and Rove deliberately leaked to other reporters for more sinister reasons. Rove said that Plame was "fair game," which shows his malice.

Still, the Right (including an editor at the Washington Post) is using the revelation about Armitage to try to get Rove, Libby and Cheney off the hook. It is an illogical argument for the reason just stated.

Two responses:"
Juan Cole