Valerie Plame’s Husband
By Montag | Related entries in MediaSo far I have tried to avoid posting about this story, dubbed “Turdgate” by the Rude Pundit, because I’m just tired of it. Nonetheless, the headline of this article caught my eye. Reuters: CIA agent’s husband says Rove pushed Plame story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The husband of a CIA agent whose identity was exposed during the fierce debate over the Iraq war accused the White House on Thursday of being involved in a giant “cover-up” involving top aide Karl Rove.
Perhaps I am reading too much into the headline — after all, Wilson is mentioned by name later on in the story — but could this be the reporter’s way of illustrating that it is possible to “identify” someone without actually using their name? (I know, I know, this argument is so three days ago.)
Maybe it’s a means of separating Wilson and his tainted goods [scroll down to the heading "Special reportâ€â€?That virus keeps spreading!"] from what should be a focus on whether a crime was committed in the revelation of Plame’s identity.
In any case, I found it interesting that after being bombarded for days and days with Rove-Plame-Wilson, Rove-Plame-Wilson, all of a sudden Wilson became “CIA agent’s husband.”
I’ll go back to trying to avoid this topic now.
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July 15th, 2005 at 11:12 am
Personally (and cynically and uncharitably), I thought it was an attempt by the reporter (perhaps the editor) to hide Wilson’s identity from those who merely peruse headlines and first paragraphs. Heck, if I had to use as a source someone who had, rather short-sightedly, titled his book “The Politics Of Truth” and was later shown to have lied himself, I’d certainly want to hide that identity as long as possible. Better to identify Rove first, and have his presence overshadow whoever it is coming next.
And we are dealing with Reuters here. Their track record ain’t exactly pristine.
But I’ll freely admit that I’m cynical…unfortunately for journalism, so is a good portion of the country.
July 15th, 2005 at 11:52 am
Austin, cyncism is welcome. There’s a whole lot of it going around these days. What’s shocking is how my cyncism surrounds Joe Wilson. Sure, he’s a Dem, but he didn’t out a CIA agent, and yet I see a bunch of commenters on this site attacking him as the real villain. And I can’t help but wonder if you all are just following the talking points meeted out by the RNC a few days ago. I certainly hope not.
This is a site where people are encouraged to think for themselves. Leave the talking points behind and join us in the politics of cooperation.
July 15th, 2005 at 12:35 pm
I can’t help but wonder if you all are just following the talking points meeted out by the RNC a few days ago. I certainly hope not.
There are new ones?! Nuts. I’ve got to have words with my superiors - I’m still working on the points from last year!
More seriously, this has become one of my favorite weblogs to visit, and I’m glad to see the openness to varying points of view. As for this issue (and then I’ll leave it alone), I was burned early on by the viciousness of attack arrayed against the President and his administration (full disclosure: I voted for them twice), so my knee-jerk reaction (admittedly a shortcoming I have) is going to be in their favor, and thus, evidence that those in opposition have lied (and would likely continue to do so) tends to stick in my mind.
In all honesty, I can’t get too excited here. If there was a genuine revelation that actually blew an actively undercover CIA agent’s cover for the scoring of political points, then yes, that would anger me greatly, regardless of party, and I would clamor for justice to be done. But as of now, I remain unconvinced: too many minute points of legal bickering, too many axe-grinders jumping on bandwagons, the revving of the “demonize Rove” engines…it’s tiresome.
And on that note, I’ll follow Montag back out this topic’s front door. Ooh - Callimachus has etymology!
July 15th, 2005 at 1:50 pm
Take a look at my new post where Wilson addresses all the charges. Keep in mind that this guy was one of the last men out of Iraq before the Gulf War. This is no partisan hack.
October 3rd, 2005 at 8:53 am
[...] I’ve been trying to avoid this topic but here it is again. At this point I suppose it’s still hearsay, but George Stephanopolous said this about the Plame case yesterday: “…a source close to [the investigation] told me this week that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions.” — Bush, Cheney Part of Plame Leak? [...]
May 19th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
The partisan comments from Repiglicans are quite amusing. Repiglican type extremists have hidden behind the “national security curtain” since 1875 to help justify anything and everything illegal. “National Security” could be considered the main carrying timber to their sometimes ludicrous platform. It’s fascinating watching card carrying repiglican party members try to reconcile their administration’s attempts to burn this carrying timber to a crisp in its quest to justify invasion of another country. If ever there was a prime example of high treason - you have it in the Bush administration’s quest to engage in an unjustified war with false evidence and a half ass attempt at discrediting members of our intelligence community. How pathetic.