1) Joe Wilson is an "asshole" [well..., we already knew that].
2) And he is a liar [something we also knew] An offhand comment by Richard Armitage was the source of the leak. It was not a deliberately planted leak by the administration as alleged by Wilson.Novak entered the normally quiet green room only to see Joe Wilson (whom he didn't know) boasting about his fact-finding mission to Niger, where he found no evidence that Saddam Hussein was hunting for uranium like the president claimed about in his State of the Union address.
"He kept saying, 'We did this' and 'We did that.' The 'we,' I soon surmised, consisted of the National Security Council staff in the departed Clinton administration. He was making clear that 'we' handled affairs better than 'they'--the Bush NSC--did now. In view of what followed, I hope I can be excused for the vulgarism that crossed my mind: 'What an asshole!'"
3) David Corn of the Nation fabricated the notion that the administration was using Novak as a conduit for leaks.
4) Timothy Phelps of Newsday originated and left-wing journalists endlessly repeated the false accusation that Novak had said in an interview that his sources had come to him with the information on Plame. Novak never said any such thing.
5) The Washington Post published false allegations that the administration had been "shopping around" the Plame story and that they claimed her to be "fair game" because of Wilson's attacks.
There's more. Read the Whispers account here.
So, left-wing writers and publications cooked up false allegations regarding Novak and the administration and these lies eventually were picked up by respectable organs like the WaPo, being accepted as common wisdom in the Washington journalistic community.
Once more, after the damage has been done, to the President, to the nation, and to innocent individuals, we learn that it was yet another pack of lefty lies. These creeps will literally say or do anything to damage this administration. Oh well, anything for "the cause."
Faugh!
