On Fox a moment ago, liberal radio talk show host Nancy Skinner said that Karl Rove “is endangering our national security” – her short-hand reference to the Wilson/Plame brouhaha.
So the left, which is always shouting: “How dare you question my patriotism!” to people who are not questioning their patriotism is now questioning the patriotism of Karl Rove and President Bush. Nice twist.
This has become the left’s new refrain and a useful one it is since the left has long been seen by many Americans as not trustworthy on national security. If Rove and by extension other Republicans can be made to seem equally bad on national security, the playing field will once again be level on this critical issue.
Bob Novak first reported that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, worked at the CIA.
David Corn first reported that she was a “top-secret operative.” He reported that based on what Wilson evidently told him about his wife’s CIA work and her cover story.
Corn also first gave voice to Wilson’s allegation that Plame was exposed by conspirators in the Bush White House as a way to punish Wilson.
In other words, their theory is that Rove or someone said: “I know how to get that bum Wilson! We’ll expose the fact that his wife is a secret agent and that will ruin her career, maybe get her killed, maybe get her children or some of her contacts killed! And no one will be the wiser because we’ll leak the information directly to reporters married to Democratic operatives! They’ll never talk – and if they do, who would believe them? Dastardly but so clever! Heh-heh!”
Now I ask you: Is that scenario really credible to anyone other than Michael Moore, the editorial staff at The Nation and the Moveon.org crowd?
The simpler and more obvious scenario is that Wilson’s claim that Cheney had sent him to Niger and then ignored his report needed to be rebutted by the truth. And the truth was that Valerie Plame, a CIA employee, arranged for Wilson to get the assignment without Cheney’s knowledge. And Cheney never saw any report — and if he had it would not have proved what Wilson claims it proved.
No doubt Rove and others would have wanted this truth to be revealed. And to be fair, if the only way to reveal it was to disclose the identity of a covert CIA agent, they should have kept their mouths shut.
But we have not seen a shred of evidence to suggest that they did know that. I guess that’s what the independent prosecutor is trying to puzzle out.
In the meantime, wouldn’t it be nifty if responsible people on the left and in the MSM would slap down those like Nancy Skinner who are questioning the patriotism of Rove and the President with their slanderous allegation that they are “endangering our national security”?