Joe Wilson Outed Valerie Plame, according to Jeff Gannon

[Bethany Rockafella]

http://www.jeffgannon.com/archives/2005/07/joe_wilson_oute.html#comments

Democrats and their operatives in the mainstream media are breathlessly reporting that White House political advisor Karl Rove leaked the identity of Valerie Plame, allegedly a covert agent for the Central Intelligence Agency. Her name and ties to the intelligence agency became public after her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, made allegations that the Bush administration exaggerated claims that Saddam Hussein sought to acquire “yellowcake” uranium from Africa.

But the e-mails between Time magazine White House correspondent Matthew Cooper and his bureau chief Michael Duffy that mysteriously found their way into the hands of “rival” publication Newsweek only indicate that Rove had a conversation with the reporter about Wilson and never mentioned his wife’s name. Cooper wrote that Rove tried to steer him away from Wilson’s assertions because his conclusions might have been inaccurate. He also said that neither CIA Director George Tenet nor Vice President Dick Cheney sent Wilson on any mission. Instead, he suggested it was "Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on issues who authorized the trip.”

This clearly indicates that Rove did not engage in the “smear campaign” that Wilson has alleged. Just saying that the ambassador’s wife worked for the CIA is not an outing and doesn’t demonstrate that Rove was aware that she might be a secret agent. The agency has thousands of employees, with only a small percentage of them having a covert status. The question still remains whether Plame was covert at the time Rove spoke with Cooper.

If anyone is responsible for Plame’s outing, it is Wilson himself. Not content to express his opinion within the diplomatic, military or intelligence communities after his inconclusive report was dismissed, he went public. His scathing, op-ed for the New York Times was an overt political act that put him in the spotlight he craved, but also called attention to those around him. As was repeated in Gannongate, controversial figures come under intense professional and personal scrutiny. It now seems clear that Wilson was willing to sacrifice his wife’s career to gain the notoriety he sought.


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Jeff is taking up for his buddy Karl Rove I see.

[seemslikeadream]

1. butt buddy that is!

[sabra]

2. JimmyJeff is going down (no pun intended)

he has implications in the Plame case...

[ewagner]

3. That's a stretch

even for Gannon/Guckert/Bulldog.......

[bryant69]

4. "Never mentioned his wife's name"

Here's one spin they will use to protect Rove.

"Hey did you know that Joe Wilson's Wife is a CIA Operative?" Notice how there was no mention of Joe Wilson's Wife's Name. But also note how easy it would be to get the name from somewhere else.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[bookman]

8. Reminds of an excuse..

..my junior high students would make.

[johannes1984]

he's got his back

[RetroLounge]

9. Yeah, bare back

RL

[johannes1984]

14. cudos to that

[bushisanidiot]

5. AWOL Bush took the love cuffs off of "Jeffie baby" long enough to let him

type?

i'm surprised jeffie has time to do anything other than keeping his boy george grinning.

[fooj]

23. LMAO!

Thanks for the giggle...:hi:

peace.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. Do you have a credible source?

Why waste bandwidth disseminating crap from this political hack?

[Mandate My Ass]

7. except two others made the same exact report Wilson did

The Bush-appointed ambassador to Niger and a 4-star general. All three reports were dismissed because they didn't contain what Bushco wanted to hear. Only Wilson suffered consequences because only Wilson had the courage to call them on their more blatant lies.

The only fact, and I use the term reluctantly, that Gannon got right is that Wilson's op-ed put him in the spotlight. Karl Rove's spiteful laserbeam spotlight.

[auburngrad82]

10. The six people who read his blog will agree with Gannon

His mom and dad and maybe 4 of his hooker friends.

[stellanoir]

11. Jeff Gannon ace reporter strikes again !!!

Anyone who has ever heard Joe Wilson's totally justifiable rage over the outing and endangerment of his wife knows this couldn't be further from the truth.

[dogday]

12. Shame on Joe Wilson for telling the truth

if only he had not gone public, this administration would not of had to do payback on him. It is Joe's fault I see that clearly now...

[Toots]

13. Okay let's take Rove at his word

First off how did he know Wilson's wife worked at the CIA if she was a Covert agent? How did he know she was the one (if indeed she was) that sent Wilson on the fact finding mission. Rove had no special clearance of any sort. Does he know the positions of other Covert Agents without knowing their names? How did he know even enough to tie Plame and Wilson together. How did he know??????? He suggests he thought she was just some low level desk jockey. If that were the case how did she have authority to send her husband on a highly important fact finding mission. How?????? Every time Rove or his lawyer open their mouth more questions arise. If I can have these questions why shouldn't a Prosecuter have some also?

[cascadiance]

15. Trying to avoid testifying about your night time "chats" with Karl, huh?

Jeff, sooner or later you and Rove will have to "face the music"!

[Zen Democrat]

16. He says she was working on "issues" and leaves out "WMD issues"

Interesting how these RW thugs just drop definitive adjectives to assist in deceiving their sheeple. And, he didn't mention that Karl Rove told Chris Matthews that "Wilson's wife is fair game." Does that sound like the comment of a guy who was "unknowing"????

Rove is going DOWN!!!

[Yavin4]

17. LAY OFF GANNON!!!

He's just protecting his boyfriend, Karl Rove!

[Hugin]

18. Yeah, a good "john" is hard to find.

I would imagine finding a "bottom" these days is
doubly difficult.

[drm604]

19. An excellent example of the spin they are starting to use for this.

His use of language appears to me to be very deliberate and calculated, and it shows that Gannon/Guckert is still getting direction from the spin generators (or, at the very least, is copying people who are). If you learn to spot these kinds of techniques you'll spot the spin much more easily.

Democrats and their operatives

Ooh... "operatives"! Makes it sound so clandestine and dishonest doesn't it? Of course, Gannon should look in the mirror before calling others "operatives".

breathlessly reporting

This implies that "Democrats and their operatives" are so breathlessly excited by this chance to attack Rove that they're acting precipitously without forethought and therefore their reporting can't be trusted.

allegedly a covert agent

They love to use the word "allegedly" to cast doubt with out actually stating that doubt outright. That way if someone calls them on it later they can always say they never claimed she wasn't covert.

never mentioned his wife’s name

Just saying that the ambassador’s wife worked for the CIA is not an outing

It's not an outing only if you assume that reporters would have difficulty in determining the name of Wilson's wife. :crazy:

The last paragraph is nothing but unsubstantiated accusation. This is the first time that I've seen or heard anyone accusing Wilson himself of being guilty in the outing. (Does anyone know of any other such statements?) I think that we're going to start seeing this particular "opinion" a lot.

[impeachthescoundrel]

20. Sent him an email

I simply couldn't resist.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

21. Isn't that talking point about a week old?

Sheesh, Gannon. Get with the times!

[Touchdown]

22. Jeff Gannon is nowhere near 8 inches, according to his pics.

So there!:eyes: