Is rebuilding Iraq worth spending $87 billion?
The political leak from the White House has all the elements of a classic Washington scandal, playing perfectly into the game plan of the compulsive Bush-hating Democratic hacks who thirst for political blood. And this is not to mention their willing accomplices in the national media who will gladly do the Democrats’ dirty work and exploit what is essentially a non-story. There is just one thing standing in the way – the truth.
Allow me to concede that members of the Bush Administration did incidentally leak Valerie Plame’s identity. This is about the only fact the media has reported accurately in the story. Indeed, they are now in full scandal mode, asking us to believe the wild allegation that Plame’s identity was leaked as a means of political retribution against her husband, Joseph Wilson – an outspoken critic of Bush foreign policy.
Unfortunately for those seeking Bush’s downfall, this claim is completely fictitious, as evidenced by the fact that the story is now on life-support and lacking enough factual basis for serious media attention. Thankfully, columnist Bob Novak, the man at the center of the supposed scandal, has restored the truth to this debate. The media would have us believe that Novak was chosen as a pawn for a planned political leak and attack against Wilson. On the contrary, we now know Novak initiated a conversation with a White House official during which the identity of Wilson’s wife came across in an “offhand revelation.” Novak vehemently rejects the media’s conspiracy theory that he was a key player in a deliberate smear campaign, calling it “simply untrue.”
If anyone is politically motivated, it is Wilson. This man has on more then one occasion voiced his disgust for the White House and sworn vengeance against chief presidential advisor Karl Rove, once stating that he wanted him “frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs.” Still, even Wilson, in a brief stint with integrity, mildly rejected the idea that Rove and the White House intentionally leaked his wife’s name, saying he “made up the Rove allegation out of thin air.” Given Wilson’s obviously fabricated malicious comments and his partisan background, is there any doubt that his credibility is in crisis and should be severely questioned?
In addition, the Democrats’ selective outrage and blatant hypocrisy regarding political leaks is on full display here. Where was the Democratic outrage when the Clinton defense department illegally leaked Linda Tripp’s Pentagon file to a New York columnist? What about when the White House tried to discredit Clinton sexual assault victim Kathleen Wiley by leaking her personal correspondences to the national press (an act later deemed a criminal violation by a U.S. District Court Judge)? The list goes on and on. In fact, the Democrats were deathly silent during these scurrilous episodes, dismissing Republican condemnations as baseless political attacks.
The leak fiasco is just the latest manifestation of the Democratic smear machine. As with the previous political attacks launched against this White House, the American people will reject this story, which will be regarded as the fraud it most certainly is. And Bush’s presidency will be all the stronger.
-The writer, a freshman majoring in political science, is a Hatchet columnist.
