I reject your reality and substitute my own
The headline was made famous by Adam Savage of the Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters" show after he was informed that one of his predictions for the outcome of an experiment was woefully inaccurate.
The editors of the New York Times seem to have taken Savage's attitude to heart when it comes to the former ambassador Joseph Wilson and the gigantic nothing that was dubbed "Plamegate."
For three years, Washington has been periodically consumed with the question of who unmasked a covert C.I.A. agent to the columnist Robert Novak. It has been a huge distraction for the White House, resulted in the unjustified jailing of one reporter, and led to perjury charges against the vice president’s chief of staff. Last week, it was reported that Richard Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, was the first to mention Valerie Wilson to Mr. Novak, and that the federal prosecutor knew this more than two and a half years ago.
The revelation tells us something important. But, unfortunately, it is not the answer to the central question in the investigation — whether there was an organized attempt by the White House to use Mrs. Wilson to discredit or punish her husband, Joseph Wilson. A former diplomat, Mr. Wilson debunked the claim that Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium from Niger to make nuclear weapons.
Will someone send the Times editorial writers a copy of the report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on pre-war intelligence that found that not only had Wilson not debunked President Bush's infamous sixteen words, but that he had in fact confirmed them.
Reality-based community my ...
But let's also revisit what the "central question" in the investigation was. Contrary to the Times, the central question wasn't whether there was an organized attempt by the White House to prove that Joseph Wilson was a liar. Instead, it was who revealed Valerie Plame's identity and whether that act violated federal law.
Fitzgerald knew the answer to the first question on his first day on the job. The second question should've been answered before his first week was out.
This whole investigation is a joke. What's not funny is that Fitzgerald hasn't closed up shop yet.
For more, check out Maguire.
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I read that Fitzgerald found out that it was Armitage very early on - and told him to keep quiet and not tell anyone about it.
Now, isn't this obstruction of justice? Imagine, for a moment, that Ken Starr knew early on that there was no crime in the Lewinsky investigation - yet told certain people to keep quiet while he investigated and eventually nabbed Clinton for perjury. Can you imagine the outcry? Carville and his minions would be pushing for an indictment of Starr. They would have mocked him the press.
Oh, wait...they DID mock him in the press, and call him every name in the book, hindering his investigation. Notice that none of that was done to Fitzgerald.
What needs to be done now is that the Department of Justice should shut down Fitzgerald's witch hunt, fire him from his position, and open a grand jury whether or not he committed a crime.
And Bush needs to pardon Scooter Libby. Now.