Tuesday, Nov 8, 2005

Today's Grapevine is basically a series of Republican talking points. Not much worth commenting, really. Perhaps the most ridiculous item in them is that Brit Hume keeps beating the dead "Valerie Plame's employment was a subject of Washington dinner conversation" talking point. Today, Hume claims that he has irrefutable proof that Joseph Wilson revealed his wife's secret, Superhero identity long before Robert Novak ignored the CIAs pleas and published it in his column. And to whom, pray tell, did Wilson reveal his wife's dirty little secret? Wouldn't you know it would just happen to be a Fox News analyst on Rupert Murdoch's payroll?

Retired Army General and FOX News contributor Paul Vallely says he knew former ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife Valerie Plame was a CIA agent long before she was outed in a newspaper column in 2003 because Wilson told him so. Vallely says Wilson volunteered the information in at least three separate conversations while both men were waiting to appear on FOX News programs during the fall of 2002.

Yeah, it's a laughable story on the face of it.

That said, it's even easier to discount Vallely's claims once we track them down to their source: this article in the right-wing propaganda outlet Worldnet Daily.

Some choice quotations from the piece make it pretty clear just how "objective" and "detached" this guy really is:

Vallely told WND that, in his opinion, it became clear over the course of several conversations that Wilson had his own agenda, as the ambassador's analysis of the war and its surrounding politics strayed from reality.

"He was a total self promoter," Vallely said. "I don't know if it was out of insecurity, to make him feel important, but he's created so much turmoil, he needs to be investigated and put under oath."
...
Vallely said, citing CIA colleagues, that in addition to his conversations with Wilson, the ambassador was proud to introduce Plame at cocktail parties and other social events around Washington as his CIA wife.

Hi, I'm Joseph Wilson, and this is my CIA wife!

Ridiculous. It's embarrasing that conservatives actually buy this stuff.