WILSON: Well, look, it's absolutely true that neither the vice president nor Dr. Rice nor even George Tenet knew that I was traveling to Niger.

What they did, what the office of the vice president did, and, in fact, I believe now from Mr. Libby's statement, it was probably the vice president himself...

BLITZER: Scooter Libby is the chief of staff for the vice president.

WILSON: Scooter Libby.

They asked essentially that we follow up on this report -- that the agency follow up on the report. So it was a question that went to the CIA briefer from the Office of the Vice President. The CIA, at the operational level, made a determination that the best way to answer this serious question was to send somebody out there who knew something about both the uranium business and those Niger officials that were in office at the time these reported documents were executed.

Another Republican scam conveniently swept under the rug, eh Wookie?

As for the talking points thing: Of course you didn't get the metaphorical memo. (I linked to it a couple posts ago, though. This is its cache.) The memo goes to Republican talking heads, who repeat the talking points ad nauseum on talk shows and place them prominently in the Limbaugh Letter or whatever, which filters down to you, who repeats them here. Some guy with a job like Rove's had the brilliant insight that people respond best to short statements hammered away at incessantly. Now Republican shills stay simple and stay on message, while Democratic shills are not nearly so catchy.

This is disturbing and heralds the death of our democracy.

"If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is," the president told reporters back then. "And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of."

Hell, I heard today that Plame used her cover name and company to donate $1000 to Gore in 1999.

I don't see how this can be inferred as firing someone for leaking information.

The Past Does Not Exist. It Has Never Existed.
Posted by matt on July 18th, 2005 at 9:45 am
Scotty knows this:

White House press briefing 10/10/03:

Q: Scott, earlier this week you told us that neither Karl Rove, Elliot Abrams nor Lewis Libby disclosed any classified information with regard to the leak. I wondered if you could tell us more specifically whether any of them told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA?

MR. McCLELLAN: Those individuals — I talked — I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that’s where it stands.

Washington Post 7/18/05:

In a conversation that same day, Rove told Time magazine’s Matthew Cooper that Wilson’s wife was in the CIA and authorized the mission to Niger; but he did not use her name. Afterwards, Rove e-mailed then-deputy national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley to tell him he had waved Cooper off Wilson’s claim.

A day later, Cheney’s top aide, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, told Cooper he had heard the same thing about Plame, and a senior administration official flagged the role of Wilson’s wife, almost in passing, to The Washington Post’s Walter Pincus.

Telling a journalist = “not involved”?

The President too:

George W. Bush 6/10/04:

Q Given — given recent developments in the CIA leak case, particularly Vice President Cheney’s discussions with the investigators, do you still stand by what you said several months ago, a suggestion that it might be difficult to identify anybody who leaked the agent’s name?

THE PRESIDENT: That’s up to –

Q And, and, do you stand by your pledge to fire anyone found to have done so?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

George W. Bush 7/18/05:

“I would like this to end as quickly as possible. If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration.”

Sleight of hand at it’s finest.

McCLELLAN: The president has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration.
...
Q: You continue to talk about the severity of this and if anyone has any information they should go forward to the Justice Department. But can you tell us, since it's so severe, would someone or a group of persons, lose their job in the White House?
McCLELLAN: At a minimum.
Q: At a minimum?
McCLELLAN: At a minimum.

Dear God, my eyes!

By the way, I still can't decide if you're a troll or just a partisan. Congratulations either way. You walk that fine line.

.
From the White House

I totally agree. It's like he has partisan blinders on. Anything that would taint his party in the least it's like he doesn't even see it.

That or he's a troll.