Though Bush publicly denounced the leak, an unnamed Republican aide on Capitol Hill told the New York Times that the underlying White House strategy was to "slime and defend," that is to "slime" Wilson and "defend" Bush. [NYT, Oct. 2, 2003]
The "slime and defend" strategy has been carried forward by conservative news outlets with the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times attacking Wilson's motives, even as Wilson's debunking of the Niger allegations has been borne out by other investigations.
"Joseph C. Wilson IV, the man accusing the White House of a vendetta against his wife, is an ex-diplomat turned Democratic partisan," declared a front-page article in the Washington Times. "Mr. Wilson told the Washington Post he and his wife are already discussing who will play them in the movie." [Washington Times, Oct. 2, 2003]
The Washington Times returned to its anti-Wilson campaign several days later. "As for Mr. Wilson himself, his hatred of Mr. Bush's policies borders on the pathological," wrote Washington Times columnist Donald Lambro on Oct. 6, 2003. "This is a far-left Democrat who has been relentlessly bashing the president's Iraq war policies. " The mystery behind this dubious investigation is why this Bush-hater was chosen for so sensitive a mission."
The Wall Street Journal also raised questions about Wilson's motives. "Joe Wilson (Ms. Plame's husband) has made no secret of his broad disagreement with Bush policy since outing himself with an op-ed," the Journal wrote in a lead editorial on Oct. 3, 2003.
Strangely, these attacks on Wilson's alleged bias (which he denies) continued even as Bush's hand-picked Iraqi weapons inspector David Kay was confirming Wilson's findings. In his report to the CIA and Congress, Kay acknowledged that no evidence has been found to support the stories about Iraq seeking African uranium.
"To date we have not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material," Kay said.
The disconnect between fact and spin apparently has grown so complete among Bush's allies that they can't stop attacking Wilson's findings as biased even when the facts he uncovered are being confirmed by one of Bush's own investigators.
The clumsy attempt to discredit or punish Wilson eventually led to disclosures that Bush's chief political adviser Karl Rove and Cheney's chief of staff Lewis Libby took part in revealing Plame's identity to reporters. In 2005, Libby was indicted on charges of obstructing justice and lying to investigators about the leak. Rove apparently remains under investigation.
'Freedom Fries'
But the attacks on Wilson do not stand alone. In the drive to limit debate about Bush's case for war, his allies ostracized virtually all major critics of the administration's WMD claims, including the U.N.'s chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter.
Blacklisting campaigns also were mounted against celebrities, such as actor Sean Penn and the music group Dixie Chicks, for criticizing Bush's rush to war. When France urged more time for U.N. weapons inspections, Bush's supporters organized boycotts of French products, poured French wine in gutters and renamed "French fries" as "Freedom Fries."
As with the Wilson case, Bush and his supporters didn't let the failure to find the alleged trigger-ready WMD stop their efforts to discredit these critics. Instead of apologies, for instance, Ritter continued to suffer from conservative smears about his patriotism.
In one particularly smarmy performance on June 12, 2003, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly teamed up with Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., to air suspicions that Ritter had been bribed by the Iraqis to help them cover up their illegal weapons. Neither O'Reilly nor Pence had any evidence that Ritter accepted a bribe, so they framed the segment as a demand that the FBI investigate Ritter with the purported goal of clearing him of any suspicion of treason.
The segment noted that a London newspaper reporter had found Iraqi documents showing that Ritter had been offered some gold as gifts for his family. "I turned down the gifts and reported it to the FBI when I came back," Ritter said in an interview with Fox News.
Though Ritter's statement stood uncontradicted, O'Reilly and Pence demanded that the FBI disclose what it knew about Ritter's denial. "Now, we want to know whether that was true," said O'Reilly about whether Ritter had reported the alleged bribe. "The FBI wouldn't tell us." O'Reilly then asked Pence what he had done to get the FBI to investigate Ritter.
The "slime and defend" strategy has been carried forward by conservative news outlets with the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times attacking Wilson's motives, even as Wilson's debunking of the Niger allegations has been borne out by other investigations.
"Joseph C. Wilson IV, the man accusing the White House of a vendetta against his wife, is an ex-diplomat turned Democratic partisan," declared a front-page article in the Washington Times. "Mr. Wilson told the Washington Post he and his wife are already discussing who will play them in the movie." [Washington Times, Oct. 2, 2003]
The Washington Times returned to its anti-Wilson campaign several days later. "As for Mr. Wilson himself, his hatred of Mr. Bush's policies borders on the pathological," wrote Washington Times columnist Donald Lambro on Oct. 6, 2003. "This is a far-left Democrat who has been relentlessly bashing the president's Iraq war policies. " The mystery behind this dubious investigation is why this Bush-hater was chosen for so sensitive a mission."
Strangely, these attacks on Wilson's alleged bias (which he denies) continued even as Bush's hand-picked Iraqi weapons inspector David Kay was confirming Wilson's findings. In his report to the CIA and Congress, Kay acknowledged that no evidence has been found to support the stories about Iraq seeking African uranium.
"To date we have not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material," Kay said.
The disconnect between fact and spin apparently has grown so complete among Bush's allies that they can't stop attacking Wilson's findings as biased even when the facts he uncovered are being confirmed by one of Bush's own investigators.
The clumsy attempt to discredit or punish Wilson eventually led to disclosures that Bush's chief political adviser Karl Rove and Cheney's chief of staff Lewis Libby took part in revealing Plame's identity to reporters. In 2005, Libby was indicted on charges of obstructing justice and lying to investigators about the leak. Rove apparently remains under investigation.
'Freedom Fries'
But the attacks on Wilson do not stand alone. In the drive to limit debate about Bush's case for war, his allies ostracized virtually all major critics of the administration's WMD claims, including the U.N.'s chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter.
Blacklisting campaigns also were mounted against celebrities, such as actor Sean Penn and the music group Dixie Chicks, for criticizing Bush's rush to war. When France urged more time for U.N. weapons inspections, Bush's supporters organized boycotts of French products, poured French wine in gutters and renamed "French fries" as "Freedom Fries."
As with the Wilson case, Bush and his supporters didn't let the failure to find the alleged trigger-ready WMD stop their efforts to discredit these critics. Instead of apologies, for instance, Ritter continued to suffer from conservative smears about his patriotism.
In one particularly smarmy performance on June 12, 2003, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly teamed up with Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., to air suspicions that Ritter had been bribed by the Iraqis to help them cover up their illegal weapons. Neither O'Reilly nor Pence had any evidence that Ritter accepted a bribe, so they framed the segment as a demand that the FBI investigate Ritter with the purported goal of clearing him of any suspicion of treason.
The segment noted that a London newspaper reporter had found Iraqi documents showing that Ritter had been offered some gold as gifts for his family. "I turned down the gifts and reported it to the FBI when I came back," Ritter said in an interview with Fox News.
Though Ritter's statement stood uncontradicted, O'Reilly and Pence demanded that the FBI disclose what it knew about Ritter's denial. "Now, we want to know whether that was true," said O'Reilly about whether Ritter had reported the alleged bribe. "The FBI wouldn't tell us." O'Reilly then asked Pence what he had done to get the FBI to investigate Ritter.
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