Decision ‘08

Novak’s Sources: Rove, Bill Harlow, And A Person Unknown

Novak is still holding on to the name of his primary source as the full tell-all (well, tell-most) is published today. The real meat and potatoes is here:

Joe Wilson’s wife’s role in instituting her husband’s mission was revealed to me in the middle of a long interview with an official who I have previously said was not a political gunslinger. After the federal investigation was announced, he told me through a third party that the disclosure was inadvertent on his part.

Following my interview with the primary source, I sought out the second administration official and the CIA spokesman for confirmation. I learned Valerie Plame’s name from Joe Wilson’s entry in “Who’s Who in America.”

So much for the central allegation of PlameGate; as has been noted for some time now, Joe Wilson’s wife’s name was hiding in plain sight.

As for the identity of the primary source, Tom Maguire, among others, has long suspected it was Richard Armitage, and nothing in Novak’s narrative changes his mind…

It’s over, Jason Leopold; it’s over, Christy Hardin Smith…it’s over…

15 Responses to “Novak’s Sources: Rove, Bill Harlow, And A Person Unknown”

1 Andy Vance Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 10:00 am
The central allegation was that her name was secret? Er, ok.

Meanwhile, “American democracy at it’s finest.”
2 Mark Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 10:42 am
No, the central allegation was that she was ‘outed’ and there were all kinds of hints and speculations about her name written in the margin of various papers, etc., etc.; Novak got the name from a publicly accessible book…

In any event, the central allegation I am making is that this baby is O-V-E-R…
3 Dennis Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 11:09 am
“Nothing is over! NOTHING! You just don’t turn it off! It wasn’t my war! You asked me, I didn’t ask you! And I did what I had to do to win! But somebody wouldn’t let us win!”
4 Andy Vance Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Or course her name was publicly accessible; that was part of her cover… aw, screw it. It was indeed a stupid scandal. Indicative of this administration’s recklessness, viciousness, hypocrisy and mendacity, but stupid nothetheless.

I’d put it somewhere between George Bush orders a Philly Cheesesteak and Terri Schiavo.
5 mtl Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Let’s see:

Democrats hyped Plame’s status. She was not covert despite the ‘truths’ of Larry johnson and Joe Wilson.
She has since been seperated from the CIA, with no wrongful termination case on the horizon. Despite ample evidence that Joe was factually challenged, the dems chose to ignore all other evidence that indicated he was lying. I have yet to see an actual report of how her ‘outing’ has jeopardized anybody or any program. The same cannot be said for the swift program.

Media stove-piped reality.

No apologies from the left.

The pattern of behavior exhibited by the left on this whole matter, is the very same behavior that they have criticized the WH for.
6 mtl Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Had to look at f’n dog lake.

They are now using tarot cards as visuals…

I wonder if Jason L could use it as a source.
7 Mark Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Andy, Joe Wilson himself specifically mentioned a conspiracy to give his wife’s name to Novak:

He [Wilson] said he believes that political operatives in the White House gave his wife’s name to Novak, and he thinks he knows who they are. But he’s “not ready, yet” to name them. He hopes an investigation - by the FBI, Congress or both - will take care of that.

You see anything about a Who’s Who entry there?…
8 Andy Vance Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Democrats hyped Plame’s status. She was not covert despite the ‘truths’ of Larry johnson and Joe Wilson.

And the “truths” of morons like Cliff May are any better? Regardless, it doesn’t matter what her status was; the White House’s recklessness exposed everything she had ever touched - for nothing other than stupid political gamesmanship and juvenile innuendo about nepotism. Her past was still a secret.

I realize Joe Wilson is a dick, and the White House had every right to hit back. They could have easily played him off as a crank and a nobody. But that doesn’t justify dragging in sensitive information, which led to this whole sorry mess. There would have been nothing about Plame to hype had she been left out of it.

I have yet to see an actual report of how her ‘outing’ has jeopardized anybody or any program.

Gee, I wonder why.

The pattern of behavior exhibited by the left on this whole matter, is the very same behavior that they have criticized the WH for.

I’m funny this way, but my expectations for POTUS are a wee bit higher than for Jane fookin Hamsher or even His Excellency Joseph Wilson.

And Mark, WTF are you talking about? The “name” had nothing to do with anything. It was no secret that Valerie Wilson neé Plame worked for “Brewster Jennings” and was married to Joseph Wilson; in fact, they apparently tried to climb the Washington social ladder (thus the Who’s Who entry).

Wilson obviously means she was identified by the WH as connected to the CIA, and thus the story. Novak doesn’t refute that. His claim is that his primary source did it accidentially, with confirmation from other officials, not as part of a grand plan. But the fact remains that she was “outed” - be it through clumsiness (Novak) or nefariousness (Wilson). That’s the “central allegation.”
9 Mark Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Well, suit yourself…I recall considerable controversy over the ‘name’ as well as the ‘identity’…I realize my original post was not worded well. The central allegation as I understand it is this: that the Bush administration recklessly revealed the identity of an undercover asset to punish her husband for dissent on Iraq. That’s the central allegation - and the intent was a huge part of it. Without the nefariousness, there is no crime - and without the intent figuring in, we wouldn’t have had the spectacle of all the breathless anticipation of ‘Fitzmas’…

Now you can draw your own conclusions, but the fact that the investigation is over, with only a charge of perjury against Cheney’s chief-of-staff, makes me think that’s a load of hooey…and Novak’s account doesn’t bolster the contrary view…
10 DBrooks Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Even if one is willing to grant Andy’s point about “outing,” and I am not, the counter argument would be why would a CIA operative(covert or otherwise) who was truly worried about being outed recommend her husband for such an assignment knowing his agenda was to come back, ignore any evidence supportive of the Administration’s stance, and start writing op-eds in major newspapers in opposition to the Administration’s position. At best, that sounds ill-advised. At worst, it sounds like someone who wasn’t worried about her role or identity being revealed, and who cared more about opposing the Administration than she did her CIA status.
11 mtl Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 8:25 pm
“There would have been nothing about Plame to hype had she been left out of it.”

If Joe Wilson’s wife did not work at the CIA, he never goes to Niger. By logic, I conclude that she had a hand in his selection.

“Regardless, it doesn’t matter what her status was; the White House’s recklessness exposed everything she had ever touched”

If the left had ever acknowledged reality and accepted she wasn’t covert-they wouldn’t have had the ability to pursue the ’scandal’. Also if she had written a book about her experiences in the CIA, would that have been ‘reckless’ on her part to have ‘exposed everything she had ever touched’?( a small correction to your statement-they did not expose everything that she had touched-just her name and role in her husband finding work. The left has been the driving force behind establishing her bona fides, her status, and the threat of knowing her name meant-all of whcih were complete exagerations-much as saying “exposed everything she had ever touched”-shades of Wilsonian semantics.

In trying to establish the idea that CIA covers were blown and lives jeapordized, they have exposed the hypocrisy of the NYT and much of the left in their complete dismissal of the swift program.
12 mtl Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
“sensitive information” jeez…

she walked in the front doors of her cia office everyday.
13 Andy Vance Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Mark, even Joe scarborough isn’t buying the “accidental leak” story.

I have no idea if covers were blown and lives jeopardized. Neither do you. Nor did the people who talked to Novak; that’s why their actions were reckless. And why should is the administration’s behavior in any way dependent on “the left,” Eric Lichtbrau or Joe Wilson’s personality disorders?

It was also idiotic in it’s own right as a political tactic. It didn’t push Wilson out of the limelight; it gave him the spotlight and a martyr’s complex. It didn’t shore up the adm.’s case about NIger; it led to the confession that it that it shouldn’t have been in the SOTU and years of handwringing over the fate of WH officials.

In other words, it was emblematic of how this administration operates - all gonads, no brains.
14 topsecretk9 Says:
July 12th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
Well, suit yourself…I recall considerable controversy over the ‘name’ as well as the ‘identity’

Mark…let Joe Wilson do the work for you…last July 14th

Jamie Gangel: It’s now public that President Bush’s top adviser, Karl Rove, did talk to at least one reporter about your wife. But Rove insists he never used her name and that he did not know that she was undercover. That he did not knowingly give her up.

Wilson: My wife’s name is Wilson. It is Mrs. Joseph Wilson. It is Valerie Wilson. And he named her. He identified her. So that argument I don’t believe stands the test of — stands the smell test.

and again, different interview on July 14th, 2005

“My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity.”

The best quote I’ve seen all day, by Gateway Pundit…

There you have it…it all starts with Joe and ends with Joe
15 Decision ‘08 » Blog Archive » No More Fitzmas, Episode II: The Socialite Fights Back Says:
July 13th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
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