L'Affaire Plame: Democratic Talking Points

Why is it that even with the facts on their side, the Democrats have not been able to hold the Bush administration accountable for what is possibly the biggest political cover-up since Watergate? Answer: because Democrats have an annoying tendency to get bogged down in pesky “facts” when they should be spending time connecting with people emotionally. In an effort to help them, here is:

The CIA leak: Democratic Talking Points

A CRIME WAS COMMITTED
• The CIA filed a crime report with the US Dept of Justice on July 30, 2003 and then recommended that the FBI undertake a full criminal investigation on September 16th of same year.
• Logic dictates that the investigation would have ended sometime in the last two years had a crime not been committed

THIS IS A COVER UP
• Intentional leak or not, the Bush Administration got caught and are furiously backpedaling, changing stories and deflecting attention
• The are trying to divert attention away from the crime by attacking American patriots who have risked their lives for the past 20 years in the name of National Security, in order to save themselves

THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT NATIONAL SECURITY
• The leak of Valerie Wilson’s name not only ended her career, but indirectly exposed everyone who worked for Brewster Jennings, the shell company created by the CIA to infiltrate nuclear smuggling operations. They had operatives in Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and other members of the Axis of Evil.
• All of those operatives were instantly compromised.

THIS IS ABOUT IRAQ
• Joe Wilson’s op-ed piece in the NY Times that started L’Affaire Plame was about one thing and one thing only, and it was actually the opening sentence of the article: “Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq?”
• The answer, we now know, was YES. THIS IS WHAT REPUBLICANS WERE RESPONDING TO, despite what they may now be suggesting.
• Republicans contend he said Cheney sent him. Read the article for yourself and decide.

THEY SHOT THE MESSENGER
• In an effort to silence Joe Wilson, they began a concerted effort to smear him. Valerie Plame, and our National Security, were unfortunate bystanders.
• According to the LA Times, when asked at one point why he was pursuing the diplomat so aggressively, Rove reportedly responded: "He's a Democrat." This despite the fact that voted for Bush in 2000.

BUSH HAS BROUGHT SHAME AND REMOVED INTEGRITY FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
• When the heat was turned up on Rove recently, Bush changed his pledge to remove anyone from office who was involved in the leak, to a pledge to remove anyone CONVICTED of being involved in the leak. A sad day indeed for ethics in the White House.
• Furthermore, Bush’s administration is FULL of convicted criminals from Iran Contra to the Honduras Death Squads, from Eliot Abrams to John Negroponte to Admiral Poindexter.

DECENT AMERICANS WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!!
• An NBC/WSJ poll taken between July 8-11 (before the scandal really hit the mainstream media) has only 41% of Americans giving Bush good marks for “honesty”, his lowest ratings yet.