The Green[e]house Effect: a Weblog

Instant Karma's Gonna Get Him

Instapundit has sucked me into his vortex of sloppy logic once again, thanks to yet another half-baked ditty about Valerie Plame:

THE REAL WILSON SCANDAL: Forget Valerie Plame, the big scandal is why anyone in the Bush Administration would ever have tasked a guy with Wilson's views with an important mission.

Regardless of the rest of the story, heads should roll for that.

So we have another instance of Glenn whipping out the ideology card as a trump, never mind the facts. Quelle effing surprise.

Glenn's link takes you to a post charging Wilson — Plame's husband, if you need a cheat sheet — with all manner of ideological offenses against the Bush administration: disapproval of Shock and Awe, worries about Iraq's political stability, skepticism about whether our troops would get a heroes' welcome. Well, pshaw. That puts Wilson in the company of George Bush's own father.

Glenn should have done more research: Wilson cut the Bush campaign a check for $1,000 in 2000. I suppose that didn't make him unfit. Wilson also served Bush pére pretty well:

[Wilson] has a long and distinguished resume ... [he] “was the Deputy Chief of Mission and ranking US diplomat in Baghdad following the departure of Ambassador Glaspie ...”

Note, this was during the Bush administration, so be sure to snicker the next time you hear on the news that he was a “Clinton appointee.” Weiner portrays him as a straight shooter and a tough talker, and goes on to describe how Wilson was the guy charged with negotiating the release of hundreds of US citizens who were trapped in Iraq and Kuwait after the invasion. He was the last US official to meet with Saddam before the war. And he was no appeaser, he clearly despised Saddam’s regime. His attitude during the attempted negotiations prior to war can be summarized and paraphrased as, “This is a waste of time, I know the people in this government, and we’re going to have to kick their ass.”

So when you hear him drawn as some other stereotype, know that you’re not getting the full story.

Wow. Those are some scandalous views, Glenn.

If we step back and look at this like adults, what do we have here? A longtime Foreign Service official, Middle East expert and Bush contributor does a favor for his country at the request of the president, but then decides that he's been used by an administration of lying liars and calls them out. A believer in public service and integrity ... I guess you're right, Glenn: only a fool would let a man like that near the Bush administration.

Posted by Greg Greene at September 30, 2003 6:38 PM