Four Facts and Five Conclusions
What a week it's been in politics:
Bad for Democrats, bad for the Joe Wilson, and good for George W. Bush.
by Hugh Hewitt
Weekly Standard
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FOUR CRUCIAL FACTS came into the public's view these past few days:
First, Valerie Plame recommended her husband Joe Wilson for the mission to Niger to investigate claims that Saddam was attempting to purchase uranium there.
Second, Joe Wilson lied about that, and about other things as well.
Third, Saddam did try to buy uranium from Niger.
Fourth, President Bush did not lie about Saddam's attempt to purchase uranium and the intelligence he was provided by the CIA showed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.
From these facts flow five conclusions.
First, whoever leaked the name of Victoria Plame to Robert Novak has a pretty good whistleblower defense. The CIA shouldn't be allowing spouses to recommend spouses for anything, much less missions leading to book contracts. Plame's conduct, even though known by her supervisors to involve the promotion of a spouse for an agency assignment, seems to be self-dealing of the sort that ought never to go on in the government--especially in those parts of the government most shielded from public scrutiny.
Second, the Bush Doctrine has an important new corollary: <font color=blue>"The Don't Even Think About It Doctrine."<font color=black> Briefly put, this corollary holds that if the United States has grounds to believe a nation with a history of abetting terrorists of any sort has weapons of mass destruction, of any sort, the United States will act to destroy the possibility that those weapons will pass to any terrorists. If our intelligence turns out to be faulty, we won't lose any sleep about it. If you don't want to get burned, don't put your hand on the stove.
Third, the late stages of Moore's Disease prohibits sufferers of it to retreat from ill-advised reliance on discredited sources and information. Thus Joshua Micah Marshall would rather get battered throughout the blogosphere than admit he'd fallen hook, line and sinker for Vanity Fair's cover boy.
Fourth, if last week's concert in New York City didn't persuade you that the Democrats have advanced stages of Moore's Disease, then John Kerry's incredible response to Larry King that--the nominee didn't have to see Fahrenheit 9/11 because he'd <font color=blue>"lived it,"<font color=black> should seal the deal. The refusal of the nominee or the party's money bags to distance themselves from the nutty and increasingly embarrassing blowhard Michael Moore is evidence of the Democrats' need for electoral shock therapy of the radical sort. Only a smash-up will bring this unhinged party to its senses.
Which brings me to the fifth conclusion: The release of my new book, <font color=blue>If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends Upon It<font color=black>, was nicely timed as it appeared in bookstores this week. It has soared on Amazon--I am sure in part because it is a direct, blunt rebuke to the collapse of the Democrats on national security issues, their fundamental unseriousness about the war on terror, and their infatuation with fringe characters like Moore.
A few more periods like these past few days, and the Torricelli Option may yet reappear. <font size=3>
Hugh Hewitt is the host of a nationally syndicated radio show, and author most recently of If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends Upon It. His daily blog can be found at HughHewitt.com.
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