Griffs Notes 3/7/07

Here’s my favorite fallout story from Scooter Libby’s trial and conviction. It comes from the lead editorial from the Washington Post today:

Mr. Wilson's case has besmirched nearly everyone it touched. The former ambassador will be remembered as a blowhard. Mr. Cheney and Mr. Libby were overbearing in their zeal to rebut Mr. Wilson and careless in their handling of classified information. Mr. Libby's subsequent false statements were reprehensible. And Mr. Fitzgerald has shown again why handing a Washington political case to a federal special prosecutor is a prescription for excess.

Blowhard. That is the most apt description anyone has written about ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. Blowhard Joe is the kind of the guy who might try to tell you James Bond was his intern in the secret world of spies if you were gullible enough to believe his tales of fantasy and pomposity. And he is the reason we have had to endure the Fitzgerald nightmare that “confused” the jury as to why they were trying Libby in the first place. The Washington Post also effectively points out:

Mr. Wilson was embraced by many because he was early in publicly charging that the Bush administration had "twisted," if not invented, facts in making the case for war against Iraq. In conversations with journalists or in a July 6, 2003, op-ed, he claimed to have debunked evidence that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger; suggested that he had been dispatched by Mr. Cheney to look into the matter; and alleged that his report had circulated at the highest levels of the administration.

A bipartisan investigation by the Senate intelligence committee subsequently established that all of these claims were false -- and that Mr. Wilson was recommended for the Niger trip by Ms. Plame, his wife.

So I have taken the time to look back at some of the highlight quotes of the former 2004 Kerry Campaign consultant – in Blowhard Joe’s own words.

“And he had me out to the airport, and he had me in the Salon D’Honeur – the presidential offices at the airport.”

-- On his top-secret meeting with a high-level government official in Niger.

"I have met with them (govt officials) in Washington, I have met with them in Niger, I have broken bread with them, I have kissed their babies... and I also knew french!"

-- On his vast expertise dealing with the Niger powerbrokers.

"Joe Wilson did not put the 16 words in the state of the union address."

-- On his passing the buck on the President about Yellow Cake in Niger (in the 3rd person, of course!)

Sadly, Mr. And Mrs. Joseph and Valerie Wilson-Plame-Maxwell Smart apparently left Washington to retire to a quaint artist community near Santa Fe, NM. Hopefully, their civil suit will not materialize and they will remain far from the banks of the Potomac for a very long time.

Simply put, Blowhard Joe isn’t good for Washington. And neither are witch-hunt special prosecutors that seek to undermine the political crisis of the day.

I can be reached for questions or comments at griffsnotes@foxnews.com.