In what must have been a difficult piece for him to write, MSNBC‘s Joe Scarborough actually takes his fellow Republicans to task for their defense of Karl Rove in the Valerie Plame outing. But he just couldn’t leave well enough alone:

While on the subject of hypocrites, the media’s treatment of Joe Wilson is one for the ages. How would the media respond to a Republican ambassador who wrote a campaign check to George W. Bush, lied through his teeth about a CIA investigation, got caught in his lies, and then wrote a book called “The Politics of Truth”? I suspect the media would have left little more than a grease spot where that lying GOP ambassador once stood. But not so in Joe Wilson’s case. As an anti-war Democrat who supported John Kerry in 2004, he was protected by a media machine who shared his sentiments.

Wikipedia:

He served as ambassador to Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe under President George H. W. Bush, and helped direct Africa policy for the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton. He was hailed as “truly inspiring” and “courageous” by George H. W. Bush after sheltering more than a hundred Americans at the US embassy in Baghdad, and mocking Saddam Hussein‘s threats to execute anyone who refused to hand over foreigners. As a result, in 1990, he also became the last American diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein.

Kevin Drum has a nice rundown of details surrounding the Republican distortion of Wilson’s record, and there’s an interview with Wilson here.

I think those on the left have been doing an admirable job turning back the bald-faced lies masquerading as talking points, but I’m concerned that we’re all wading a bit far into the weeds on this one. At it’s heart, it’s a very simple case of political retribution, and with Scott McClellan, Ari Fleischer and the President himself having exposed themselves by previously defending Rove, there’s plenty of material to hammer away at what’s already on paper.

Having read Wilson’s book The Politics of Truth, there are some things that are falling through the cracks, mostly about Wilson’s political affiliation, the circumstances leading to his trip, and what he actually did in Niger.

Wilson, though an ardent John Kerry supporter in 2004, (and considering what he’s been through, there’d be something wrong with him if he wasn’t) has supported candidates from both parties. In 2000, he gave money to Bush and Gore. For Scarborough to set up his hypothetical situation under the assumption that Wilson is some kind of lifelong Democrat, and as such, earns a pass from the liberal media is fantasy, and irresponsible for a supposed journalist.

I can’t really get my head around why Republicans think it’s important to find out if Plame recommended Wilson for the mission to Niger. Ann Coulter thinks it was to get him out of the house for a few weeks. In reality, it was an unpaid trip to a less than desirable destination that included less than glamorous work, not a golf outing with Tom DeLay.

Since Wilson didn’t find what Dick Cheney wanted him to find, Wilson’s actual work product has been called into question from the famous 16 words in the State of the Union speech to the present. The bulk of Wilson’s investigating centered around Niger’s uranium mining companies. Having served in a diplomatic capacity there years earlier, Wilson used his contacts and knowledge of local businesses to learn that none of the mines could have filled an order the size of the fictional Iraqi contracts. In addition, he discovered an unfilled order from Iran.

Wilson could have played ball, avoided the headaches (and attacks), told the administration what they wanted to hear and probably been rewarded with a new diplomatic posting. But because he stuck to his guns and told the truth (after all, with a now-admittedly non-existent nuclear program, what would Saddam have done with uranium?), he and his wife have been through two years of hell as Rove (and Scarborough and Coulter) smeared their names to save their own hides.

Unfortunate.