In a shining example of the heights to which fair and balanced journalism aspires, Chris Reed yesterday reacted to the Libby Verdict by reminding us Libby may be a convicted felon, but that doesn’t make Joe Wilson a hero. He does at least have the decency not to “blame administration critics for crowing over Libby’s trial at all.” He just feels as though lost in the midst of lying to federal investigators, perjury, obstructing justice, the premeditated release of secret government information, the falsification of intelligence reports to justify an optional war, torture scandals, thousands of dead American soldiers and marines, tens of thousands of dead Iraqis, increased terrorist activity and Middle Eastern instability, and the complete collapse of American credibility around the world, is the fact that Joe Wilson is, in fact, not a candidate for sainthood. Once again, Chris Reed has missed the point.
Perhaps it’s just that he has nothing original to add to the (woefully and horrifyingly) incomplete list above. It’s been well documented over the years(!), and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s sick of talking about it or thinking about it. In that regard, he’s like most of us. But glossing over it isn’t going to accomplish much of anything.
Reed says that “[t]he bipartisan conclusion of the U.S. Senate is that when it comes to telling the truth, he and Lewis Libby have a lot in common.” The implication, of course, being that Wilson’s exaggerations are somehow morally equivalent to the actions of Libby and the Bush administration as a whole. Well Mr. Reed, there’s this whole thing called degrees.
The Bush Administration and Lewis Libby set about to knowingly misled the American people, break federal law, and engage in actions that would result in tens of thousands of people dying violent deaths. It amounted to a fundamental fraud perpetrated against this country by the executive branch of the federal government.
On the other hand, Joseph Wilson publicly and vehemently spoke out against this behavior. Did he get some things wrong? I have no reason to doubt the Senate report. But in a media populated by people like Chris Reed who need to be beaten over the head with overly dramatized truth before they’ll pay it any attention, how else was he going to get noticed?
I’m not interested in making excuses or apologies for Joseph Wilson. He is, in fact, no saint. But when you stack him up against the villains involved in this case on the other side, he comes out smelling like a rose. If Chris Reed really thinks that the relevant story of this verdict is anything other than the deceptive, vindictive, and criminal behavior on the part of the people leading this country, he needs to get his head of the sand and stop missing the point.