Saturday, September 16, 2006

David Corn Vexed   [Cliff May]

Corn’s defense is now paper-thin. He’s arguing that Dick Armitage and Bob Novak are both lying – that Armitage knew Plame was a NOC (a CIA agent operating undercover), that he told Novak that she was a NOC and that Novak printed that in his column using the word “operative” as a synonym for a NOC.

I disagree with Novak on many issues but I’ve known him for years — as have about a million people in Washington. His integrity is beyond question. Based on his principles, he refused to publicly disclose Armitage as his source even when to do so would have been to his advantage.

Based on his principles, he would never have knowingly exposed a NOC. He did not do so — as he has said all along. He used the word “operative” in the generic sense, the sense of a political operative – as he has said all along.

To be fair: It is possible that when Corn and Joe Wilson saw the word “operative” in Novak’s column they took that to mean Novak was exposing Plame and jumped to the conclusion he was doing so as part of a Bush/Cheney/Rove conspiracy intended to punish Wilson by ruining Plame’s career and endangering her life. Far-fetched, I realize, but these guys are susceptible to such conspiracy fantasies. Their hatred for Bush/Cheney/Rove is beyond reason. (Their hatred for me is beyond reason, too, I should note. Corn and I nearly came to blows in the Green Room at Fox this week.)

On that basis Corn (and Wilson) may have thought there was no harm in saying explicitly that Plame was a NOC and providing details on the undercover work she had done – thereby tipping off all those who had ever dealt with her.

But they were wrong. There was no Bush/Cheney/Rove conspiracy. And it was indeed Corn who exposed Plame, almost certainly based on information provided to Corn by Wilson.

09/16 01:06 PMShare