Scooter never went to jail. That's my point.
Neither did Richard Armitage.
and they both outed the name of a spy.
Oh, for God's sake! We're back rehashing THAT nonsense? Seriously?
Valerie Plame wasn't a "spy" who was outed. She and her hubby wrote an op ed for the New York Times in which they went after George W. Bush right before the elections, accusing him of lying about Iraq trying to obtain uranium in Africa. It turns out the only person who was a liar however, was Joe Wilson himself...a fact that he subsequently admitted. Then the liberal whine became that conservatives had "outed" a covert CIA operative to get back at her and her husband. What conservatives DID was respond to a hatchet job against W. in the New York Times. The person that outed Valerie Plame was Valerie Plame. She and her husband thought that they would be the catalyst for a John Kerry victory. It didn't turn out the way they planned.
Valerie Plame was not an author of that report.
And yes, I will freely agree with you that the Wilsons were shameless self-promoters.
But as a clear-letter reading of the law, she was classified as a covert operative, and revealing her name in public is a violation of federal law.
Point was, Rove and Armitage and Libby told reporters that she worked for the CIA in an attempt to discredit Wilson. Novak could have gotten the same info from other means. But they did break the law.
That's right up there with outing tax info on Republican operatives in an attempt to discredit them. Yeah, technically a violation, but probably nothing they couldn't have found though other means.
And here's the point. I really WANT to know who is buying my government officials. I want to know that that "Friendly message" that is full of distortions was paid for by the Koch Brothers.
I'm not sure why you don't.