Plame (cont'd)

"Certainly O'Rourke never bothered to read the Intelligence Identities Protection Act," writes Joe Conason in Salon, "which covers any agent who operated covertly within five years before her identity was unlawfully exposed. And despite his exciting sojourns overseas, it doesn't seem to have occurred to him that whether he knows (or thinks he knows) the identity of CIA station officials working under "official cover" in some countries, he still wouldn't have a clue about those working under "nonofficial cover" (like Valerie Wilson). Perhaps neither O'Rourke nor his editors at the Weekly Standard understand the difference between the two kinds of agents, but then basic ignorance never discourages verbal flatulence at that fine publication."

Facts never get in the way of any conservative conclusion. Even in retrospect. That's the true marvel of it in a sad deluded sort of way.