I Endorse Wilson's Toxic Endorsement of Clinton

I was starting to believe that Joe Wilson was going to get away without any sort of investigation into his actions in the whole Niger Yellowcake - Valarie Plame affair. So I was pleasantly surprised to see Mr. Wilson go and paint a nice big target on himself by endorsing Hillary Clinton for President.

This endorsement greatly increases the incentive to go after Wilson, who appears to be a person who just does not understand that he should keep his mouth shut. His wife was dragged into the news because he wrote a disingenuous editorial stating that Iraq was not attempting to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger. This of course was an attempt to discredit President Bush in order to benefit the man he endorsed for the 2004 election, Senator John Kerry. However, that did not go very well, especially considering that as far as Congress and the United Kingdom were concerned, Iraq did attempt to buy uranium yellowcake:

“It is accepted by all parties that Iraqi officials visited Niger in 1999. The British Government had intelligence from several different sources indicating that this visit was for the purpose of acquiring uranium. Since uranium constitutes almost three-quarters of Niger’s exports, the intelligence was credible.” - UK Butler Report.

He quickly went to enjoy his initial popularity and even setup his own website 'Restore honesty' dot com. I am sure that Mr. Wilson was shocked to learn that his trip to Niger managed to confirm parts of the story that Iraq was seeking uranium yellowcake in Niger. Nothing like your own investigation negating your conclusions. This is what Congress decided when they investigated the report of his Niger trip.

This revelation did not go over well with Senator Kerry. Wilson's website was taken down and redirected to John Kerry's website. (The website has since been taken over by an online drugstore) Of course, John Kerry quickly dropped Mr. Wilson from his team.

(U) Conclusion 13. The report on the former ambassador's trip to Niger, disseminated in March 2002, did not change any analysts' assessments of the Iraq-Niger uranium deal. For most analysts, the information in the report lent more credibility to the original Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports on the uranium deal, but State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) analysts believed that the report supported their assessment that Niger was unlikely to be willing or able to sell uranium to Iraq. - REPORT ON THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY'S PREWAR INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTS ON IRAQ

Joe Wilson went on the defensive, but the damage was done at the time, as is clear in the Wall Street Journal editorials listed below. But now, only three years later, he reappears to attach himself to another Presidential hopeful in an attempt to get himself back into some sort of position of power within the Government.

While Joe Wilson did not bring down John Kerry. He sure did not do him any favors.

At the moment, Hillary Clinton's supporters are excited about the endorsement. Most likely this is the result of many people still believing that Joe Wilson's wife is a victim in all this. That of course now paints a big target on her as well, especially if she decides to go and campaign for her.

I am interested to see how this plays out. I wonder if this is a sign of desperation on behalf of Clinton to attach herself to such a toxic politician. (Yes, he is a former ambassador, but his actions are all of a politician.) After all, if she is such an obvious choice for President, why allow a person like Joe Wilson to get close to her other than to collect needed votes. Joe is not likely to cost her any. But who knows what is now going to be tossed in Joe's direction. She might not want to stand too close. (That might not be possible since she announced the endorsement.)

For starters, we can bring back the Republican National Committee's "Joe Wilson's Top Ten Worst Inaccuracies And Misstatements". Just in case you have forgotten the type of guy he really is.

One thing to keep in mind with Joe Wilson is that no matter what the truth is in the 'controversy' over whether his wife was 'outted' it was his less-than truthful actions that started it all.

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Opinion Journal Coverage of Wilson's Lying:
The Senate vindicates President Bush and exposes Joe Wilson as a partisan fraud. - Opinion Journal 12 July 2004

The Wilson-Plame "scandal" was political pulp fiction. - Opinion Journal 15 July 2004

Mr. Wilson's Defense - Opinion Journal 20 July 2004