NBC's Andrea Mitchell, who once claimed that Valerie Plame's (wife of Joe Wilson and supposed CIA covert operative) identity was "widely known," now has stated that she "messed up" -- that her statement then was wrong and that she indeed did not know about Plame's ID until after Robert Novak's column. Excerpt from the Imus radio show this past Wednesday:
IMUS: Well, [Alan Murray's] question seems plain. "Do we have any idea how widely known it was in Washington that Joe Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. And you said that his wife worked . . .MITCHELL: When you look at my answer, I said: "It was widely known - and we were trying to track down who among the foreign community was the envoy to Niger." So far, so good. Okay? [Quoting herself again.] "So some of us began to pick up on that. But frankly I wasn't aware of her actual role at the CIA and the fact the she had a covert role involving weapons of mass destruction, not until Bob Novak wrote it.
IMUS: Well, that part is clear.
MITCHELL: That's clear. So, what's not clear is that I didn't know about her role at the CIA until Bob Novak wrote it. And I obviously got it muddled.
IMUS: Well, what this suggests to me is that, you knew she worked at the CIA but you didn't know what she did there.
MITCHELL: Yes, but that's not . . .
IMUS: Is that fair? Did you know that?
MITCHELL: I didn't.
IMUS: Well, then - why did you say you did, Andrea?
MITCHELL: Because, I messed up.
IMUS: Oh.
Sounds as if Ms. Mitchell has been getting some advice from Sandy "Sloppiness" or "I Stuffed 'Em In My Pants" Berger.
Tom Maguire (from first link above) proves that Mitchell isn't very believable with her claims.
"I messed up." In other words, she opened her big yap before getting the talking points from Howard Dean, and hopes it won't hinder the political pillorying of Rove, Libby, Cheney, etc. I used to watch Headline News every morning, but haven't in years. It's amazing how biased CNN is these days.
Posted by: G Rex at November 28, 2005 12:34 PM