Democratic strategist Bob Beckel made an appearance on Fox News Live this morning to discuss Karl Rove and l'affair du Plame. Beckel seems to have divorced himself from reality.

Gregg Jarrett: Bob, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committe said Joe Wilson embellished his role, invented some of his claims, and gave a version of events that were inaccurate, unsubstantiated and misleading. Isn't it a bit hypocritical of Wilson to be ranting about ethics?

Bob Beckel: Well, first of all you've got to assume the description is accurate. [It is unclear from the context exactly what Beckel is referring to here, but I'm pretty sure he isn't talking about Wilson.] The fact of the matter is that what George Bush said in that State of the Union statement about the British intelligence on Niger and Saddam Hussein going after nuclear yellowcake was not true. Bottom line, not true. No matter whether Wilson reported that one way or another.

Jarrett: The British still stand by it. The British still stand by it.

Beckel: No wait, excuse me, the British do not stand by it. They've taken fifteen steps back and punted.

In Washington D.C., that is what passes for reasoned discourse. In the rest of the country we call Beckel's performance lying. Nothing he said there is true; I even doubt the veracity of his use of "and" and "the."

Just to make clear:

• Joe Wilson may have been an ambassador at some point in the past, but he is a liar now.

• Bush did not refer to Niger in his State of the Union speech, he referred to Africa as a whole. "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Those sixteen famous words were true.

• Per the report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Wilson's own report makes clear that the government of Niger believed that Saddam was seeking uranium ore, as opposed to Niger's other main exports: livestock, cowpeas, and onions.

• Last I heard, the British do still stand by their intelligence.

In an effort to make Karl Rove (and of course, the President) look bad, the Democrats are either willing to openly lie about the facts, or are so blinded by Bush-hatred that they refuse to see the facts for what they are.

One expects partisans of either side to look at facts, and to forcefully present and argue for their opinions about those facts. But no one, not even Bob Beckel, is entitled to his own set of facts.

Posted by Russ at 11:14 AM, July 18, 2005 in News