by TChris

Responding to right-wing charges that the mainstream media were sold a bill of goods by Joseph Wilson and that the media now refuse to acknowledge that Wilson's an unpatriotic liar, Tim Rutten at the LA Times reminds us that "over the past week, the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times have worked their way through the [Senate Intelligence Committee and British] reports' main themes and all eventually published dense accounts of their conclusions concerning Wilson." Wilson defends himself against one such story here.

Rutten also notes that the evidence is far from conclusive that Wilson lied about the role his wife played in his assignment to investigate Iraq's alleged interest in Niger's uranium or that he waffled when he initially reported his conclusions to the administration. Don't expect any amount of counter-evidence to change the pro-war bloggers' depiction of Wilson as, in Rutten's words, "the poster boy for a nearly traitorous opposition to the war."