Pants Aflame in the White House

Yes, there was debate about the intended use of those high-strength aluminum tubes. Yes, Bush was aware of the debate and spoke the infamous 16 words in his 2003 SOTU anyway.

Murray Waas has the best-documented narrative to date on the cherry-picked intelligence. And, even though CIA Director Tenet fell on his sword over the 16 words, the president knew he was "disassembling" to the nation as he gave his address.

Waas also details the damage control and the cover up of this fact, including the retribution against Ambassador Joe Wilson. Yes, Virginia, Rove leaked Plame's identity to Robert Novak, although why they thought outing Valerie Plame would discredit Wilson I'll never understand. Maybe I'm not the sexist pig I thought I was.

Will the rest of the media see this story as new news worthy of reporting? If so, we're in for some fun times watching the White House Bucket Brigade put out all these fires, as well as a lot of logic-twisting excuses from Limbaugh, Fox News and the rest of the GOP Media Machine.

Before then, however, read the story:

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Insulating Bush (03/30/2006)