Sauce for the Goose...

Does anyone remember the ``Runaway Bride``? Jennifer Wilbanks was a woman in her late thirties who developed cryogenic tootsies and flew the coop on the eve of her nuptials, making headline news and triggering a police manhunt as fowl play was suspected (flew the coop-get it?). Realizing the trouble she caused, Jennifer turned chicken and lied to police, claiming she was kidnapped. The feathers really flew after that; prosecuters charged her with filing a false police report, and she plea bargained with them, agreeing to pay the costs incurred by the state in their search. It amounted to thousands of dollars, but she did not cluck at this.

I seem to remember a number of years back a young couple ran off to California together, searching for ``perfect love``. They abandoned their car, still running, in an alley, leading the authorites to suspect the worst. They were billed the costs incurred by the police.

So, why might I ask, does Joe Wilson get a free pass? It has come to light that the ``leaker`` in the Valerie Plame affair was Administration sore loser Richard Armitage, and that the real outing of Plame was by none-other than Joe Wilson himself, who most likely was aware that it was Armitage who spoke to the press. Many in the news media were well aware of this, as undoubtedly was Colin Powell and Special Prosecuter Patrick Fitzgerald.

What does this mean? It means that Fitzgerald knew from the beginning that no crime was committed, yet he spent thousands of taxpayer dollars and tied up valuable resources to prosecute a non-existing case and charge an innocent man with perjury. It means that Wilson knowingly accused Karl Rove of a crime he did not committ, and demanded an investigation while fully aware that there was nothing to investigate. It means the oh-so honorable Colin Powell stood silently by while Scooter Libby was dragged through the mud, all the while knowing he was innocent. It means the press willfully, consciously tried to electronically lynch an innocent man. It means they have reinforced the assertion that they are traitors who care more about the political fortunes of Democrats and the Left, distracting the President and his Administration while we are at war in the hope that they could hurt him politically for the petty reacquisition of their own power.

Now the Washington Post tries to throw Wilson overboard and pretend they had no culpability in the affair.

This is one of the most disgraceful, dispicable things I have ever been unfortunate enough to witness. This was lurid display of yellow journalism and partisanship at it`s absolute worst, and William Randolph Hearst could not have orchestrated it better. This has the stench of the Bush-hating CIA; I think our protectors have run another black op on the President.

Who is going to pay for all of this? I think Wilson, Armitage, Powell, and Fitzpatick should foot the bill for the entire investigation, as well as pay the legal fees of everyone who was issued a subpeona. Fitzpatrick should be disbarred. Furthermore, all of the mainstream outlets with any knowledge of this case should be sued for slander and libel, and subject to charges of obstruction of justice. It`s time for the Bush Administration to quit making nice with these people.

Why should the runaway bride have to pay police costs while Wilson et. al. get off scot free? Do we or do we not have equality under the law?

Jennifer Wilbanks should have claimed she was under deep cover for the CIA, and that she was being outed by Bush; the New York Times would have made her a hero!