Joe and the "Big Lie"

So, Joe Wilson called the President a liar.

And then, later on, Joe Wilson called the President a liar.

No, it's not an echo... it's one of those fascinating parallels that makes the conjunction of history and current events so much fun.

By now, I'm sure you're familiar with the name Joe Wilson, most recently because the Republican Representative from South Carolina infamously garnered world attention by calling the truth a lie.

During Obama's healthcare speech, Joe couldn't contain himself, he says. He impulsively yelled out "You lie," in the midst of Obama's address even though nearly everyone knew that Obama's point -- that medical reform legislation working its way through Congress won't cover those here illegally -- was right.

Joe later -- and not-so-sheepishly -- apologized, although his mea culpa proved less than convincing.

He immediately turned his fame as a right-wing idiot into a fund-raising campaign tool and is milking funds from those who actually believed his lie.

What a joe.

He shouldn't be confused with another Joe Wilson who accused the President of lying and gained fame -- only this time by calling a lie a lie.

The "other" Joe Wilson was the U.S. Ambassador to Niger back not-so-many years ago when George W. was the President.

Remember Joe?

He was given the unenviable job of 'proving' that link of "yellow cake" and nuclear ambitions and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

He couldn't because there wasn't . . . and he wrote about it.

Wilson became known to the general public as a result of his op-ed "What I Didn't Find in Africa", published in the New York Times four months after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Wilson's op-ed documented his 2002 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) investigation into whether Iraq had purchased or attempted to purchase uranium yellowcake from Niger. He concluded that the George W. Bush administration twisted intelligence to "exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

Wikipedia article on Joe C Wilson (undated)

When a Republican President lies, it's simply "twisted intelligence."

When a Democratic President tells the truth, it becomes grist for weeks of punditry on CNN and Fox News.

When the idiot Joe called the truth a lie, he got a sudden windfall of campaign contributions.

When the smart Joe called a lie a lie, his wife's, Valerie Plame, status as a CIA undercover operative was unceremonious disclosed and Joe's long and distinguished diplomatic career ended.

In the convoluted world we live in, telling a lie was a reward, it appears.

Telling the truth about a lie carries a heavy and lasting penalty.

Say it ain't so, Joe.