On Novak

Media Blog's take-one and take-two on Bob Novak's Plame revelations are spot on and rather funny in a stick-that-in-your-pipe-and-smoke-it-conspiracy-mongering-lefties sort of way.

Take One: ...let's just go through it one more time, just so we're clear:

1)Some administration guy (probably Richard Armitage), whom Novak describes as "not a political gunslinger," told Novak "inadvertant[ly]" that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and probably recommended him for his trip to Africa;

2)Novak confirmed the information with Karl Rove and CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, although the particulars of these convos remain a matter of dispute;

3)Novak looked up Joe Wilson in "Who's Who in America" and discovered the name of his super-secret agent wife: Valerie Plame;

Thus fatally undermining fevered accusations that the White House plotted to "out" Plame as a matter of retaliation for Wilson's op-ed about his tea party in Niger.

Did I miss anything?

Take Two: I'm with Kate O'Beirne: If anyone still thinks this investigation was anything more than a political ploy trumped up by the Democrats and their allies in the media, Novak's version of events should put all doubts to rest.

Stephen Spruiell is wonderful enough to include video of Novak's interview with Brit Hume yesterday on Fox. There are a couple of points where Novak sputters a bit and I could see where at the fringe of the leftie feverswamps, some might think they continue feeding the conspiracy mongering.

Novak's description jives near perfectlt with the recollections of Rove and Horwell on matters of substance and leaves little room for continued talk of Evil WH conspiracies. At least one would hope, though I'm sure--like others--that won't stop the likes of Jason Leopold or the nutroots.