Smells Like Steno Sue

It took four Washington Post writers to compose a relatively short article on the status of the Plame investigation. One of them was "Steno" Sue Schmidt. It's my guess that Steno Sue's entire contribution was this bit:

Capitol Hill aides in both parties said Wilson had badly hurt his credibility with his apparently enthusiastic participation in a spread in the January issue of Vanity Fair that includes a glamorous photo of him and his wife outside the White House, a scarf and dark glasses shielding her. In another photo in the magazine, she shields her face with the front section of The Washington Post as he eats breakfast barefoot on their deck with the Washington Monument in the distance.

Wilson is quoted as saying he is "appalled at the apparent nonchalance shown by the president of the United States on this." The article includes Wilson's steamy account of his early romance with Plame. Congressional aides said the article bolstered the contention of Wilson's critics that no one had done more than him to draw attention to Plame, and that the couple had eagerly contributed to their celebrity.

Of course, Joseph Wilson's credibility is entirely irrelevant to the question of which Bush staffers violated the law by disclosing Valerie Plame's identity as political payback. Wilson has no personal knowledge of who committed the alleged crimes, so he is entirely irrelevant to the criminal charges.

What reeks of Steno Sue's dirty work is the reference to "Capitol Hill aides of both parties." Who gives a fuck what Capitol Hill aides think about Wilson? (Who gives a fuck what Capitol Hill aides think about anything, for that matter?) Their opinions are even less relevant that Wilson's credibility. It's obvious that the authors had to find a nameless Dem aide (if they in fact did) to justify their introduction of an irrelevant attack on Wilson.

Most importantly, Plame's participation in the Vanity Fair article is irrelevant because Plame's cover was already blown. Once the White House outed her, the damage was done, and anything that Plame (or Wilson) did subsequently doesn't change that fact.