Watching the webcast of Friday’s hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was a new lesson in GOP denial over the CIA leak.

The new talking point used by administration apologists is that ‘Nobody in the White House knew Valerie Plame was covert.’ Sometimes they cling to a veneer of dignity by softening it: ‘there is no evidence that anyone in the White House knew Mrs. Wilson’s status was covert.’

Then they get a little blunter and blame the CIA point-blank for not taking adequate precautions to protect Plame’s cover. Rep. Tom Davis, Republican of Virginia, who agrees ...   more »