Pretty damned dumb, Mark. . .

. . .pretty damned dumb. What other conclusion can one come to about people who don't even know what it means to "smear" an opponent.

smear -- (smîr)

n. #4

1. Vilification or slander.
2. A vilifying or slanderous remark.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

smear

n 1: slanderous defamation [syn: vilification, malignment]

Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

Well, let's take a look at what constitutes this particular "smear".

Karl Rove supposedly told a newspaper reporter to be wary of a report produced by Joe Wilson, because his wife works for the CIA. How does what Rove said constitute a smear? Was she, or not, working for the CIA? She was working out of Langley, VA -- a fact which, by itself, answers the question as to whether or not she was a covert agent at the time Rove "outed" her.

This is not a matter of finesse. It's not a matter of spin, or shifting positions. It's purely a matter of fact.

Karl Rove was not out to intimidate Joe Wilson by "outing" his wife. Karl Rove did nothing more than raise a question that would be considered a legitimate point of inquiry in any other circumstance. "How did you come to be selected to go on this mission?" The answer was an uncomfortable one -- so uncomfortable that it forced Wilson to lie.

That's why we're hearing so much about this right now. The left has a whole lot of its sense of self-righteousness wrapped up in Joe Wilson's telling of the story of his trip to Niger. They've been swinging wildly in an attempt to bludgeon the administration with this story since the day it came out.