Remember the Valerie Plame affair back in July and August? Yeah, you don't. That's 'cause it didn't go anywhere when it first broke.

Here's the deal. George W. Bush predicated his case for the war against Iraq on the assumption that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, which, as we all know, did not exist. He declared in his 2003 State of the Union address that ''the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.''

This was false. The CIA knew and told the administration long before the SOTU address that it was false; Iraq hadn't sought uranium from Africa. James Wilson, former ambassador to Niger was the key player who revealed that fact to the press, making a mockery of the White House's case for war.

So what does the White House do? It reveals the identity of James Wilson's wife as an undercover CIA agent who was working on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and when a CIA agent's identity is made public, their career is over.

In other words, a US ambassador reveals the truth and shows George Bush to be a liar, so George Bush's White House ends his wife's career, and in the process imperils our efforts to prevent WMDs from getting into the hands of terrorists.

"Senior administration officials" told Robert Novak the identity of Valerie Plame as an undercover agent, which he then published in a July 14th syndicated newspaper column. In press-speak, a "senior administration official" is a cabinet secretary or deputy secretary, or a senior advisor like national security advisor Condoleezza Rice or political advisor Karl Rover. High level people.

But interestingly enough, revealing the classified identity of an intelligence operative is a felony punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. Not to mention imbecilic from the perspective of anyone who cares about our national security.

If Bush approved or condoned such acts, it would certainly be an impeachable offense. All it took to impeach the last guy was lying to a grand jury about private, consensual sexual acts. GW may have broken federal laws against the disclosure of classified intelligence assets, ended the career of a CIA agent out of spite, set back our efforts to prevent WMDs from getting into the hands of terrorists, and endangered the lives of anyone who aided or made contact with said CIA agent while she was performing her duties. Serious stuff.

And it's not just rumor and hearsay. Another "senior administration official" confirmed on Saturday that not only did two other "senior administration officials" did indeed violate federal law in disclosing intelligence information to Robert Novak, but that they called at least six other journalists to ensure that the deed was done, and that it was "clearly meant purely and simply for revenge."

This is shocking stuff. Whoever in the Bush administration broke the law must resign and be put in jail. If Bush had a part in it, he must be impeached and removed from office. And he very well may.

Call me a contrarian, but I like the French. I like their attitudes, their lifestyle, and their politics.

The whole "deck of cards" thing has been taken to its logical conclusion by the French. George Bush is featured as the King of Diamonds, which a caption that reads (in French) "Head of a baseball club and director of Salem bin Laden's oil company (brother of Osama). Designated President of the US by his dad's friends on the Supreme Court before the vote count showed he'd lost." No foolin', eh?

When I went to France, everywhere they asked, "how could you have elected Bush?" Thankfully, I'm not a Bush fan, so the questioning didn't bother me. But then again, I doubt the hardcore Republicans would enjoy a trip to France, anyhow.

Bush's polling numbers aren't looking too good these days. Wesley Clark is beating him (albeit, within the margin of error) in a head-to-head poll, with all other major Democratic candidates managing statistical ties within the margin of error against Bush.

If you look at Bush's reelect numbers, they're generally pretty dismal as well. No polls show him besting 50% against a generic Democrat, and many show him below 50% against Democrats with far, far lower name recognition. Whenever an incumbent is below 50%, that's a warning sign. It's doubly a warning sign if the incumbent can't even garner a plurality.

A strange fact about the America-hating Democratic politicians is that they tend to be much more likely to have served in combat, and those who received distinctions for serving in combat (Medals of Honor, Silver Stars, etc.) tend to be the most vocally anti-war. Examples: Sen. John Kerry (Silver and Bronze Star, D-MA), Sen. Daniel Inouye (Medal of Honor, D-HI), Fmr. Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA, Silver and Bronze Star, triple amputee), Fmr. Sen. George McGovern (D-SD, Distinguished Flying Cross for bomber missions in WW2), Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-SC, Bronze Star), Fmr. Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE, Medal of Honor) and many others.

Why does this matter? Because of the disgusting, contemptible rhetoric of the Republicans. One of the most egregious examples of Republican treachery and slime was the 2002 Georgia Senate race. Senator Max Cleland, a moderate Democrat who served in Vietnam, losing three limbs at the battle of Khe Sahn, was running for reelection against Rep. Saxby Chambliss, who sat the war out because of a "bad knee."

Max Cleland is up on his security issues. He was an original author and sponsor of legislation to create a Department of Homeland Security, long before Bush embraced the idea. In fact, President Bush held out as long as he could to avoid creating a new cabinet-level department, but flip-flopped after learning the polling numbers and political mileage he could get out of it.

Once passage of the bill was assured, Bush tacked on anti-union provisions that vastly changed the contracts under which hundreds of thousands of federal employees work, making it easier to fire and dismiss career employees. Bush did this as a cynical political ploy to force Democratic congresspeople to either vote against their core supporters, or appear to oppose Homeland Security efforts.

Max Cleland, an original author of the Homeland Security bill, balked at the anti-worker legislation tacked onto his bill, so he and the rest of the Senate Democrats held it up while trying to remove the Bush union-busting provisions.

What happened back in the Georgia campaign in the summer of 2002? Republicans ran ads claiming Cleland "lacked the courage to lead" while running a montage of Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Cleland together. Cleland lost his seat in an election day shocker that also saw Georgia's Governor's mansion change hands over the issue of the Confederate flag. Articles describe the Republican candidate talking about the flag with angry whites at every campaign stop throughout rural counties.

In any case, Max Cleland just wrote a concise, coherent critique of the Bush administration's mishandling of the Iraq war and of the public's trust. Kids are dying over there every day, but hey, the Republicans did pick up some nice Senate seats following the vote on the war resolution.