I sympathize deeply with people who don’t want to have to master the minutiae of the Joe Wilson-Valerie Plame game. Discussing it on radio, I wonder if I’m endangering people on the highway. But I think the media count on that. “Oh, we don’t have to rehash that Wilson thing now. Bush ratings are down. Wilson has his fame and made his book money. Only right-wing cranks will complain if we steer right around it.”

The everyday Cornerite should just think about the big picture. Bush wanted to wage war on state sponsors of terror. Iraq was one. It had defied UN inspection of its WMDs for years. Debate over. Take Saddam out. You’re not allowed to say “well, removing Saddam was a great idea,” and then pour rhetorical gas all over the reconstruction. You’re either for leaving Saddam, or for taking him out.

Jonah is right that Wilson and 16 Words-gate was an important wind beneath the wings of the Bush Lied Us Into War argument. You can skip right over Wilson if you’d like and tell your friends that Bush’s critics have been exposed as “lying liars,” but it helps to know the boring particulars.