The American Mind

Joe Wilson endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton. The netroots cheers:

Well, back to Ambassador Wilson. He does have a unique ability to motivate and mobilize real people as the encounter he and his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, have had with the Bush administration over the President’s war in Iraq has been the single most important event exposing serious crimes and duplicity committed by Bush administration officials.

Wilson and Plame are favorites among the leftish “net-roots.” They are a favorite among many bloggers for taking them seriously and for working with them to understand the nooks and crannies of what was real and not in their David and Goliath battle with the White House. Wilson gave young political activists hope that they could get traction in their battles against an occasionally vulnerable Bush/Cheney machine.

But now Joe Wilson has endorsed someone that many in the blogosphere have been slow to love: Hillary Rodham Clinton. This will have impact and will shock some. Some lefty bloggers will not abandon Obama and not forgive Clinton for being complicit in the decisions that empowered the Bush White House to wage the Iraq War. But others will now rethink their positions.

Sen. Obama shouldn’t be shaking in fear. I can’t imagine pro-Hillary webloggers touting their candidate as “Joe Wilson’s favorite.”

And isn’t it ironic that Wilson, who thinks he was unfairly attacked by the White House, endorsing a candidate who was part of a White House that turned payback into a devious art?

“Joe Wilson Endorses Hillary”

UPDATE: Here’s part of the statement from the Clinton campaign:

The Clinton Campaign today announced the endorsement of leading Iraq war critic and former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

“I have known Hillary Clinton for a decade. She is the one candidate who, in my judgment, understands the need to get Americans out of harm’s way and to move this to a political process,” Wilson said. “She knows what to do. She has the leadership. On day one, she will be able to reach out to the international community, and I am delighted to fight the fight with her.”

“I admire Joe Wilson’s courage in standing up to this administration and holding it accountable for the misinformation that led us into the Iraq war,” Clinton said. “I’m honored to have his support as we do everything in our power to bring this war to an end and begin bringing our troops home safely.”