Can someone give me

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Can someone give me some back up or <$NoAd$>elaboration on what TPM Reader KC just sent in to me …

I recently read Wilson’s entry in Who’s Who myself, and I can confirm that indeed “Valerie Elise Plame” is named as Joseph Wilson’s wife. However, it’s important to note that naming wives by their maiden names seems to be standard practice for the book — Wilson’s previous wife is listed by her maiden name, for just one example. This indicates one of two things is likely true: 1) The book is where Novak got her name, and he committed one of the sloppiest and laziest acts of journalism in recent history by not realizing that the book’s standard practice list wives by their maiden names or 2) Novak knew that was the standard practice for Who’s Who, so once he realized that his source identified Valerie Wilson by her maiden and cover name, he turned to a publicly available source that would naturally list her by that maiden name as “proof” that her cover name was widely known. To me, the second situation seems somewhat more likely. After all, if the book was his actual source for the name and he was interested in protecting the source who told him “Wilson’s wife” worked for the CIA, then he would logically have said outright that he got the name from the book. However, Novak has never said the Who’s Who guide is where he got the name, just that others could find it there.

I have to confess that I’m not sure I’ve even seen a copy of Who’s Who, let alone opened one, since I was in high school, probably more than twenty years ago. In fact, I think it’s a very dated concept or product. Most people under 40, I think, think of Google when they want to find biographical information about someone. (And, believe it or not, google has info for the non-muckety-mucks among us.) In any case, point being, if what KC suggests is true — that wives are often referred to by their maiden names, as in the former Ms. such-and-such — then KC’s malign possibility #2 seems rather likely.

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