Didn't the State Dept. have anything better to do?

Every day, the fact that this Administration operates PURELY on the basis of politics, NOT the good of the nation, becomes clearer and clearer.

Today's NY Times:

Prosecutors in the C.I.A. leak case have shown intense interest in a 2003 State Department memorandum that explained how a former diplomat came to be dispatched on an intelligence-gathering mission and the role of his wife, a C.I.A. officer, in the trip, people who have been officially briefed on the case said.

[snip]

The memorandum was sent to Colin L. Powell, then the secretary of state, just before or as he traveled with President Bush and other senior officials to Africa starting on July 7, 2003, when the White House was scrambling to defend itself from a blast of criticism a few days earlier from the former diplomat, Joseph C. Wilson IV, current and former government officials said.

Mr. Powell was seen walking around Air Force One during the trip with the memorandum in hand, said a person involved in the case who also requested anonymity because of the prosecutor's admonitions about talking about the investigation.

Investigators are also trying to determine whether the gist of the information in the document, including the name of the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, Mr. Wilson's wife, had been provided to the White House even earlier, said another person who has been involved in the case. Investigators have been looking at whether the State Department provided the information to the White House before July 6, 2003, when Mr. Wilson publicly criticized the way the administration used intelligence to justify the war in Iraq, the person said.

What on earth was a State Department memo discussing Valerie Wilson doing on Air Force One the day after Joseph Wilson's piece ran? Was the State Department charged with "finding something about Valerie Wilson", perhaps in anticipation of what Joseph Wilson's findings might be? How much of the government apparatus was engaged in finding ways to destroy the Wilsons? And if Joseph Wilson wasn't being truthful, why the heck was the Administration devoting SO much energy to destroying him -- and his wife? Chew on THAT for a while.

If this episode does nothing else, it shows that for the Bush Administration, national security doesn't matter. The economy doesn't matter. The American people don't matter. The only thing that matters is power -- getting it, keeping it, and making sure no one else gets it.