Now to the Karl Rove/CIA scandal. Ambassador Joseph Wilson has accused the White House of running what he called a “smear campaign” against him and called on President Bush to fire Rove over the outing of Wilson’s wife, undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. Wilson spoke yesterday at a Capitol Hill press conference with New York Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer.

• Joe Wilson:
  “The fact that somebody decided that they would go ahead and leak classified information for the purposes of achieving a political end is simply unacceptable. It’s unacceptable for Democrats. It’s unacceptable for Republicans. It’s unacceptable for Americans and for the national security of this country…Irrespective of whether a law had been violated, it’s very clear to me that the ethical standards to which we should hold our senior public servants has been violated and it is for that reason that I have called for, not Karl Rove’s resignation, but for the president to honour his word that he would fire anybody who has involved with that leak.”

Wilson’s accusations came after the Chair of the Republican National Committee, Ken Mehlman sent reporters an e-mail claiming to list “Joe Wilson’s Top Ten Worst Inaccuracies and Misstatements,” along with other messages challenging his veracity. The controversy spilled out into the corridors of Congress on Thursday, where lawmakers in the US Senate planned to devote 90 minutes debating legislation related to the matter. Senator Schumer, who has co-sponsored legislation calling for Rove’s top-level security clearance to be lifted, slammed Republican moves to question Wilson’s credibility, calling the attacks “unfair and un-American” and “Kafkaesque.” But Republicans are levying a countercharge that the Democrats are running a smear campaign against Rove.

• Kay Bailey Hutchison (R, Texas):
  “I have seen nothing so far that would indicate that there was any law broken by Karl Rove and I think to jump because Karl Rove is clearly a friend and confidant of the president- I think is wrong.”