Dirty tricks

In politics, dirty tricks refers to duplicitous, slanderous, and downright illegal tactics employed by politicians (or their underlings) to win elections and/or destroy opponents. The entire Watergate scandal can best be described as a series of dirty tricks. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for covert operations (as in 'dirty tricks department').

The Valerie Plame alleged scandal

John Dean, referred to as the "master manipulator of the cover up" of the Watergate scandal by the FBI, who received immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony, was quoted on Salon.com 3 October 2003: as saying,

Related Topics:
John Dean - Watergate scandal - FBI - Immunity - Prosecution

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:"I thought I had seen political dirty tricks as foul as they could get, but I was wrong. In blowing the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame to take political revenge on her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for telling the truth, Bush's people have out-Nixoned Nixon's people. And my former colleagues were not amateurs by any means.",

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in regards to the Valerie Plame affair. Plame's CIA cover may have been blown, allegedly, as political payback against her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, for an editorial he wrote in the New York Times criticizing the Bush Administration's claims about uranium exports from Niger. Though it should be noted a court of law has yet to render a judgement and Valerie Plame's role within the CIA, nor her husband, as a former State Department employee, has any relation to an election campiagn.

Related Topics:
Valerie Plame - Joseph Wilson - New York Times - CIA - State Department

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