With all the mad spinning out there, I thought it might be nice to nail SOMETHING down

I did enjoy watching Joe Wilson cut through the crap handily on CSPAN tonight, with his talk at the National Press Club.

That was pretty enlightening, as is this transcript from Wilson and Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Blitzer has a bizarrely accusatory tone, but at least he leaves openings for Wilson to make mincemeat of all the absurd allegations about him that are being floated around by people of whom you can only say, "they're dancing as fast as they can."

Transcript Link: CNN.com - Joseph Wilson: 'Karl Rove should be fired' - Oct 31, 2005.

So meanwhile, here's some straightforward legal definitions from Slate Explainer.

How Many Ways Can You Say "Lie"?

The difference between perjury, false statements, and obstruction of justice.

By Daniel Engber
Posted  Monday, Oct. 31, 2005, at 6:19 PM ET

On Oct. 28, a special prosecutor indicted now-former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for deceiving federal investigators and a grand jury. Among the charges against him: two counts of perjury, two counts of making false statements, and one count of obstruction of justice. What's the difference between these crimes?

[...]

How is perjury different from making false statements? To commit perjury, you have to be under oath, and you have to knowingly fib about something that's relevant to the case at hand. (Your statement must also be literally false—lies of omission don't count.) In contrast, you can break the false-statements law by lying about an issue that's "within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government," even if you're not under oath. The false-statements law is worded so broadly that it can apply to almost any interaction a private citizen has with the government; in practice, it's typically used against people who lie to federal investigators or who file false documents with government agencies.

It gets more complicated. In Libby's indictment, prosecutors used the term "perjury" in a colloquial sense. In fact, he is charged with breaking 18 U.S.C. § 1623—or, the "false declarations" law—rather than 18 U.S.C. § 1621, aka the perjury law. The two are very similar, but false declarations tend to be easier to prove. For one thing, perjury convictions must be based on evidence from at least two witnesses; false declarations can be proved without any witnesses. Prosecutors can show that Libby made "false declarations" simply by showing that his statements to the grand jury were inconsistent. (As with perjury, false declarations must be knowingly made and about an important issue.)

[...]

Link: How Many Ways Can You Say "Lie"? - The difference between perjury, false statements, and obstruction of justice. By Daniel Engber.