I tend to agree.
but my point 3 isn't a hypothetical.
Everyone seems to agree that Rove was talking to Cooper in an attempt to get him NOT to run the story. (In fact, that's a defense of Rove, that he was attempting to stop a leak)
The point being is that regardless of how you feel about Wilson, it was an opportunity to reflect on the quality of the intelligence at that point. That is not the choice that the administration made at that point.
And, of course, ultimately the administration complained about the quality of intelligence in finding WMD.
