Democratic Party consultant Bob Shrum was on MSNBC’S Hardball with Chris Matthews Wednesday night discussing the Valerie Plame leak controversy.

At the beginning of the interview, Shrum commented that he had never talked to former ambassador Joseph Wilson in his life. However, a moment later Shrum was asserting that Wilson had voted for George Bush in 2000.

I’m sure it’s possible Shrum knows how Wilson voted in 2000 – but the exchange made Shrum look too clever by half.

Of course, the reason Shrum made this assertion was an attempt to draw the controversial Wilson as a non-partisan. But one quick look at publicly available information at opensecrets.org reveals that Wilson is hardly a non-partisan guy.

In 2000, while he contributed $1,000 to George Bush's presidential campaign, Wilson also contributed $1,000 to Al Gore's presidential campaign. In addition, he gave $1,000 to Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and $500 to Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) that same election cycle.

In 2002 Wilson contributed $1,000 to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). He also contributed a total of $1,750 to three others: two relatively unknown congressmen -- Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) and Rep. Nick Rahal (D-WV) -- and a Democratic senatorial candidate in Idaho, former Ambassador to Belgium Alan Blinken.

In 2004 Wilson contributed $2,000 to Sen. John Kerry (D-MA).

So yes, Wilson contributed $1,000 to George Bush in 2000. But he also contributed to the campaigns of major Democrats Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Charles Rangel, and John Kerry between 2000 and 2004.

Yeah, Joe Wilson is a big Republican. Does Bob Shrum know how to use the Internet?

Update: Here's the relevant Shrum quote from the "Hardball" transcript:

BOB SHRUM, FORMER KERRY CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Actually, I never talked to Joe Wilson, never talked to him in my life.

Number two, Joe Wilson voted for George W. Bush in the year 2000. He is no partisan Democrat.