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David Brooks characterization in his column "Ending the Farce" is probably the best way to look at Libby, from beginning to end.
Quote Brooks: Plamegate was a farce in five acts.
Really have to keep the Acts of this drama separate to get it right, IMO. (And this is why I hope the appeal goes on.)
Most of the problems that have arisen in considering the Libby drama is how the various five Acts interplay with one another.
sbw said:
Because, although I had no particular interest in the case, I discovered repeated and persistent misbehavior undertaken by multiple parties in the CIA, the Justice Department, the Congress, the courts, and, in particular, the national press, simply to take down an elected official with whose politics they opposed."
sbw's ire is with Acts I and II with some of Act III mixed in.
Patterico -- whom I find frustrating to read -- seems to focus only on Act III without considering any of the other Acts.
I still think Libby told some lies to the GJ, but given the circumstances -- or the other Acts -- I don't hold Libby's feet to the fire as legalistically as Patterico does. And certainly not for 2 1/2 years of jail time!
If there is any comparison to make (yea, this is far-fetched), compare Libby to the TDF and Floyd Landis. The Tour hit Landis with spectacular charges without innocence before guilt and without real chance of recourse. Despite the large numbers of cheaters in cycling, the governing body of cycling has made the testing process a pure joke and, therefore, cycling and the TDF a farce. (And the TDF starts again in several days without resolution or a 2006 winner!)
May the legal system here never fall to the level of disgust with which many now regard professional cycling's management! Bush's Act V appearance just put some sanity back into the entire process.
Backlash On Libby
Patterico wonders why Libby never saw the inside of a cell, or minimum security dormitory. The Wash Times editors would have supported a reduction in Libby's sentence to 15 months, but not this commutation: But none of this exonerates the commutation. Perjury is a serious crime. This newspaper a...
Repeatedly posting long articles without making a single argument from them is silly.
Happy Independence Day - Enjoy The Commute
It's getaway day for everyone including Scooter Libby, whose sentence was commuted by President Bush. Stray thoughts: I Am Shocked, Shocked: Was anyone surprised by this result? When William Otis, who had advised Bush I on the Caspar Weinberger pardon, floated the idea in the WaPo, was it har...
Oh, and to do the James Thurber thing in anticipation of Comment a la Olberworld:
GET READY! GET READY! THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!
Libby Appeal Denied
From Matt Apuzzo of the AP: WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled Monday. The decision is a dramatic setback for Libby, who likely will have to surrender to prison in ...
Making a prediction that tonight's Comment from Olberworld is going to shoot MSNBC straight off the cliff into an area of deep journalistic ocean that it has never been in before.
Libby Appeal Denied
From Matt Apuzzo of the AP: WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled Monday. The decision is a dramatic setback for Libby, who likely will have to surrender to prison in ...
I like that, PUK. Typeset shortened version to a t-shirt:
Most Kafkaesque.
That a government department can refer an alleged offense to the DOJ, which can then appoint a Special Prosecutor who can investigate and hide his findings, all without any original offense or damage done ever being explained or made public?
That a man could be prosecuted on a secondary issue but sentenced on the original alleged offense drags this into "An Enemy of the People" territory?
(Apologize for editing, but, hey, for t-shirts on big bellies, it's just too many words.)
Libby Appeal Denied
From Matt Apuzzo of the AP: WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled Monday. The decision is a dramatic setback for Libby, who likely will have to surrender to prison in ...
Elliott,
I almost posted that myself simply because for me it takes the ribbon for wildest response.
The "temerity to share"! Oh my aching feet!
Libby Appeal Denied
From Matt Apuzzo of the AP: WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled Monday. The decision is a dramatic setback for Libby, who likely will have to surrender to prison in ...
Gee, kinda sad not to see Libby work this out the regular way...
But then maybe the regular way was all shot to heck anyway.
Quite a lather, chee chee. Worse than Obama's comments in tone, for sure: but not too much worse in substance. Bad, bad candidate.
Libby Appeal Denied
From Matt Apuzzo of the AP: WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled Monday. The decision is a dramatic setback for Libby, who likely will have to surrender to prison in ...
I know Clarice has written on this at American Thinker but it's a wonder to recap the quotes:
From Fitz’s original press conference:
But Mr. Novak was not the first reporter to be told that Wilson's wife, Valerie Wilson, Ambassador Wilson's wife Valerie, worked at the CIA. Several other reporters were told.
In fact, Mr. Libby was the first official known to have told a reporter when he talked to Judith Miller in June of 2003 about Valerie Wilson.
From Judy Miller’s interview with WSJ:
Ms. Miller's article suggests that Mr. Libby discussed aspects of Ms. Plame's identity with Ms. Miller repeatedly, and that he likely revealed other classified information. The first of their three conversations occurred on June 23, 2003.
From AP’s Freedom of Information request on Armitage’s calendar:
Official State Department calendars, provided to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, show then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage held a one-hour meeting marked "private appointment" with Woodward on June 13, 2003.
From the transcript of Woodard’s interview with Armitage:
ARMITAGE: No, she isn't the chief, no.
WOODWARD: But high enough up that she can say, "Oh, yeah, hubby will go."
From Sept. 2006 NYT:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 — An enduring mystery of the C.I.A. leak case has been solved in recent days, but with a new twist: Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor, knew the identity of the leaker from his very first day in the special counsel’s chair.
The oversight from Fitz's superiors?
Read Closely!
Christy Hardin Smith of firedoglake decides that to respond to Dorothy Rabinowitz's criticisms of the Fitzgerald investigation and prosecution, she will simply trash Ms. Rabinowitz. But turnabout is fair play! [And see "TURN AGAIN", below] I have stalled near the top of her post - I made it p...
Got to love these paragraphs from the article:
The obligation to truth, the prosecutor argued, was of the highest importance, and one in which Mr. Libby had failed by perjuring himself. It would be hard to dispute the first contention. It is no less hard to avoid the memory of Mr. Fitzgerald's own dubious relation to truth and honesty--as, for example, in his failure to disclose that he had known all along the identity of the person who had leaked the Valerie Plame story.
...Why the prosecutor sought this secrecy can be no mystery--it was the way to keep the grand jury proceedings going, on a fishing expedition, that could yield witnesses who stumbled, or were entrapped, into "obstruction" or "lying" violations. It was its own testament to the nature of this prosecution--and the prosecutor.
Too high can't go over it, too low you can't go under it, too wide...
Read Closely!
Christy Hardin Smith of firedoglake decides that to respond to Dorothy Rabinowitz's criticisms of the Fitzgerald investigation and prosecution, she will simply trash Ms. Rabinowitz. But turnabout is fair play! [And see "TURN AGAIN", below] I have stalled near the top of her post - I made it p...
OT, but Durham in Wonderland did an incredible job of live-blogging the review hearings of the legal work of Nifong.
May the hearings serve as a standard for clearing up sloppy legal work!
Then I want to see lawmakers pass legislation setting legal fees at $65 max! and all will be right with the nation! And pigs wilt fly.
I'm With Fred
Fred Thompson, the next President of the United States, has a blog. SINCE YOU ASKED: Thompson defeats Gore in the general election (Gimme a "T" for Tennessee!). Thompson, the Republican Mirror of Desire, overcame some interesting but flawed opponents for the Republican nomination; despite his ...
I like the Mirror of Desire for Fred and Obama. Isn't that true!
So, what does that make Harry Reid in Potter World? Snape?
I'm With Fred
Fred Thompson, the next President of the United States, has a blog. SINCE YOU ASKED: Thompson defeats Gore in the general election (Gimme a "T" for Tennessee!). Thompson, the Republican Mirror of Desire, overcame some interesting but flawed opponents for the Republican nomination; despite his ...
So Libby's "obstruction" really amounted to a failure to confess - there was no other way Fitzgerald was going to convict him.
There it is! The Great White Whale that was the Libby investigation.
Only thing I want to add is that when all is said and done: I want to be able to prose like Murray Waas! Lessons? Does he give them? Or David Corn?
I apologize, I am being cynical. The next time a Democrat is indicted, I could be quoted. (Deep breath)
Libby's Plea For Relief Cites Andrea Mitchell
Here are links to Libby's argument to remain free pending appeal (22 page .pdf), and associated exhibits (5 page .pdf). Dig in. MORE: The defense is citing: (1) the constitutionality of Fitzgerald's appointment; (2) the memory defense and the denial of an expert witness; (3) the substitutions u...
I'm not groaning!
Valerie Plame's Pension Benefits Track Her Service Abroad
Groan! Now we are going to hear about Valerie Plame's pension? Tedium, thy name is... Just One Minute - this is important stuff! The issue of whether Ms. Plame was actually a "covert agent" as defined by the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was identified as a key issue in her case by t...
Gee, open thread time?
Valerie Plame, Telling Stories
From yesterday's USA Today: Plame called on to explain varied accounts WASHINGTON — Former CIA officer Valerie Plame should explain "differences" in her various accounts of how her husband was sent to the African nation of Niger in 2002 to investigate reports Iraq was trying to buy uranium there...
OT
"One of the troubling things about this case, and political criminal cases in general, is that the Fifth Amendment is as a practical matter not available to the defendants. If this case hadn't had political implications, there's no way that any of these people would have talked without a grant of immunity."
Worth repeating!
Valerie Plame, Telling Stories
From yesterday's USA Today: Plame called on to explain varied accounts WASHINGTON — Former CIA officer Valerie Plame should explain "differences" in her various accounts of how her husband was sent to the African nation of Niger in 2002 to investigate reports Iraq was trying to buy uranium there...
The "fear of political embarrassment" angle?
Maybe not. Libby is a political infighter and knows the "undermining" game of politics.
Libby could have run up and down the halls of the White House screaming, "Val recommended Joe and she is CIA" and as long as no one heard him that mattered, he was OK.
Saw this groaner on PBS's Frontline the other night:
Q: "Do you believe, though, from what you know about the case, as Joe Wilson says, that the White House was out to get him?"
A from Mark Feldstein: "Yeah. And guess what, Joe Wilson? Move over. The White House is out to get a lot of people. And every White House is, every administration. It's part of the tug-of-war of policy that you try to advance your interests and undermine your opponents'. …
I think merely whispering negative information about Joe Wilson's wife the way this administration did does not constitute some enormous change in the way things work in Washington, and does not constitute the kind of criminal behavior that really ought to result in people going to jail."
Ahhh, has it been established that the White House was the source of this whispering campaign? I don't think that they lit the first fires.
Valerie Plame, Telling Stories
From yesterday's USA Today: Plame called on to explain varied accounts WASHINGTON — Former CIA officer Valerie Plame should explain "differences" in her various accounts of how her husband was sent to the African nation of Niger in 2002 to investigate reports Iraq was trying to buy uranium there...
Other Tom
Thanks finally going into Libby's motivation.
My little ol' self does not think that Libby felt like he was cornered. There does not seem to be that kind of feel to his grand jury testimony (the little bit that I have read).
That his testimony would have set off a "press firestorm"??!! It was closed testimony first of all; so the press couldn't have it.
That it eventually would have been public at trial?
Libby could have said something to the prosecutor like: "After Wilson's many media appearances and accusations, we got curious and discovered it was common knowledge who Wilson's wife was."
lurker: At the time of his GJ testimony, he did have the facts?
As to my pretty raw guess as to why Libby said what he said: He was cocky and he was mad. He was cocky about Fitz's investigation being bogus. I am betting Libby knew the real genesis of the Novak (and Woodward) story. Maybe not Armitage exactly, but that someone at State or CIA started it. He assumed that it would all collapse and was going to put a little snark on it before it did.
He was mad because this from the beginning was been about intergovernmental turf fighting. Fitz was just used in the fight.
Throw in a small bit of fear of the law and I think you get an error at GJ testimony.
Valerie Plame, Telling Stories
From yesterday's USA Today: Plame called on to explain varied accounts WASHINGTON — Former CIA officer Valerie Plame should explain "differences" in her various accounts of how her husband was sent to the African nation of Niger in 2002 to investigate reports Iraq was trying to buy uranium there...
Thank you for the mile that you donate, manys! Because I am sure in recognition of the gaps that you allege are so outrageous that you will indeed step up and fill that gap.
Because it's ask not what the country can do for you but what you can do for your country, right?
It's the outrage, can't you just feel the outrage.
For you, it could be named Frequent Troll Flier Miles...
Donate Your Frequent Flier Miles
TigerHawk is talking up Miles for Heroes, a program in which you can donate frequent flier miles to injured soldiers and their families.
IMO, three things have never been reconciled in this mess:
1. Libby told some small stories to a grand jury.
2. Fitz overreached in his investigation to protect grand jury testimony.
3. Fitz completely overreached in his thesis that a "cloud hung over the vice president's office." Whatever that might mean.
Someone come up with a way to connect those dots, and I'm happier. There are some large problems with 2. and 3. fitting together. And neither 2. or 3. fits at all with 1.
I speak for the great unwashed and uninformed who deal evidence and not with nuance and psychic powers!
A Plame Day!
Valerie Plame is back in the news, since her civil suit against the Administration was subject to a court hearing today. The excellent Josh Gerstein of The Sun has pre-game coverage. Carol Leonnig of the WaPo covers the hearing. This bit on official immunity is an instant classic (emphasis adde...
Ah, Plame on once again and all is right with the world!
That and Rosie sailing completely over the world's edge.
A Plame Day!
Valerie Plame is back in the news, since her civil suit against the Administration was subject to a court hearing today. The excellent Josh Gerstein of The Sun has pre-game coverage. Carol Leonnig of the WaPo covers the hearing. This bit on official immunity is an instant classic (emphasis adde...
Forget grading the debate, yes.
Grade the questions, absolutely!
My grade: "Bad, bad" to whomever let the questioners take center stage. Ugly.
Did the RNC know about that in advance? If they did, what were they thinking!?
Grade The Debate
Mark Coffey and Jim Geraghty grade the debate.
And while I am shaking index finger at the RNC...
Should it be the "War in Iraq"? The "War on Terror"?
Or should it be the "War on Terrorism in Iraq"?
Or should it be the "War on Terrorists Wherever They Operate"?
Better, how about: "The War for Democratic Government in Iraq" or something in a similar line.
Be nice to not have to think about these rabbits that the DNC rabbit farm is constantly releasing. Come on, think up some counter labels! Make them chase...
Innumeracy At The Times Or Laziness At The Economist?
Via Glenn we are led to this posting at The Economist site: Innumeracy, thy name is New York Times reporter A dire article from the New York Times indicates that infant mortality is rising in the American south, particularly among blacks: To the shock of Mississippi officials, who in 2004 had se...
As usual with these stories, you have to scratch head and wonder about the whats first and then that leads to the whys.
Legitimate story? What? Why?
Or is this just a rabbit? Chase the rabbit. Ignore the rabbit? Instead could someone explain to the RNC that fiscal spending a la Reagan needs to make a return before any more elections happen. A more compassionate conservativism might be to act fiscally efficient.
Innumeracy At The Times Or Laziness At The Economist?
Via Glenn we are led to this posting at The Economist site: Innumeracy, thy name is New York Times reporter A dire article from the New York Times indicates that infant mortality is rising in the American south, particularly among blacks: To the shock of Mississippi officials, who in 2004 had se...
Aye.
Captain has an interesting live blog on hearings.
Seems a total embarrassing mess and the blame right now is squarely on the incredible silliness of the committee for not being able to explain anything that they wish to do that will either help or improve the business of USAs.
But, this is small taters compared with the mess NBC is getting themselves into for airing the shooter. Hugh Hewitt mentions a tort possibility. ABC has a psychiatrist calling it social catastrophe.
Open Thread Thursday
Still a ramblin' man. Sunday should mark my return.
Beyond ironic that Imus' firing is presented side by side tonight with the "outrageous" Duke case.
Especially more so with Rev Sharpton as facilitator of justice in Imus world.
And how dare anyone play the rapper-family values card at a time like this!!!
Meanwhile, on MSNBC we got David Gregory doing Imus' postmortem! OY!
Not going to miss Imus.
We Live In A Better World
Don Imus has been dropped by MSNBC, and Ana Marie Cox, who built her career on jokes about anal sex, promises she won't be a guest on Imus again. It's all for the best. I was listening to Imus this morning and near the end of the show he played the entire Billy Joel song "Miami 2017 - Seen The ...
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