That Went Well

Joe Wilson's appearance before the House Judiciary Committee to opine on Presidental pardoning power was not exactly the coronation his wife enjoyed before Waxman's Oversight hearing a few months back.

Per The Hill, House Republicans outnumbered Democrats in attendance and, although the liveblog is confusing, they certainly spent time gunning for Joe.

Rep. Issa (R - CA) suggested that Valerie herself might be a candidate for a perjury investigation and Presidential pardon one day:

Issa: Whether we can get more mileage out of disclosure of CIA Agent, we’ve reduced it, I apologize if I feel that this is hypocritical event. If we were having the discussion we should be having, the question of the President’s clemency, should be our inquiry today. All of us together talked about how when Ford restored a certain amount of confidence, pardoning Nixon so the nation could get on with it’s work, not bc it was popular because it allowed the government to move on, it should be taken in the same light. We have had a lot of politics on this for a long time. I hope he believes me at my word, I believe that his wife will soon be asking for a pardon. She has not been genuine in her testimony before Congress, if pursued, Ambassador Wilson and Valerie will be asking to put this behind us. I do not believe this was good use of the Committee’s time. I hope we will have a real debate about proper use of clemency.

Mr. Issa's stalking point seems to be Ms. Plame's denial of involvement of a role in launching her husband's trip; eventually, the liveblog refers to the Feb 12 memo from Ms. Plame that was recently released through the additional views of Vice Chairman Sen. Bond as part of the most recent Senate report on intelligence.

To that let's append her testimony to Waxman and a summary of her nnow-classic "Walking-By Guy" explanation of how Joe was tapped for the trip to Niger.

Comments

[hit and run]

You know, there is a transcript available...

If you have a subscription to the Federal News Service

::sigh::

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

If Joe thinks yesterday was rough, wait until he gets deposed in his civil suit.

[Other Tom]

I continue to think the Wilsons' civil suit will not survive the pending motions to dismiss, and thus there will be no discovery. But I find myself almost wishing that the suit would survive, and depositions could go forward. Although it would be a real annoyance for Cheney et al., I think both Wilsons would be exposed to far more damaging cross-examination. A well-prepared defense attorned could truly do some major and permanent damage to the reputations of those two frauds.

I haven't seen any celebratory signs from the left concerning yesterday's proceedings.

[clarice]

Yeah. I'd be astonished if even the great Chemerinsky can get the suit past the dismissal motions,OT>

[kim]

Utterly silent, OT. The best on another board says life is too short for Plame.

Poor soul.
========================

[maryerose]

The hearing was a complete bust for Joe Wilson who attempted a bridge too far with this nonsense. He better watch his back or he along with his wife are going to be asking President Bush for their own pardons.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

OT: Whole Foods CEO has sock puppets in the closet

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2007/07/11/an-identity-crisis-at-whole-foods-market/

This story is one huge lol.

[clarice]

But are they ORGANIC sock puppets, Gabriel? Next to global warming and the fight against DDT--that is a smaller scam, but a scam nevertheless. Go to activistcash.com and see how they fund all the food police (f0r their benefit).

Lasr week I shocked a fellow Whole Foods shopper who suggested I try the ORGANIC Greek yogurt when I said I thought the entire ORGANIC thing was a scam. Heresy in the temple as it were.
The stock guys were stifling laughs.

[hit and run]

Variation of old philosophical question:

If an administration critic goes down in flames and the media absents themselves from the scene, do his screams in agony make any sound?

I know, doesn't work, Joe has so little self-awareness that he thinks he killed yesterday, speaking truth to power and nobly blowing whistles and all.

That or the only thing he said to Val when he got back to the hotel was, "How did my hair look?"

[clarice]

Walton goes along with probation but can't understand why Bush considered the sentence "excessive" blah blah..Clueless.

http://www.nysun.com/article/58347
Oh, in the other BIG news of the day the Australian reports the coral reefs are doing just fine with global warming. Mother earth seems far more able to adapt than the watermelons.

[Rick Ballard]

Walton continues his descent into total jackassery.

It weren't your call, Reggie. I'm reducing his standing from "Low-Mediocre" to "Low-Laughable".

[Walter]

Walton's opinion.

[clarice]

Rick, want to blog that for AT? If not, I will though I'm a tad busy.

[Rick Ballard]

I'll give it a whirl.

[hit and run]

The article gives the quote from Bush regarding Armitage in the presser this morning:

"I've often thought about what would have happened had that person come forth and said, `I did it.' Would we have had this, you know, endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter?" Mr. Bush said.

Money and hours....but no mention of Libby in his what if.

Whatever.

[clarice]

Thanks. Rick.

[hit and run]

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: Yesterday I pasted in commentary from someone on the Corner regarding the Sara Taylor hearing - in which they said she was doing very poorly.

Hugh, however maintains:

The Democrats didn't lay a glove on former White House political director Sara Taylor in yesterday's hearing. Her steady performance brought more gloom to the Dems who believed their fixation of the firing of the U.S. Attorneys was certain to generate fireworks and big headlines.

And he ends with:

Leahy, should avoid witnesses that leave him looking like Bluto on a bad day.

[Sara]

I haven't been participating the last couple of days and missed the hearing because I have two of the cutest kids on the planet here to visit. Thank goodness for a pool or this Grandma would be even more of a basketcase than normal.

Anyway, I'm still reading and also wanted to note that the insane Deborah Frisch is back. See HERE for update and links to more.

Also, I look at the President's remarks not so much as leaving out Libby, but more an acknowledgment that he is now aware of how Fitz screwed him over by advising people to keep this secret from the one person who should have been informed immediately. I think this is a bad omen for Fitz and Co.

[Jane]

You know maybe something happened when Pelosi and Reid took over. Maybe the public started to catch on.

Or maybe tat is wishful thinking.

[Jane]

Sara,

Boy that sucks about Jeff Goldstein.

[hit and run]

I agree Sara.

It is a personal frustration of mine that we are at this point and a blowing of steam, rather than an actual wish that the president had mentioned Libby at this mornings presser.

[windansea]

Money and hours....but no mention of Libby in his what if.

the MSM and nutroots thinks he means Libby, I think he means Armitage

[SWarren]

Hit and run,
That or the only thing he said to Val when he got back to the hotel was, "How did my hair look?"

LOL. And Val surely scolded him about his "I.(am a) Limpus Lewey" mis-speak.

Geez, honey did you have to announce it to everyone?

[PeterUK]

No straight answers from Harry Reid about Iraq surrender.

[Roland Patrick]

Josh Marshall and Brad DeLong seem to be under the impression that the Presidency is a conspiracy in restraint of trade:

Impeach George W. Bush. Impeach Him Now

From the ITT List:

Bush Commits Felony by Instructing Miers Not to Honor Subpoena: U.S. Code TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 73 > § 1505:

Whoever, with intent to avoid, evade, prevent, or obstruct compliance, in whole or in part, with any civil investigative demand duly and properly made under the Antitrust Civil Process Act...

Yes, that's right, they're appealing to that famous basis for high crimes and misdemeanors: the Antitrust Civil Process Act

[Jane]

I think he means Armitage

Me too. There was no doubt in my mind when I watched the press conference.

[hit and run]

But let's not slow the nutroots down from believing he meant Libby. Or Rove, for that matter. There is the matter of sealed v. sealed that must be resolved.

[PeterUK]

Mr Ballard,
You might find this comparison between the Lyn Stewart and the Lewis Libby trials useful.

[Rick Ballard]

Mr Uk,

It would have been very useful but "Obedisco, sua maestà" means NOW.

[Other Tom]

I think Josh Marshall and Prof. DeLong have this part of Section 1505 in mind:

"Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress—..."

The Antitrust Civil Process Act isn't implicated. But this doesn't mean they're not nuts anyway.

[clarice]

DoJ supports the President's refusal to hoor the subpoenas. As for Marshall, that's what he gets for listening to Sid Blumenthal.

[PeterUK]

Mr Ballard,
I guess it's quicker in Latin,eh?

[clarice]

**hoNor*****

[RichatUF]

Rick-

I leafed through the opinion and I'd point out fn 6 which reads in part: "the relevance of the majority's historical analysis, contending that "the antecedent English pardon power" does not establish an executive right to define extra-legislative punishments...discretion available to the King to dispense mercy did not incorporate into the pardoning power the royal right to invade the legislative province of assessing punishments" [notes ommitted]

So Walton must have gotten his marching orders-puffs up Rita, drops the "king" analogy, and for some reason doesn't think the President can commute the jail time...I used to think that he was slow, but now it looks to me that he is just another hack and is looking forward to a promotion Jan 20 2009

also: the snowflake from Walton is a pdf scan...

[Topsecretk9]

I am putting this in this here, adding to the discussion from the diverse judge thread.

This is in regards to Wilson saying he briefed both committees - (additional views) and now it's pretty interesting

The committee report included several examples including his comments in a June 12, 2003 Washington Post story(2) by Walter Pincus which said, "among the envoy's conclusions was that the documents may have been forged because 'the dates were and the names were wrong;'" his comments asserting that the Vice President had been briefed on his findings; and press stories, for which he appeared to be an anonymous source, that claimed his findings "debunked" the Niger-Iraq uranium story..

In his letter to the Committee, Ambassador Wilson took issue with this conclusion and asserted that his first "public statement" was in his NYTimes op-ed on July 6, 2003 (3). He says that in this and his other public comments, he stated clearly that he never saw the documents, that he claimed "only that the transaction described in the documents that turned out to be forgeries could not have occurred and did not occur," and that "never claimed to have 'debunked' the allegation that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa."

Yet, Ambassador Wilson acknowledged to our Committee staff he was the source of the June 12, 2003 WAPO story in which he also claimed that the documents may have been forged and that the names and dates were wrong. In addition, and May 6, 2003 New York Times opinion piece by Nicolas Kristoff, in which Ambassador Wilson appears to be the source, say that the "envoy reported to the CIA and State Department that the information was unequivocally wrong an that the documents had been forged"(4) Kristoff added that the "envoy's debunking of the forgery was passed around the administration." Perhaps Mr. Kristoff and Mr. Pincus misunderstood the Ambassador's comments, or perhaps Ambassador Wilson is making a distinction between speaking out under his own name and speaking out as an anonymous source to the WAPO and NYT with circulation of several million readers.

As for Ambassador Wilson's claim that he stated clearly in his New York Times op-ep that he did not have access to the actual memorandum that discussed the Niger-Iraq uranium deal, this is true, but not surprising. *****This admission came only AFTER our Committee staff interviewed and confronted him about the inconsistencies his previous comments to reporters -- it was during this interview this Committee staff that Ambassador Wilson asserted he may have become confused about his own recollections after the IAEA reported in March 2003 that the names and dates on the documents were wrong. We agree that Ambassador is confused...

So Wilson was confronted and admitted he was BS'ing BEFORE his op-ed and is trying to make a distinction between public and private statements in order to not run a foul -

IOW's the OP-ED was an attempt at ass saving.

[RichatUF]

page 7 from the order:

...see also Clinton v. City of New York 524 US 417, 450 (1998) (Kennedy, J concurring)(observing that "seperation of powers was designed to implement the fundamental insight...that concentration of power in the hands of a single governmental branch is a threat to liberty"). And it could readily be argued that the President's decision to commute the prison sentence of a criminal defendant on the condition that he continue to serve a term of supervised released for which imprisonment is deemed a necessary statutory predicate constitutes just such an encroachment, disregarding as it does the considered judgement of Congress in exercising "the broad authority that legislatures necessarily possess in determining the types and limits of punishments for crimes..."

Walton really is pushing the Presidential over-reach argument...his mentors must be pleased

RichatUF

[clarice]

Maybe,TS. I always figured it was his way of saying things that confirmed just enough of the more florrid earlier accounts so that almost everyone read them together ,but he could always point to the op ed and say I never said that.

[Topsecretk9]

Also, does anyone recall - during the trial there was some bit of evidence that came to light that was never shared with the intelligence committee - I believe York did a story on it...

[Topsecretk9]

Clarice

He said

(As for the actual memorandum, I never saw it. But news accounts have pointed out that the documents had glaring errors — they were signed, for example, by officials who were no longer in government — and were probably forged. And then there's the fact that Niger formally denied the charges.)

and the SSCI pointed out he was the source of those news accounts...

[PeterUK]

It looks like Wilsom had either seen the Niger Forgeries,or been told by someone who had seen them,I wonder who?

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

The sentencing, denial of bail, commutation and this latest exercise form a mini-narrative that is worth a full article. There are a number of others here at JOMC much more competent at 'long' writing than I. I know that Thomas Lifson would appreciate a submission of a 1,500 word piece that detailed Walton's petulance but it ain't gonna be me what writes it up.

I would be pleased to help any regular who cares to take a shot at a piece for AT, I'd love to see more commenters here publish their well founded thoughts.

I kin edit gooder than I kin write and I can also put fang to parchment to liven things up. I won't take on long pieces until the election nears.

[windansea]

Walton is confused

when Libby was booked that counts as a day served towards any sentence

all the rest is bogus

[windansea]

good job TSk9

where is link to that Wilson stuff upthread?

Wilson & Plame are so toasted if they get deposed and cross examined under oath

[Topsecretk9]

Wind

http://intelligence.senate.gov/prewar.pdf

pdf, towards the end in additional views...

[Crunchy Frog]

Gabriel, clarice:

What I like is the timing. When "Rahodeb" starting sliming Wild Oats in 2005, it was trading at $8 per share. Now, two years later Whole Foods is attempting to buy it at over $18! Hell of a return on investment, huh?

[hit and run]

Gabriel:
OT: Whole Foods CEO has sock puppets in the closet

I condemn the sock-puppetry and sock-puppetry alone. Whatever the sock puppets do behind closed doors in the privacy of their bedrooms is their own business.

[Ralph L]

"DoJ supports the President's refusal to hoor the subpoenas"
So does Senator Vitter.

[DukeDigger]

Rick B.

I would like to nominate Cathy F, if willing to do it. The most salient posts have streamed forth from her pen….(so to say)

[hit and run]

I second, third, fourth and fifth that motion!

[VIMH: What no sixth, seventh, eighth, etc?]
What? Oh, sorry, got distracted by the idea of a fifth...

[Other Tom]

Should read "DoJ supports the President's refusal to nappy-headed hoor the subpoenas."