Who's The Prosecutor? (Ongoing...)

Another trial, another problem for the prosecution, another little mystery of journalism - just who is the prosecutor?

We noted something similar last week, but this time it is the Times which has suddenly gotten all discreet and switched over to a "Lots of the News That's Fit To Print" modality:

Illinois Trial in Graft Case Is Thrown Into Ferment

By JODI RUDOREN

CHICAGO, March 27 — A federal judge dismissed two jurors on Monday two weeks after the jury began deliberating in former Gov. George Ryan's corruption case, tossing into turmoil a trial that has stretched over six months.

The judge, Rebecca R. Pallmeyer of Federal District Court, said she had not made any decisions about whether to proceed and hoped to avoid a mistrial by replacing the two jurors with alternates.

But Mr. Ryan's lawyers objected to that prospect, arguing that "asking them to 'start deliberations anew' is asking the impossible."

The dismissals follow revelations in The Chicago Tribune last week that two jurors lied on questionnaires about whether they had criminal records, with one failing to disclose drunken-driving arrests that led to the revocation of his driver's license while Mr. Ryan, a Republican, was the secretary of state, whose office is responsible for such matters.

Hey, stuff happens.  But to whom did this stuff happen?   Don't bother reading the story - for some reason, the Times does not want to mention that their very special nemesis, Patrick Fitzgerald, is heading this up.  Maybe that fact is not of general interest; maybe staying on his good side side seems like a good strategy.  There's your Publisher's Handbook - Speak truth to power, unless the power is, well, powerful, and might subpoena your sorry reporters and slap them in jail.  In that case, discretion is the better part of valor.

Comments

[clarice]

Isn't this fun? I blogged it a while ago to AT but I don't know if the editor put it up yet.
Amazing. BTW when the WaPo piece came out I emailed the author and asked her why she'd neglected to note in Cowles the name of the prosecutor and never got a response. LOL

The Case of the (Suddenly) Invisible Prosecutor.

[kim]

That explains the discretion; they're valorous. I knew there was a way out of this morass.
======================================

[kim]

I'm struggling with 'thrown into ferment'. It's been fermenting for awhile, now the jug's been cracked open on the floor and the contents exposed to air. Fermenting it ain't. Continuing to rot, it is.

Now why is it so NECESSARY that the crock-tipper remain anonymous? Wouldn't that be news fit to print? If the NYT doesn't think so, I know someone who does.

Hey Board! Your solid gold slogan has been pinched.
====================================

[clarice]

"Thrown into ferment" is an odd headline. How long before DoJ recognizes it has more than one prosecutor in its stable and ought to start some redployment of its troops?

[The Unbeliever]

I wholeheartedly object to ascribing "valor" to the NYT in any way, shape, or form.

And fwiw, discretion minus valor already has a name: cowardice.

[kim]

Crocktipper? Of the two, defense and prosecution, which has the most interest in making sure there is little chance for mistrial or reversal becasue of jury selection. Oh, you wonder why I mention 'interest'?
============================

[Jim E.]

Just so I'm clear: TM is arguing--with what appears to be at least half-seriousness--that the NY Times (along with other newspapers) is deliberately and strategically omitting FitzGerald's name from these stories because they fear if they actually printed his name in connection with the Ryan trial it would somehow make it more likely that FitzGerald would issue subpeonas of reporters at the paper? In short, the reporters are *afraid* to report on FitzGerald?

While you're at it, can you connect the dots and explain how Joe Wilson is surely pulling all of the strings regarding media coverage of the Ryan trial?

[kim]

In faith, I don't unbelieve your explicosity.
===========================

[JohnH]

Holy cow, McGuire. What are you thinking? Are you nuts? Are you part of a conspiracy and/or vendetta against this prosecutor?

He is covert. You just outed a covert agent of the federal government who is involved with highly classified investigations of WMD (Witnesses of Mass Delusion). Perps like you should be frog-marched off to prison and locked up, like, forever.

[kim]

Jim E, what else would as likely explain the absence of the prosecutor's names where they are pertinent and newsworthy? It's not necessarily direct fear of subpoena or involvement; more it is a need for the groupthink to validate the paradigm. Similarly, your caricature of a Wilson based web of conspiracy betrays your ignorance of the structure of this affaire. I'll leave to you to determine whether your ignorance is deliberate or accidental.
========================================

[kim]

JohnH is serious. The powers of this prosecutor are unlimited, as yet.
==============

[Rick Ballard]

He hits home runs often enough but it's Maguire.

Good point about disclosing the name of an undercover prosecutor.

The next step in this is a series of articles questioning whether he has had the support of DoJ in his endeavors - that or we'll be hearing the Pink Panther theme.

[Sue]

Hmmm...the left, in this case, Mr. E., is quick to spot a conspiracy theory when it is being told by someone right of center. Left of center conspiracy theories are totally rad dude...truth to power...

[Jim E.]

I am not "the left."

[Sue]

You are not "the right". But you recognize conspiracies when they come from right of center.

[Jim E.]

This post is about *this* particular conspiracy, so I'm commenting.

[clarice]

L'Imbroglio en tre acte

Act 1--Ambassador Munchausen's Mission
Act II--Press and Kerry gaggle; appointment of the prosecutor of prosecutors
ActIII-The prosecutor vanishes and the Ambassador is unmasked.

[kim]

Mozart might make it light.
==================

[clarice]

Casting call:
Spear carriers first rank:Kristof and Pincus and Corn
evil courtiers:the VIPS and Rand Beer
The French fop: John F. Kerry
The shorus demented:Olberman, Chris Matthews
The gossips: Andrea Mitchell,Richard Armitage
The couriers:Russert and Cooper
The fall guy:Lewis Libby
The dotty scrivenerette:Judith Miller
The procurator extraordinaire:Patrick Fitzgerald
The Ambassador:Joseph A Wilson
The spy:Valerie Plame
The witnesses:Robert Novak and Bob Woodward
The malcontentos:CIA and Dept of State

Ambassador Munchausen:

[clarice]

*Chorus dementos*

[topsecretk9]

The French fop: John F. Kerry = Bill Walton

[topsecretk9]

The shorus demented:Olberman, Chris Matthews = Samuel Phillip Hoffman?

[topsecretk9]

the reporters are *afraid* to report on FitzGerald?

I don't think their is a *fear* of Fitz, but a reluctance to announce the bad news associated with the knight on the white horse.

[cathyf]

I'd like to suggest "Where's Fitz-do?" for the thread title.

cathy :-)

[Jim E.]

A couple of weeks ago, federal prosecutors announced a major child porno ring bust.

News of the child porn bust led off the nightly newscasts, and made the front page of the New York Times.

The press conference was in Chicago. FitzGerald was part of the team involved in the bust. He was right there at the press conference, which makes sense, since they were in Chicago, his turf. Yet I am unable to find an American paper that mentions FitzGerald's work and involvement on this historic child porn bust. The New York Times didn't report his involvement in any part of their front page story.

My question: how does omitting FitzGerald's role in this child porn case fit the idea that papers are afraid to print his name? Seems that under TM's scenario, the papers would be piling on the praise and press coverage, being so scared of Fitz and all. After all, it's a good thing to prosecute child molesters, and it would be easy to give him credit. It would be an easy way to get on his good side, no? Yet they didn't give him any credit...

[clarice]

I'm positive I saw his pic in the announcement in the papers.

[topsecretk9]

Okay this is comedy..RS says Rove is helping Fitz...Jason Leopold say Fitz is about to indict him.

I love these dueling lefties

[cathyf]

Clarice -- a variation:

The Student Princess: Valerie Plame

(Check one of the Plame time-lines sometimes. She graduated from college in 1985. Then the agency trained her. Then she was on official cover in the embassy in Greece for like 3-4 years. Then the CIA sent her to graduate school. Then maternity leave. Then a desk job going to meetings with the state dept. In her 20-year career she spent stunningly little time actually like ya know spying.)

cathy :-)

[topsecretk9]

They mentioned it Fitzgerald in the porn case here

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/current/he/03-23-06-870172.html

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/technology/orl-childporn1606mar16,0,5302802.story?coll=orl-technology-headlines

and looky here, in the LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-childporn16mar16,1,3031104.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

"Other participants included U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

A federal grand jury in Chicago returned two indictments late Tuesday after an international investigation of the "Kiddypics & Kiddyvids" chat room, officials said."

[Sue]

I just did a google search using the words child porn and fitzgerald. I hope I'm not caught up in any investigation. ::grin::

[maryrose]

JimE:
Admit it, Fitz has 3 cases in the toilet and has probably requested that they keep his involvement "off the record" so it won't harm his big prosecutor extraordinaire image. We know he was seen lurking outside the Ryan court-room and nervously awaiting information. Time for Fitz to return to the Windy City and leave the hardball politics to the big boys.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Hah! Looks like with Jason Leopold it's a case of projection:

http://processmediainc.com/press/mini_sites/news_junkie/

'Jason Leopold, whose addictive tendencies led him from a life of drug abuse and petty crime to become an award-winning investigative journalist who exposed some of the biggest corporate and political scandals in recent American history.

'... While he exposed high-rolling hucksters and double-dealing politicians, Leopold hid the secrets of his own felonious past, terrified that he would be discovered.'

[Jim E.]

"I'm positive I saw his pic in the announcement in the papers."

Happily for my case, TM places zero weight on pictures that may or may not exist. (TM once wrote a whole post wondering why the NY Times was trying to hard to hide the fact a guy was black--despite a clear color picture of the person next to the article in question which showed he was black.)

TS9,
Thanks for the citations. I notice none are from the NY Times, and that two are reprints of the Chicago Tribune. Still, I stand corrected and he was mentioned in three papers (it's clear that the Chicago Tribune --Fitz's hometown paper--covered the case and mentione him, too). The first link you provide--from what appears to be a local weekly-- is merely a follow-up on a specific person charged, and not about the initial major announcement. While I was wrong to say no papers mentioned him, I think your search confirms the dearth of Fitz coverage regarding a case that could've won him easy plaudits. I was just trying to point out a flaw in the theory that, as you put it, posits a reluctance on the part of the media to announce the bad news associated with the knight on the white horse. Implied in that conspiracy theory would be a desire to trumpet Fitz-related good news, yet here is a case where the vast majority of the media, including the NY Times, passed on that chance.

[maryrose]

What goes around comes around.

[Sue]

And in the converse, maybe they are also reluctant to give him kudos when they have to be a little unhappy with him. Why not just pretend he doesn't exist?

[Jim E.]

Unhappy with him? Deny him kudos? But that would run counter to the idea that "staying on his good side side seems like a good strategy" (TM's words) and would also run counter to idea of Fitz as a "knight on a white horse" (ts9's words).

This is quite an interesting conspiracy theory.

[Sue]

They didn't give him many kudos in the past. In fact, he was pretty much a non-entity and Gozalez was the front man in the pressers I saw on the child porn ring bust. The press only thought he was a story this time around because it involved the WH. You look for spooks where no spooks reside.

[topsecretk9]

Actually Jime if you google Fitzgerald and "porn" in Google News you will see it picked up quite a bit, including Bloomberg running their own.

[Appalled Moderate]

There is no way to prove conspiracy here unless one is willing to dig into articles about other trial mishaps by the NYT, LA Times, etc, and whether the prosecutor in those cases is getting mentioned in the articles. Who volunteers for the research?

While you're at it, I'd be curious how the NYT treats cases where some action of Eliot Spitzer's is challenged by the court.

[Sue]

Appalled,

Probably the same way they've treated Fitzgerald. Unless it involves a high-profile individual, they get the generic treatment. Prosecutor.

[topsecretk9]

I don't think it a conspiracy, I think it's a reluctance to highlight the not so glowing parts.

The example is particularly glaring in the link TM provides in the WAPO's stories on Fitz's indictments of the Luskin represented Frank Cowels VA business man vs. the dismissal.

If the WAPO reports it in the indictment story you'd think it would be fit to print in the dismissal no?

[topsecretk9]

I keep misspelling the poor mans name - Cowles

[topsecretk9]

And I am more persuaded of this in seeing how Joe Wilson's College circuit speeches are cleansed in reporting. His rhetoric rivals Anne Coulter's, yet you'd never know if a KOS attendee hadn't reprint it.

[kim]

They are trying so hard to put Humpty-Dumpty together again.
==================================

[clarice]

The point is that they built him up and when in three high profile cases his performance hardly rated a gold star he vanished.
TM may be right,,that it is because they don't want to tick him off while he can harm them, it may just be that they have too much invested in Rove/Libby/Bush evil to tell the truth.

And, yes, when Spitzer failed, they named him.

[topsecretk9]

McDermottis a sittingUS Congressman. Yeah, the netroots wouldn't lead a crusade if this were a Republican, no way.

This is insane...for all the bellyaching over tapping phone calls PLUS the friggin news media filing briefs in favor of the invasion of privacy...apparently the NYT's if in favor of this if it happens to a conservative, as pro-tapping and taping phones calls of republicans -yet not if it prevents a suitcase nuke.

Did they file a brief for Linda Tripp?

[clarice]

It truly is something , isn't it?

[maryrose]

In Tripp's case it was not illegal in Maryland I believe. Though I don't like taping in Lewinsky case it was definitive.
Boehner is now leader of the house for repubs . What kind of punishment will Mcdermott get and will it equal Delay coverage?

[topsecretk9]

Clarice

It's beyond something. It's CRAZY. Media has no business filing briefs in this,NONE. Is McDermott a whistleblower? NO.

Where's all this outrage the left tosses around so freely?

[Sue]

You guys act surprised. Wasn't it just this week that a story concerning invasion of privacy was buried or not covered at all?

[topsecretk9]

I am surprised the left is so supportive of their crooks, isn't it a bit kultist of them?

[kim]

There's pieces missing! The glue won't stick! People sit and pick, pick, pick.
========================

[topsecretk9]

Mary
I'm not saying Tripp recording is so great (despite the fact the media neglected to remind people she was being asked to sign an affidavit falsely) but I am a bit miffed on the medias lack of standards.

[larwyn]

Taranto today:

Little White Lies
"[Would-be hijacker Zacarias] Moussaoui said there were times when a Muslim can lie without being immoral: to reconcile Muslims, to answer 'yes' when a wife asks, 'Am I beautiful?' and to carry out jihad."--New York Times, March 27

Sadly, the NYT's did not add:
We agree with Moussaoui, a LEFTY
can lie without being immoral: to reconcile Democrats, to answer 'yes' when a Dem asks, "Am I beautiful and smart and Elliot Ness with a Harvard degree?" and to carry out the destruction of any conservative now in existance.

[topsecretk9]

Clarice

Isn't this similar to the Harkin tapping/eavesdropping Fitz took a pass on?

[larwyn]

Before Jim E starts:

Lies of Omission are considered equal to Lies of Comission in Catholocism.

[PaulV]

The tapes that McDermont gave press were taped cell phone calls. Under federal law it is illegal to intercept, tape or gives copies of tapes to anyone else.
When will house ethics committe act on this?

[maryrose]

Yes the request to sign a false affidavit so summarizes the Clinton WH and silencing Catherine Willey and trashing her after her 60 minutes appearance. The most egregious offense was Lisa Meyers holding the Broderick story until after the Senate impeachment hearing. Only time Trent Lott looked weak, because he just wanted to get it over with. Only stand-up player was Lieberman- a man of morals and principle.

[maryrose]

I often thought the dems hurt themselves in 2000 because if they had impeached Clinton Gore would have stepped in as president and then run as an incumbent. Chances are he would have won too. I think part of the BDS stems from dems realizing this fact too late in the game.

[topsecretk9]

A spokesman for McDermott said today the congressman had just received the ruling and was studying it. A spokesman for Boehner could not be reached immediately.

Isn't that special. Maybe he's out at lunch combing over the ruling with a beer?

[clarice]

ts--The protecive shield around the press has been pierced by their hero prosecutor. I think they feared being in the same position as McDermott--publishing something that had been intercepted illegally.
As for Harkin, it is very much the same though in that case his own staffers, not outside supporters, taped an opponents planning session. (There may be some differences though I haven't considered their effect: How open was the meeting in the Harkin case? Was the interception in mcDermott different than just overhearing something not meant for your ears? Where there different statutes involved?
On the surface, I admit the cases sound similar though.

[clarice]

OT: Berger and pals are raising money for Curt Weldon's opponents. That wonderful researcher on FR, Fedora notes this (hyperlinks at cite):

Susan Rice was associated with Lake, Berger, and Wilson on African issues at NSC. This NSC association is worth further examination: Clinton had placed Lake in charge of NSC after Lake's nomination for CIA Director (in the midst of the scandal over outgoing Director John Deutch's computer security lapses) was stymied by conservative objections over Lake's ties to the KGB/Castro-linked Institute for Policy Studies and related front groups. Lake was then replaced by Berger in the midst of the FBI's investigation of Chinagate:
Clinton/China timeline

On October 24, 1995, President Clinton had a meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin in New York City. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Winston Lord (former deputy national security advisor under Henry Kissinger), National Security Advisor Anthony Lake (former State Department official under Henry Kissinger), Secretary Christopher and Robert Suettinger, Director of Asian Affairs for the National Security Council (NSC), joined them at the meeting. No one brought up China's theft of America's weapons designs during the discussion because, at this point, all five claim they had not yet been told.

SNIP

November [1995]

CIA Director Deutch allegedly briefed NSC Director Anthony Lake about China's theft of America's nuclear weapon designs sometime in November 1995. The president, allegedly, still had not yet been informed. Lake later claimed he did not recall the briefing, but he and White House officials said there was a record of it.

Also in November, Attorney General Janet Reno, Defense Secretary Perry and FBI Director Louis Freeh allegedly learned of China's theft of all of America's nuclear weapons designs for the first time. Allegedly, no one informed the president.

SNIP

July [1996]

On July 3, President Clinton signed another waiver allowing an American satellite to be launched in China. He would sign another six days later.

On July 6, 1996, NSC Director Anthony Lake went to China.

SNIP

Also on December 5 [1996], NSC Director Anthony Lake was named as acting CIA director to replace outgoing Director Deutch. During a routine check of outgoing CIA personnel, agents discovered Deutch brought 14,000 top secret government documents home and left them on an unsecured computer hooked up to the Internet. An investigation was immediately begun. Deputy CIA Director George Tenet failed to inform the FBI or Justice Department of his investigation for over a year. President Clinton pardoned Deutch on his last day in office.

Also on December 5, CNN reported Commerce official Melinda Yee threw away documents concerning the department's trade missions after a judge ordered they be turned over to Larry Klayman's Judicial Watch group.

On December 8, 1996, Gen. Chi attended a dinner at the National Defense University in Maryland. The dinner was hosted by Defense Secretary Perry and attended by Alexander Haig, Brent Scowcroft, Deputy Defense Secretary White, Joseph Nye, Sen. John Glenn (Democrat-Ohio), among others.

On December 9, Gen. Chi and Secretary Perry met with President Clinton at the White House. Allegedly, China's theft of America's nuclear weapons designs was never discussed. The president, allegedly, had still not yet been informed.

Chi and Perry then returned to the Pentagon and had a meeting with Ambassador James Sasser. Before leaving the US in mid-December, Gen. Chi was given a tour of Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico by Defense Secretary Perry. Lab security officials were given little advanced notice of the visit and Chi was not given a normal background check.

SNIP

On March 13 [1997], Attorney General Janet Reno claimed she tried to inform Anthony Lake at the NSC about the FBI's information concerning China's attempt to influence America's elections back in June 1996, but did not because she "could not find him". She also said she did not tell President Clinton herself because she felt it was the job of the NSC. Sandy Berger replaced Lake as head of NSC the following day.

FBI Director Freeh told Congress his investigation into campaign finance irregularities was not focusing on individual criminal acts, but on a possible conspiracy involving a foreign government.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1604664/posts?page=35#35 Back to Chinagate?

[topsecretk9]

she "could not find him"

Was he hiding on the other side of the wall?

[clarice]

An investigation was immediately begun. Deputy CIA Director George Tenet failed to inform the FBI or Justice Department of his investigation for over a year
Compare and contrast with Libby where they sent the (still not public) referral letter over to DoJ and THEN began an internal investigation which lasted three months..And leaked the referral..

[Kate]

OK, should I start to worry about Leopold's article. Leopold is batting 0 as far as I know.

However, in a thread over the weekend we discussed how the FBI investigators had soured on Rove and Libby which explains Fitz' focus on them.

Now, would a retired FBI investigator yack about a case. That's scary. And no way the GJ met 11 times since January with Fitz there. Fitz has been in Chicago a lot.

Any opinions on Leopold's article or just ignore.

[topsecretk9]

This is sweet. Here's an audio of Jim McDermott complaining about NSA Wiretaps.

[topsecretk9]

Kate

Let Jason and Larisa of RS duke it out.

[Kate]

TS, good I'll get popcorn and enjoy the show. Jason seems determined to get to that 22 indictment total, one indictment at a time. I notice he's hedging -Hadley or Rove, Rove or Hadly; Hadley and Rove;

He has to put Hadley in there since he named him in last week's article, too soon to drop.

[topsecretk9]

It's a go, Ryan trial continues.

A federal judge announced this afternoon that she had rejected a defense request for a mistrial, added two alternates to the jury and planned to restart the deliberations in former Gov. George Ryan's trial.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer stressed that she could reconsider her decision if she felt deliberations were unfair and "circumstances warrant."

"I have not shut the door on this possibility," the judge said of granting a mistrial, picking a new jury and holding a retrial.

"This has been an enormous challenge for me," Pallmeyer said in the courtroom following about four hours of closed-door discussions with lawyers in the case.

[dontletfactsintrude]

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_087115411.html

Not only is it a go - looks like one of the the jurors they tossed was sympathetic to Ryan. (Play the video.)

Of course, the Chicago Tribune set this whole thing up by exposing the jurors. The Trib is helping Fitz, just like the other fawning lapdog press people. It's a conspiracy, dammit! Oh, wait ....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0603120388mar12,1,5656740.story

[Davebo]

Maybe that fact is not of general interest; maybe staying on his good side side seems like a good strategy. There's your Publisher's Handbook - Speak truth to power, unless the power is, well, powerful, and might subpoena your sorry reporters and slap them in jail. In that case, discretion is the better part of valor.

I'd say it's definately not of general interest. Unless of course Fitzgerald told them to lie on their questionaire which frankly seems incredibly unlikely.

Then again, "general interest" will vary as much as actual mileage.

[cathyf]

Sorry, back up a minute here, I'm still trying to get my brain around the concept that not one but two people lied to get onto a jury rather than lying to get out of jury duty. It's sort of like opening the paper and reading that someone had been arrested for slipping $20 bills into the cash drawer at the wal-mart when the clerk wasn't looking.

cathy :-)

[clarice]

HEH!

[rosecoloredglasses]

Jesus, now Fitz is a martyr. Can someone point me to the body of water the man walked on?

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Jason has outdone himself:

http://flyunderthebridge.blogspot.com/2006/03/next-hes-joe-wilsons-biographer.html

[maryrose]

Schrummy was on Hardball and actually said he agreed with Bush on immigration. His Rove mask slipped just a little bit so the real Scrum must be off somewhere with other dems.

[clarice]

Well, Patrick with an endorsement like that, I may have to reconsider my thoughts about Jason's piece..LOL

[topsecretk9]

dontletfactsintrude
including all the links TM left.

Is the Chicago Trib link to demonstrate the media conspiracy to discredit Fitz, by way of an intrusive reality and this story was just the start?

[topsecretk9]

Patrick...

These sources work or worked at the State Department (Larry Johnson), the CIA(Valerie Plame) and the National Security Council (Joseph WIlson). Some of these sources are attorneys close to the case. (Who? Hadley's attorney and Luskin are helping Jason out?)

[topsecretk9]

Christopher Wolf?

[Jake - but not the one]

All I can say is you guys sure spend a lot of time quarterbacking from the stands.

You have no input to the outcome, no idea of the character of the players, and only a handful of facts. It might as well be fantasy football.

I don't know who's right or wrong, but it's unhealthy to place to much of your emotional well being on the outcome of events so far removed from your life. Yes, it's interesting - but that's all.

Mind you, I'm still rooting for Fitz. I hope Scooter, Shooter, and Rove slip into the mud and ooze from which they sprung, and that they drag Bush down as they go.

But I'm not investing in it.

Jake

PS - and Hadley, too.

[clarice]

And I'd say that's a good thing, Jake..But if you change your mind and want to rely on truthout, leopold, etc. the odds on Rove's being indicted by the end of the month are down to 3% and the odds of Libby being convicted on any count are about 37%..You could clean up..Go for it.

[Rick Ballard]

Kinda reminds ya of that zen riddle doesn't it?

"What is the sound of one synapse firing?"

Very enigmatic.

[clarice]

Heh!..Has Leopold been right on anything? Has Truthout? Where are the 22 indictments?How could anyone have documents that would be relevant to Libby's conversations with Cooper,Russert and Miller that would deal with the issues in the indictment? Even if there were a secret taping system, how would Fitz find anything in them to shed light on forgetfulness, confusion and motive?

[Sue]

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2006/03/whos_the_prosec.html#comment-15517021>Jake

Well, yippy skippy and skip to the lou my darlin'...."You have no input to the outcome, no idea of the character of the players, and only a handful of facts. It might as well be fantasy football." The same thing I told you about the NSA but it sure as heck hasn't stopped your dancin' to the tune. ::grin::

[topsecretk9]

Mind you, I'm still rooting for Fitz. I hope Scooter, Shooter, and Rove slip into the mud and ooze from which they sprung, and that they drag Bush down as they go.

But I'm not investing in it.

That's alot of imagery for some one invested.

[Lew Clark]

I started hanging out at NSA about the same time George W. Bush started flying fighter aircraft. I've kept in limited touch with friends there through the years. Now, since I'm not Joe Wilson, and don't want to be, I have never hung out with Democrat members of Congress. But, based on the record, I much prefer NSA personnel listening in on my phone calls as compared to members of Congress!
So could we pass a law that allows NSA to intercept phone calls and prevents members of Congress from doing so. Oh we already have such a law. GOOD!

[clarice]

Everyone's a comedian!

[topsecretk9]

I'm just wondering if McDermott bypassed FISA or did he get a warrant?

[kim]

No, Jake, you're the one heavily invested. You'll be a lot more upset if the MSM is permanently discredited and Joe Wilson hanged than any of here will be if Libby is found guilty of perjury.
=============================

[richard mcenroe]

"Sadly, the NYT's did not add:
We agree with Moussaoui, a LEFTY
can lie without being immoral: to reconcile Democrats, to answer 'yes' when a Dem asks, "Am I beautiful and smart and Elliot Ness with a Harvard degree?" and to carry out the destruction of any conservative now in existance."

Or when breathing.

[topsecretk9]

You'll be a lot more upset if the MSM is permanently discredited and Joe Wilson hanged than any of here will be if Libby is found guilty of perjury.

Especially since they doubled down on an Armitage prize, so yeah

[topsecretk9]

Here is what Cooper said in email via Newsweek

"Subject: Rove/P&C," (for personal and confidential), Cooper began. "Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two mins before he went on vacation ..." Cooper proceeded to spell out some guidance on a story that was beginning to roil Washington. He finished, "please don't source this to rove or even WH [White House]" and suggested another reporter check with the CIA"...

And here is Cooper GJ Account, truthout

...So did Rove leak Plame's name to me, or tell me she was covert? No. Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes.

Leopold says

..."It was, KR said, [former Ambassador Joseph] Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized [Wilson's] trip," Cooper's July 11, 2003, email to his editor said. "Wilson's wife is Plame, then an undercover agent working as an analyst in the CIA's Directorate of Operations counterproliferation division. (Cooper later included the essence of what Rove told him in an online story.) The email characterizing the conversation continues: "not only the genesis of the trip is flawed an[d] suspect but so is the report. he [Rove] implied strongly there's still plenty to implicate iraqi interest in acquiring uranium fro[m] Niger... "

So, is Leopold alleging Cooper is lying in Time Magazine about his GJ testimony? because this is the first I've seen of Coopers email directly contradicting his Time after GJ report? Just pointing this Leopold-ness out.

[Kate]

I notice that in Jason's story it will take at least a month to prepare the paperwork. This story looks like pushback by Larry Johnson and the other crazies.

However, Fitz would be a media hero again if he indicted Rove. World wide attention, fawning.

The story was quickly becoming incompetent Fitz, Rove's indictment would change the narrative.

[MJW]

Leopold's problem seems to be a lack of reading comprehension. Here is a quote form the Newsweek article topsecretk9 linked to:

Cooper wrote that Rove offered him a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson." Rove told Cooper that Wilson's trip had not been authorized by "DCIA"—CIA Director George Tenet—or Vice President Dick Cheney. Rather, "it was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip." Wilson's wife is Plame, then an undercover agent working as an analyst in the CIA's Directorate of Operations counterproliferation division. (Cooper later included the essence of what Rove told him in an online story.) The e-mail characterizing the conversation continues: "not only the genesis of the trip is flawed an[d] suspect but so is the report. he [Rove] implied strongly there's still plenty to implicate iraqi interest in acquiring uranium fro[m] Niger ..."

Note the emphasized sentence is not in quotes. (Perhaps I'm too hard on Leopold -- anyone can misread something. But he should have at least taken a hint from the difference in language use between the actual Cooper memo and Newsweek's sentence.)

[MJW]

After re-reading Leopold's article, I notice two things:

1) He opens the sentence in question with a quote, but never closes the quote, so it's not completely obvious he intends to indicate he's quotng the e-mail.

2) He's ineptly plagerizing Newsweek, which likely resulted in the first problem.

[Kate]

You're not too hard on Leopold. He has been pushing the Rove to be indicted line for months now. His stories are a joke and his main source is Larry Johnson.

The major concern I have in this report is that one of his sources is an FBI investigator. If that is the case, and this guy is such a hack as to be shooting his mouth off, then there is a problem on Fitz' team.

[Dwilkers]

I'm not sure what to make of all these cases where Fitz' office seems to be playing fast and loose or getting their clock cleaned.

He's the US Atty, and isn't most of this done by Assistant US Atty's? Yeah I know, he's responsible for supervising his guys and all. Still, I'm trying to figure out how much of it is about Fitz.

I don't guess anyone knows how many cases they try up there, or how normal/abnormal this sort of error rate is across all the districts?

It is pretty ugly though. Especially the one where they had to flat out drop the charges against that guy last week. Man, you'd like to think they're a bit more on the ball than to charge some guy that is flat out innocent. Not just someone they can't prove the charges against mind you.

Flat. Out. Innocent. That's seriously wrong.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

' Perhaps I'm too hard on Leopold'

That would be impossible. He's a loon who just makes things up. Ask Paul Krugman.

[cathyf]

Flat. Out. Innocent.

You've actually understated the significance here. He's not just innocent, Cowles is the victim of the crime in question.

cathy :-)