Pardon Scooter? (Round II)

Michael Barone joins the call for a pardon of Scooter Libby and makes this point:

The investigation purportedly was an attempt to discover who had told Robert Novak that Valerie Plame was a CIA "operative" (Novak's word). But prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald knew before the investigation began that the leaker was Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. It is astonishing that Armitage and his friend and boss Secretary of State Colin Powell didn't inform Bush of this and allowed two of his top aides, Libby and Karl Rove, to be harassed by Fitzgerald for months and years.

Hmm, how astonishing is it?  Certainly its surprising if one accepts the pretense that Fitzgerald was investigating the sources of the Plame leak.  However, he wasn't - his diligent gumshoes apparently never thought to check the appointment calendar of confessed leaker Richard Armitage.  Had they done so, they might have thought to ask him about his chat with Bob Woodward on June 13 2003 and avoided subsequent unpleasant surprises.

A better way to understand Special Counsel Fitzgerald's role is to connect it to the Justice Department uprising against Vice President Cheney and his counsel David Addington that surfaced most dramatically with the famous hospital showdown with Ashcroft, Comey, Gonzalez and Card over the NSA warrantless surveillance program.  Let's just add a few dates to this helpful Emptywheel timeline of the NSA program:

June 2003: John Yoo leaves his position at OLC.

October 3, 2003: Jack Goldsmith confirmed as head of OLC.

Mid-November 2003, Goldsmith to Ashcroft: draft memo, Review of Legality of the [NSA] Program

December 11, 2003: Comey appointed Deputy AG.

March 3 or 4, 2004: Ashcroft and Comey agree they cannot recertify the NSA domestic spying program.

March 4, 2004: Ashcroft hospitalized with pancreatitis.

March 10 2004: The hospital confrontation between Comey and Gonzales and Card.

Bearing in mind that John Yoo had become Cheney's man at Justice, let's add some dates:

Sept 26-28 2003: Andrea Mitchell followed by the WaPo break the news of the criminal referral of the Plame leak.

Dec 30, 2003:  Ashcroft recuses himself  in favor of Deputy Atty. Gen. Comey from Plame investigation; Comey appoints Fitzgerald as Special Counsel.

And away they went - Fitzgerald was a helpful torpedo in the water dropped towards the USS Cheney.  Not without reason, of course - Libby's story to the FBI certainly seemed a bit of a stretch.  But Fitzgerald's primary goal in this DoJ uprising was to poke at Libby's story and entangle Dick Cheney, not to determine whether Richard Armitage or Colin Powell had engaged in a bit of harmless gossip. 

Just for example, Fitzgerald was intent on not investigating or hearing from Andrea Mitchell, who had been reporting various angles to the Niger-uranium story, had talked to Joe Wilson, had a public spat with Armitage when he stopped returning her calls in July 2003, and had counted Colin Powell among the guests at her wedding.  Oh, yes, and she admitted to having been aware of the Wilson and wife story.  But there was nothing to investigate there.

Comments

[Porter]

Powell has always been the biggest and bestest bureaucrat of them all. In it for job security only.

[clarice]

Precisely so, TM. That's the story in a nutshell as far as I am concerned.

[clarice]

Don't you suppose the President knows this by now. Don't you suppose that for Cheney's sake if not for Libby's he'd feel compelled to pardon Libby knowing this.

[clarice]

Don't you suppose the President knows this by now. Don't you suppose that for Cheney's sake if not for Libby's he'd feel compelled to pardon Libby knowing this.

[Jane]

And that is the precise reason O is safe in the Blago investigation. Rahm too probably. Fitz doesn't want them.

[centralcal]

I am thinking Cheney will do everything in his power to persuade W to pardon Libby. It remains to be seen if W will acquiesce.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone. How many of the guys are out shopping for the first time as we speak? lol.

[Rick Ballard]

Any compulsion on the President's part would have to come from a self acknowledgment that his demand for compliance with the "investigation" without regard to his subordinates rights was a moral error. Just as his appointment of trash from SDNY was a serious error in judgment. I believe that he should do it but I wouldn't bet on it.

He's going to leave office with this flyspeck of a scandal being the only legal blemish on his administration. I'm not sure that he will wish to draw attention to it. The real blemish is the fact that DoJ and the FBI have continued to sink to the level of State in terms of being Dem 'shops'. The nation will pay heavily for that during the tenure of the Chicago scum.

[Danube of Thought]

I would rather have a viper in my boot than Colin Powell in my cabinet.

How revolting that he is now lecturing the Republican Party on how it should behave. What, exactly, has he ever done for the Republican Party.

[BobS]

Is Daley in his sights? Heaven knows he has enough on Blago.

At any rate, the versions of the Libby affair as coveyed by Barone and TM will be the one in the history books when Dems aren't around to rewrrite it. I still hope that one day Chuck Schumer's involvement will finally become part of the conversation.

[jwest]

What’s everybody doing here? There’s a Plame fight going on at Crooks at Liars, hosted by the famed Plamologist, Murry Waas.

http://murraywaas.crooksandliars.com/2008/12/23/exclusive-cheneys-admissions-to-the-cia-leak-prosecutor-and-fbi/#comments

[BobS]

A question I've not heard asked:

If no onew did anything wrong - including Blago - why did John Harris resign? Is he to be the sacrificial lamb for Blago?

[BobS]

One of the greatest errors of the Bush administration was thta it never defended itself - even when facts were clear. He easliky could have had the bully pulpit on FISA, pre-war intel, etc if he had wanted. Hell, the country needed to be reading from the same sheet of music and not a daily Dem party Press release from the NYT and NBC.

[Captain Hate]

I wish I would've discovered this site back when Plamegate was going on but frankly I thought that was the stupidest waste of taxpayer money since Iran/Contra. If they want to use a special prosecutor for something useful why don't they go after who screwed up Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac?

My scorn for Powell grows with everything I find out about him. Nobody loves a backstabber after their usefulness expires, Colin.

[BobS]

I like the "Dem Shop" moniker, DOT.

[Captain Hate]

BobS, give me an executive summary of the Schmuckster's involvement, other than the moth-like inability to resist the lure of camera lights.

[narciso]

Bringing up Colin, is not a good way to wrangle Christmas or even Festivus cheer
around here. Wasn't one of his first leadership roles as a Major on staff was to obfuscate the investigation into My Lai massacre; until Sy Hersh dug it up a year later. Then he traipsed through Iran Contra without getting his feet wet. Of Armitage I thought better, since he carries reminders of what happens when politicians undermine a war for political gain; but I guess that
went by the wayside, when your own political interest are at stake.

[Porter]

Harris resigned because he knows he's on tape discussing "price per pound of heavy lifting". If you follow the report carefully enough, remember, this is Greg Craig putting this together. He had another famous client about ten years ago, as I recall. Now who was that....

Anyway, Gateway links (LUN) to an attorney who makes the very important pick up of the day. I give you the terms "personal benefit" and "transition staff", have your dictionaries at the ready. From "Legal Insurrection" (via Gateway's link,"dictionary"):

"The report released today by Obama's transition staff repeatedly denies any conversations regarding a "personal benefit" to Blagojevich in connection with the Senate seat. If there were no conversations and the subject of giving Blagojevich personal benefits never came up, why was Blagojevich so mad?

Or is the Obama report's focus on "personal" benefits a smokescreen? Was there some benefit Blagojevich demanded that wasn't "personal" which was discussed? Or were the communications with someone not on the "transition staff"? Does this all depend on the meaning of "personal benefit" and "transition staff"?"

Whitewash meets 4 inch brush. However, whitewash is water soluble and a quick rinse brings back that natural patina.

Rahm is screwed. Maybe Valerie too, that was a twist I didn't see coming.

I don't normally have popcorn for breakfast, but...

[clarice]

Volokh fisks the O report:

http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_12_21-2008_12_27.shtml#1230110725

[BobS]

Ed Morrissey has been consistent with his crticism of the Plame investigated but maintains that Libby lied and should have been prosecuted.

Did he though?

I've yet to be clear on it and recall the DC jury using up several cases of post-its to convince themselves.

What lie did he tell?

[fdcol63]

The Libby case reminds me a lot of l'Affaire Dreyfus, and hopefully someday Scooter will be exonerated.

When decent and honorable public servants like this get trashed and demonized for purely partisan reasons, we need to look no further for why we have such a corrupt political system.

[kim]

Waas's predicament is iconic for mainstream journalism. In order to convince you of the accuracy of his account, he has to pretend that the press is naive. Who was leading whom around by the nose?
========================================

[Danube of Thought]

I emphatically agree with BobS's characterization of the principal failing of George Bush. The most important requirement for a president is that he lead the nation (not that he "handle the economy" or other such BS), and Bush simply did not do that--in fact he didn't appear even to try to do so.

Among myriad examples: He could have and should have made the "sixteen words" a slam dunk--he spoke about what British Intelligence had concluded, and his statement was absolutely true. But instead some functionary conceded that the statement shouldn't have been included in the SOU.

He should have fired George Tenet within a week after 9/11, whether Tenet was personally at fault or not. Such a massive failure of intelligence simply demands that a demonstration be made, and the intelligence chief must be sacrificed.

I'd go on and on about FISA and all the rest, but what the hell. He was depressingly similar to his father in his unwillingness to engage his opponents forcefully and to rally the public to his position. He did a number of courageous, honorable and noble things, but he failed utterly as a leader.

[kim]

Well, I would only say this, Tom, that he lead by example rather than by exhortation. Watch as all his successors follow in his path.
======================================

[fdcol63]

I agree with your assessment of Bush's failures of national leadership and his more admirable qualities, DoT.

However, I'm not so sure that all the intelligence that shaped Bush's decision was a total failure.

I still wonder what those convoys of trucks that Saddam sent to Syria were carrying ... and whether or not it was part of the site that Israel wiped out in Sep. 2007.

[kim]

Yeah, fd, and I think the yellowcake went to Libya along with a coupla billion dollars for Saddam's nuke, which Khaddafi gave up pdq. When the wind blew, so to speak.
====================================

[clarice]

OT:Marty Peretz notes some truly weird donors to the Clinton Foundation..
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123007817817731685.html?mod=djemEditorialPage>United Way?

DoT, In general I agree with your views but I'd add a few things:
1. The horrible way he was treated during the transition by the Clintons made it hard for him to get a proper handle on the executive branch. And his people had barely made it into their offices when 9/11 hit.
2. It is very hard to get first rate Republicans to come into the federal service anymore..oh, don't ask why..
3. His worst personnel choices were in communications and personnel and because he is a terrible communicator and loathe to fire people this was a disaster.
When Mary Matalin left Cheney for private endeavors, there were only idiots and clowns left to carry the ball--that's how Libby was tasked to handle the Plame matter in the first place (on top of his other already backbreaking job.)

[matt]

no offense (well, actually that BS) to lawyers, but this is what happens when you have an oligarchy run by lawyers. A good lawyer can turn anything into a crime in front of a jury, just as a good lawyer can get admitted murderers, grifters, and rapists acquited.

Their stock in trade is dissembling, aspersion, misdirection, and prevarication. Very rarely in the real world is there that desire to see justice done. It's all in one's interpretation of justice, of course, and how much money one has to see one's will enforced.

More and more, I feel we are seeing a rerun of Hapsburg or Ottoman corruption. "Come, my friend, we can surely adjudicate this small affair favorably if we apply baksheesh in the proper places".

[fdcol63]

Scott McClellan was a joke.

[kim]

Right, matt, and that the corruption is wrenching is manifest by the disparity engendered by the bias of the press. It's the last gasp of a dying beast, though, but what follows on may be even worse. Around what prinicples will information processing cohere in the future?
====================================

[Danube of Thought]

The intelligence failure I had in mind was 9/11 itself, not the WMD intelligence (which also warranted firing Tenet).

Was there really not a single individual anywhere who might have been a more effective spokesman than Scott McClellan? Was Bush not horribly embarrassed by him every single day? If not, why not?

Groan...

[MayBee]

And that is the precise reason O is safe in the Blago investigation. Rahm too probably. Fitz doesn't want them.

Exactly.

[kim]

OK, Tom, those who can, do, as did the Bush Administration; those who can't, explain why not, as will the Biden Administration. Bush didn't pay attention to the promotional side. Favourable publicity, with an honest press, would have flowed naturally from events truthfully portrayed. We're all dismayed, and Bush may be now, that more attention wasn't paid to PR or spin, which is about all the Democrats have to work with.

Yes, BobS, what lie did he tell? Fitz can't tell me. Ed can't tell me. Tom can't tell me. I can tell God what lie Russert told.

Schumer, through deputy Attorney Generals, ran the Department of Justice during the Bush Administration, in direct conflict with the Constitution which gives it to the direction of the President, within the Executive Branch, in order that his vow to enforce the laws be fulfilled. Schumer is the traitor to law and reason.
=================================

[kim]

Well, c'mon, Fitz is supposed to see that justice be done, it's a fundamental duty of the office, and he should be interested in da Big Guy, the criminal genius. You don't think he knows that is Obama?
===================================

[Rick Ballard]

Good news from the NYT - revenue dropped almost 14% last month. They should be in bankruptcy before May at this pace. All that it will take is a drop in the Manhattan commercial real estate market. Considering that the consolidation and restructuring on Wall Street has cleared out over 100K cubbies to date, I'd say that's a reasonable bet to make.

[regift]

The sixteen words in the SOU came from another source, technically outside intelligence, Plame's husband had to be researched. Same with Plame.

Congress already tried to close CIA. The Directors, all Air Force, had CIA moved to DoD and NSA for analysts and, now, all operations officers are the new Gates hybrid things. The questions here are domestic powers like Plame had and NSA. Congress failed because these are jobs.

Powell was the original set up by Plame. He had to read documents she was classified and that's their modus. Meet with Joe and Val, talk, she tells you she's CIA and can't talk and their done.

Plame was a leak since Ames, a known bad agent. She traveled, unauthorized, to foreign countries who knew her history and her WMD. Why would an unauthorized CIA operations officer go to an ally who won't allow nukes on it's soil, but produces allot of uranium? This might involve foreign intelligence that works closely with CIA. The CIA and the US government might have decided that a mistake was made and let people know that; Libby and the rest would not have been aware. If they were aware,they couldn't talk. Someone visited a bunch of agencies and they got real mad. So, Plame is known since Ames and her follow up, which is why foreign intelligence knew her. The WMD and NSA things were extra.

So, all these people would have been involved in CIA and State working on a CIA operations officer, paramilitary trained, working unauthorized in an ally's country. The country would have worked with the US government at the Presidential, maybe VP level because Bush's dad was CIA, to solve why an illegal illegal was operating in country. Allies know Plame as a bad agent, psychiatric problems and wanting overseas work like Iraq.

Plame proved herself to be dangerous and lethal, something most intelligence services already knew. So, the US government and the P and VP took the hit. It is obvious that this was her goal with the ally. She was so effective destroying the US government and their intelligence, WMD and NSA, etc. that most go back to the original theory; she went bad with Ames. She was always watched by CIA because of her involvement with the Ames investigation when it was already completed by Justice.

Pardon the people involved? Yes, they were victims of Plame's work. The idea that the P and VP would work with an ally on a bad CIA operations officer that has gone insane isn't wrong, it's what CIA does, plays with governments. In Plame's case it's mostly American as it should be; it wasn't a foreign operations, but a US CIA one. Plame was supposed to go to jail for what she claimed happened to her, but,instead, she got breaks and DoJ should be able to figure what foreign governments think of their justice. So, what is a CIA operations officer, paramilitary trained, WMD expert, known bad agent, etc. doing in an ally's country that doesn't allow nukes, but produces uranium............

[Pofarmer]

One of the greatest errors of the Bush administration was thta it never defended itself - even when facts were clear. He easliky could have had the bully pulpit on FISA, pre-war intel, etc if he had wanted. Hell, the country needed to be reading from the same sheet of music and not a daily Dem party Press release from the NYT and NBC.

Just remember, a lot of Bush's advisors were advising the McCain campaign.......

[kim]

King Pinch the IIIrd, and Princess Caroline? PUnchbowl TUrd and Cesspool Poli!
============

[kim]

Hey regift, any clues about Jordan and Foley?
====================

[cathyf]

Libby's story to the FBI certainly seemed a bit of a stretch

You know, you keep saying this. Are you telling me that you never got less than a perfect score on any test in your whole school career? That you don't know anyone who ever sat in class while the teacher said something, and then didn't know that something later for the homework or the test? Or do you think that they were "lying" when they "claimed" not to know?

You've never had your wife or your kids remember something happening that you don't remember? Never had your wife or kids say that something happened at a certain place/time when you remember it at a different date/time? Have you never distinctly remembered doing something with one kid, while they (with great amusement) agree that you did it with the other one?

[boris]

After watching in real time what the MSM has done to Sarah Palin, too many of you give too little credit to their ability to destroy, supress, ignore, and spin. Again, the TANG memos are key to understanding the problem. The admin was essentially helpless against that attack until a freeper and LGF demonstrated they were fake (which Rather still disputes). That one failed, but many others, equally bogus, still worked too perfectly.

[Captain Hate]

Just remember, a lot of Bush's advisors were advising the McCain campaign.......

You could have the best campaign advice possible but when "my friends" is the messenger your side is going down in flames.

[fdcol63]

Why Obama's victory foreshadows a "difficult, difficult struggle" for the Republican Party and Conservatives, from historian Shelby Steele:

"Whites in general used to be stigmatized as racists. By going with Obama, liberals now feel that they’ve escaped that stigma. That means the stigmatization of whites is now focused on the Republican Party and on conservatism as a point of view. [Liberals say] this is where racism is now located, and we can isolate it in those red states in the South and Southwest."

"It is going to be a difficult, difficult struggle for the Republican Party. My fear is that Republicans will end up betraying what is good about them — the values of fairness and merit — to get back in the game. That’s how societies decline. [They] trade away those values."

Tough times are ahead. It's nice to fantasize that the shine will come off of Obama quickly when people realize he's just an empty suit from a corrupt Chicago political establishment.

But I'm afraid Steele's words will prove true. I think Obama's win was a tipping point where the American people proved they now want and expect Big Government and politicans to provide most of their needs and save them from themselves, and this is only being reinforced by the current Bailout Mania.

The Nanny State, Big Brother, and Orwellian newspeak and double-think are here to stay, it seems.

[MayBee]

The Waas story is incredibly stupid.
The big scandal is that Cheney's talking points didn't do anything to keep reporters from wanting to ask who sent Wilson, which would eventually have led them to Valerie.
But Wilson was saying Cheney sent him. Why in the world would Cheney have to let that story stand in order to protect the scheming Plame?

[regift]

Since everyone's starting.............Foley was term limits, like 93 or something. The terrorists have a thing for it now or something. Dems consider themselves federal employees and the vote is how they can stay in office longer than Castro, it's not the money or the niece's rights. Foley made it obvious that dems will never leave once they are hired, then they claim all federal employee jobs......................

The liquor store is open?

[Danube of Thought]

I also think the Obama election was a tipping point. In addition to a vote for the nanny state, it was a vote of no confidence in the exercise of American military power, and it signalled an unwillingness to undertake any significantly difficult tasks in response to the threat of Islamic fanaticism.

Not only did Obama win a huge majority of the younger voters, I think before he leaves office the Dems will have enfranchised an enormous number of people who at present are classified as illegal aliens. You can count on those folks being solidly in the Dem camp.

[fdcol63]

DoT, yep. All of it.

[Danube of Thought]

AP is reporting the NYTimes's ad revenues for November were down 20.9% from a year ago.

[JJ]

"You know, you keep saying this."

And for the good reason that you don't let witnesses dissemble, misdirect, or prevaricate to a grand jury. Ed Morrissey makes the same point over at Hot Air on this.

To concede a point on Scooter's grand jury problem, you might think that he could have come up with something that pointed more directly at the gamesmanship of what was going on with Wilson and his "team" of buddies.

But then when you wrestle with the hogs, you just get muddy and eventually realize that the hogs enjoy mud.

As far as Bush fighting back, who would have paid attention of his side of the story in the media? Unless he did something equally hysterical, which Bush does not do.

What Bush has always needed Reagan's ability to one-up the media.

With NYT going bottoms up in '09, maybe more even-handed journalism finally.

[PD]

How many of the guys are out shopping for the first time as we speak?

I'm done with my shopping. Mostly 'cause my sweetie does most of it! I think she must be done, too, because she's in the kitchen making good smells emanate rather than going into a tailspin over having too much stuff to do yet.

In my defense, I did more shopping than I usually do, much of it Amazon Prime-enabled. (Hmm ... insight hits the typical clod male cranium ... maybe that has something to do with the lack of tailspin?)

[Pofarmer]

Not only did Obama win a huge majority of the younger voters, I think before he leaves office the Dems will have enfranchised an enormous number of people who at present are classified as illegal aliens. You can count on those folks being solidly in the Dem camp.

I'm afraid you're right, and I'm afraid that means we're done for. The world will NOT be better off for it, no matter what doofus's like Fareed Zakariah want to beleive.

[Pofarmer]

As far as Bush fighting back, who would have paid attention of his side of the story in the media?

I was in the house one day, might have been evening, for something and the TV was on. Bush was giving a speech, I think to the VFW, on the War on Terrorrism. He started making some great points and they actually CUT OFF THE SPEECH, and went to commentary. I believe they said something to the effect they would cut back in if something interesting came up. I then realized that there was no way the Bush administration could get a message through the MSM. If we want to be successful in 2010, then the MSM has to be nuetralized.

[MayBee]

After reading the Blago report and seeing that Obama claims he should just give a list of names suitable to fill his seat, I have come to believe Obama intends to never ever ever actually give a clear opinion on anything.

He will continue to do his "on one hand + on the other hand + pragmatism = ta da!" act. Emmanuel will be the one in charge of getting Congress to take action. Then Obama will criticize the wrong action or praise the correct action as results warrant.

[RichatUF]

fdcol63-

He may be right, but I'm not so sure one of those under-30 Obama voter's will really like living under the boot of an affirmative action, unionized, government employee, especially once they start getting married and are "cut out" of the action because "they can afford to sacrifice". Obama's thinking of government can really be seen as Orientalism applied to domestic policy. In short, tribalism, by breaking down states and local governments, he'll be able to classify people into "tribes" and dispense favors to those he likes and punish those he doesn't like. See also, Transnational Progressivism.

Also in foreign policy, where Obama and his Administration will spend its time getting rolled by enemies and pocketing payoffs, will be his achilles heel. He'll show on the biggest stage how much of a zero he really is. I'm pretty sure I could find similiar sounding articles from the mid-1970's when Hopenchange v.1.0 came into office (the same can be done regarding energy and education) and it didn't take long for him to be shown to be vaporware.

[PD]

I have come to believe Obama intends to never ever ever actually give a clear opinion on anything.

The clearest example of this was the Saddleback event hosted by Rick Warren. McCain answered most questions clearly in a few words. (Better than in his own stump speeches or those town halls he was supposed to be so good at.) Obama's answers were six-minute rambles that said essentially nothing.

[PD]

Another factor in the non-clarity of Obama's opinions is what seems to be his reflexive instinct to lie (or at least hedge) when asked even the simplest question, much like Clinton.

We saw this in his early responses to questions after the Blago story broke. He couldn't say the obvious response that of course his staff was in contact with Blago about the appointment and why shouldn't they be? He had to deny all contact by "we, er, I" with the Gov's office.

[kim]

Obama, too, has a predicament similar to that of the press. Either he hadn't anything to do with the negotiations, and doesn't generally maybe even ever, or he's masterminded it and kept his own decisions one removed. Idiot savant puppet or master puppeteer? Neither is consoling.
==================

[PeterUK]

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Please listen.

[clarice]

The first hostage crisis or major threat will be the end of this ponce. I love Steele but I think there's more to life and politics than domestic issues, and on foreign issues, no way, Jose.

[PD]

Jennifer Rubin's take on the Obama autoclearing:

If only Scooter Libby had thought of this: conduct an internal report, exonerate himself, and release it during Christmas week when he and every other percipient witness were at an inaccessible holiday location. Well, it wouldn’t have worked because the MSM would have regarded such a stunt coming from a Republican official as laughable. Indeed it only would have spurred the press to gin up its own investigation into potential wrongdoing, if only to prove the self-exonerator wrong.

Heh.

[reift]

Transnational stuff. Obama already is done. He and Joe's bank tripled foreign aid, had it voted on before the US budget and the Presidential elections. He's redistributed. He now wants to form a group in the US to help people. Poverty wages and promises of education. The AG who handles foreign informant spy stuff, legacies like obama and plame, will be your interviewer; an old friend from Harvard, like the ones Hilly just appointed to State.

The internet money was nice. Thanks. I'll never hire one.

Government employees. Obama's law suits over loans cost you your house. Obama is hiring old pals for federal employees instead of layoffs, which Arnold did and found out why Obama can't; Obama is a victim.

The tribe is Harvard because of how Obama got everything done before he got there. Congress. What is Obama? Son of a Harvard CIA informant who got paid like Obama who's birth is in question because 100s of millions have to prove birth to get job. Obama was never vetted properly.

Plame? CIA operations officers run informants, like the WMD dr in Iraq who was forgiven by the Iraqi courts the day she and Joe posed, all confused, for 'Vanity Fair.' Work with CIA and you get stuff. Obamas dad got paid allot.

2009 is going to be a great year. I got Pakistan intelligence is mean or whatever, but, hey, if you don't know the basics, how long do you think you keep that job? There is always some guy in a basement doing this. Like 'Spies Like Us,' involuntarily obligated operations officers put into the field with those fun guys. The basement is where to stay.

The French guy told the cleaning staff to leave, there's supposed to be patrols..........

[JM Hanes]

BobS:

"What lie did he tell?"

I think that's entirely beside the point. Both the people who believe Libby lied and the people who don't are simply resolving mixed signals on the basis of speculated motives and assumptions about character which may or may not be accurate. The central issue is whether or not Fitzgerald actually proved that Libby lied.

Without the obstruction of justice charge, I don't believe Fitz would have gotten a conviction at all. There's a reason his summation keyed in on a putative dark cloud over the White House. That's all he really had. He persuaded the jury that something was going on in Cheney's office and that there was something Cheney's chief lieutenant ("a deputy or substitute acting for a superior" ) and presumable confidante was not telling law enforcement.

In a virtuoso display of circular legal reasoning, Fitzgerald painted Libby as being part of a cover-up which made it impossible for him either to discern or prove whether or not a crime had even been committed. That's what he was really announcing in his very first, self-serving press conference. The counts in the offical complaint were simply a way of indicting Libby for throwing sand in the umpire's eyes. I don't believe for one second that Fitzgerald's analogy was spontaneous. Casting himself as the neutral aggrieved party (note the oxymoron!) was as important as the purported casting of sand.

[clarice]

Excellent, jmh..
PUK what a beautiful sound..My cat was absolutely transfixed by it.

OT--But I came across this Wolfgang Puck recipe and it might be worth saving for busy days this winter:

Sparerib Chinois (Made in slow cooker/crock pot)

2-3 servings

2 lbs baby back ribs

Freshly ground pepper

****************************

1 cup soy cause

1 1/2 c rice vinegar

1/4 c chopped garlic

1/4 c chopped fresh ginger

2 T chopped cilantro or lemongrass

1 small jalapeno minced

1 lg shallot minced

rub pepper on ribs, place in slow cooker , pour rest of ingredients in , cook at LOW for 8-9 hours until meat starts to separate from ribs

[clarice]

**soy SAUCE**

[C.R.]

PUK,

Thank you. Quite beautiful.

[centralcal]

PeterUK: Thank God for talented men (and women) who are able to create such musical beauty and to you for reminding us to stop and listen to it. I started my own Pandora list of Christmas music to play in the background today.

Clarice - that is a great sounding recipe and I like that it goes in the crockpot, so that I can let it cook when I am at work. I already printed it out to save. Yummo!

[Jane]

WOW PUK, that is bringing tears to my eyes.

The presents are finally wrapped, my niece came in last night and we are waiting for the rest of the family to show up in the next couple of hours when we will finally erect and decorate the tree (a new tradition). Before I go back to my sarcastic self, with PUK's music in the background, I want to simply say that my JOMers are one of my favorite blessings of this year. Merry Christmas everyone - and I can't wait to start 2009 with all of you!

/snark back on

[Rick Ballard]

Peter,

Thank you and Merry Christmas.

[centralcal]

cathyf: Oh the stories my kids and I can tell about mis-remembering. You are quite right!

[clarice]

Pretend it's sabbath night, I've said my prayers for everyone here's well being for the coming year and have lifted my hands from my eyes and placed them over your heads.
You'll have to pretend. It's the best I can do.But, like Jane, I love you all very much.

[centralcal]

Merry Christmas, Jane! Like you I am waiting for family to arrive. Can't wait to light the fireplace. And, yes, JOMers are a very special group.

[centralcal]

Oh, dang it Clarice, now you are making me cry.

[peter (us, not uk)]

quote:

Any compulsion on the President's part would have to come from a self acknowledgment that his demand for compliance with the "investigation" without regard to his subordinates rights was a moral error. Just as his appointment of trash from SDNY was a serious error in judgment. I believe that he should do it but I wouldn't bet on it.

He's going to leave office with this flyspeck of a scandal being the only legal blemish on his administration. I'm not sure that he will wish to draw attention to it. The real blemish is the fact that DoJ and the FBI have continued to sink to the level of State in terms of being Dem 'shops'. The nation will pay heavily for that during the tenure of the Chicago scum.

end quote

A well written post.

Merry Christmas to all

[Danube of Thought]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my dear friends here.

Here's my recipe: 3 oz. Stolichnaya, 1/4 oz. dry Vermouth; shake a minimum of forty times in ice; pour and add two olives. Conical glass an absolute must.

P.S.--Thanks PeterUK, that helped a great deal.

[MayBee]

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, all.

PUK- that was beautiful.
clarice- recipe saved.

[Uncle BigBad]

JMH

"Without the obstruction of justice charge, I don't believe Fitz would have gotten a conviction at all."

Wrong.
You're overlooking the fact that he had a DC jury, which, for Republicans, is the flip side of the first OJ jury.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of treatment Rep. Jefferson gets if he's ever tried in DC.

[narciso]

And they say I am a gloomy gus, at times. Maybe it's hope against hope, I still believe in Bismarck's quip, I guess I still have to Despite everything I've seen this year, well not everything or everyone. You folk for one, reassure me that I'm not totally deluded, That sparerib recipe sounds great by the way.

[centralcal]

Happy Hannukah to Mr. and Mrs. Feldman and all our JOM Jewish brothers and sisters.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.

[Thomas Collins]

To TM and all JOMers, whether you consider yourselves of all of the Book, of a part of the Book, not of the Book or unsure about the Book, my thoughts and prayers are with you this holiday season.

[MayBee]

Do you know who the family friends in Hawaii with Obama are?
Dr Eric Whittaker and Valerie Jarrett.

And Rahm is in Africa.
The report release date really mocks the press, don't you think?

[glenda]

Beautiful PUK, and your blessing, Clarice.
There is nothing more beautiful than Bach or Beethoven sung by a boys choir, a gregorian chant, or a cantor at temple. A warmth of peace it brings.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Gift to all of you. May Peace come to every heart.

[ben]

Instapundit links this as the best auto-clearing headline....

"Obama team probe of Obama team finds no Obama team impropriety"

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/12/obama-blagojevi.html

[glenda]

And the media brought this whole "Plame case" with the help of DOJ Bush/Cheney haters-or those who knew history would show them to be fops who care about being popular with them(press). President Bush tried to be reasonable with the media and they consistently caricatured him--but he, Bush, changed the world, and they realized they are so unimportant in the way of things, ..we all search out the truth these days, and do not worship their words or favorites.

[Stephen]

How can anyone trust anyone down there? And how much of every day does every one of them spend looking over his, or her, shoulder?

[clarice]

Yes it does, MayBee.

"If Rep. Jefferson gets if he's ever tried in DC." He's being tried in Virginia.He tried to get the case transferred to DC but lost that motion.

[Pal2Pal (Sara)]

To all JOMers:

A very Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Happy and pain free New Year.

I cannot tell you how much having JOM has meant to me over the years and how much I value everyone here, there aren't enough words.

[Jane]

Can anyone tell me how to do a search so I can find Caro's pix from St. Jane's Island?

[bunky]

Merry Christmas to all.
Have some hot chocolate.

[centralcal]

Oh, I am bunky - well, sorta - coffee and Baileys.

[MayBee]

The city of Chicago just had its 500th homicide of the year.

[Sue]

Merry Christmas to all!

[clarice]

Jane. I am sorry I tried but couldn't pull them up. If you can remember approximately what date they were posted you can try scrolling thru the archives for it.

[Daddy]

Good morning everyone,

Sorry I haven't had time to read any of this thread and I have to dash out Christmas Shopping ASAP, but at ADN.com, there is a new story on witness tampering at Steven's Trial, probably worth a read or a link.

And for my News Years Resolution I promise I will try to make an effort to figure out that unbelievably difficult and mystical thing you guys are all able to do called "Linking".

[boris]

Is this it?

[boris]

If it is, this is the search I used ...

caro +pics +jane +site:justoneminute.typepad.com

[Topsecretk9]

And Rahm is in Africa.
The report release date really mocks the press, don't you think?

Imagine the vapors our Proxy David Gregory would have gone through had Bush/Cheney pulled this...Gregory went into cardiac arrest over Cheney telling a local paper about the duck shooting mishap and not the "dc press corp"

[clarice]

Boris..that is it..you genius..

[boris]

Then Mery Christmas !

[boris]

** Merry Christmas ** (sheesh)

[Jane]

Boris, you ARE a genius! Thank you so much. I wanted my family to see the best pix taken of me this year!

[Anna]

Merry Christmas to everybody who visits this blog! May you all continue making this world a little bit better and clearer!
And may G-d continue blessing the USA!