Fitz! ^^

Fitzercalifradgelisticexpedaliocious

1. if rove broke the law, he will eat somebodies shorts.

2. thank heaven for small ifs.

OT.

Saudi Arabia says Iraq is in midst of civil war that could widen.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200…..ecution_dc

From Joe Walsh:

“On the bottom words are shallow.On the surface talk is cheap.You can only judge the distance by the company you keep”

Look at the company the US keeps:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200…..ecution_dc

-GSD

On a more serious note, what does the rest of the world think when they hear our “leader” say “I’m the decider and I will decide what is best”.

I am so embarassed

EPUed in the last thread. But we are on the same page.

I predict Karen Hughes will be brought back from State Dept to handle the policy side vacated by Rove.

This gives Bush two benefits:
- If Rove is indicted, less damage.
- Hughes was always the anti-Rove in terms of common sense. Someone must have noticed that Rove’s policy advice is disastrous; and that he is useless in countering team Cheney’s fantasy island.

Plus, this gives Hughes something more useful to do than to give “Dick and Jane” coloring books on Intl policies to US citizens and others. She can make them for someone else instead.

It seems as if Cheney, Rove et alia will be forced to take the stand. Will they all take the fifth?

I think the Chimpy Shuffle and the proximity to the Ryan conviction is no small coincidence either.

It looks like Fitzgerald may finally be gearing up to indict Joe Wilson and Valerie Wilson, finally.

Seriously, it could be with the Delay shennanigans, the Abramoff hub-bub, and the NH phone jamming kerfuffle that the hooligans in the Whitehouse might be lollygagging their way into a heckuva peccadillo.

-GSD

SHATTERED HOUSES… http://apoeticjustice.blogspot.com/

Jane, the last time you asked for crystal ball gazing (new years post) I didn’t do very well. Only one of my predictions was correct- that FDL would win another big blog award- (Koufax at Wampum). So, I’ll have to be more cautious this time.

If things keeps going the way they are going, Chimpy will drink a fifth.

-GSD

GSD – did you see the latest rant at Capital Hill Blue? repeats earlier rants but does it well.

Following up: they have three choices; perjure themselves, contradict each other or take the fifth. The fouth choice is some mind boggling combination of all three among all the parties. Any speculations?

Although they can’t seem to get her surname right, Valerie will attend the big WH Dinner,

“Decider” is now an official Bushism,

and things are looking up for Progressives.

I just don’t want to start acting like the pendulum swing toward a more liberal, more ethical government is a given thing. We’ve got to keep working our tails off, and April 29th would be a great day to get out there and help contribute to some organized actions!

The really annoying part is that Rove will feign flipping on his way out to be sure he can cover Jr’s butt.

fdlblog — I think Cheney et al will absolutely be forced to take the stand. That’s where the rub will come, IMHO. I have no doubt Cheney and Libby’s testimonies were consistent, but consistently what? Libby testified that he leaked the classified trip report on July 8th. Murray Waas said that Cheney ordered him to do so on July 12 on AFII. How did they resolve that one in their testimony? It appears Cheney is going to have to get up there and testify to the fact that he ordered Libby to leak classified material for political gain (no one has claimed the trip report was declassified at the time). Will Bush have to cut him loose before he does so?

And I have no idea what Rove will say. It will be the best political theater of the decade.

Well Ms. Hamsher…my heart sure hopes your right, but my head thinks that the Rove shuffle is for much more pragmatic reasons. I truly believe a number of folks at the WH have finally awoken to the real possibility that the R team could lose either house come November. And that scares the crap out of them.
In terms of the ongoing Fitz investigation I think the WH pays little attention to it. ONLY because….they realize that there’s nothing they can do to effect whatever comes about; so they might as well keep moving forward.
Rove’s reassignment is a huge effort to shore up the elections….that’s got the WH sweating. But I WILL hope and pray that your crystal ball is right on target!
Ghostman

emptywheel’s take:
“Is Rove Stepping Down to Save Mehlman’s Arse?”
“Just a quick thought about Rove stepping down from his “policy duties.”
Contrary to what you might think, me being a Plame blogger and all, I actually think the NH phone-jamming and the Tom Noe coin giveaway might have a greater impact on the Republicans than the Plame scandal (Abramoff is another thing, but we can come back to that). The Plame Affair, bad as it is, involves the behavior of several individuals in the Administration–perhaps as much as a dozen, but all individuals. Furthermore, Bush is certain to pull the same stunt Poppy pulled, pardoning the key witness, if it gets much closer to him….”
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c…..l#comments

Don’t think Rove could fake out Fitz.
Someone will plead out and testify.
Followed by mid-terms.
Followed by the Congressional investigation Bernstein talked about.
The rest, as they say, is history.

(Did I mention my personal crystal ball is rose-tinted?)
But, it could happen…

Please. Rove steps out of policy position.

It’s apparent to anyone not steadily drinking Kool-Aid that the Bushies always resign before they are convicted (at least if they can see it coming). It’s so much easier to swallow “a former official of the Bush administration was convicted today”.

I think Rove is preparing himself for an imminent indictment from a certain Fitzy fellow whose batting average has been fairly good lately…

he will want to get Libby’s discovery issues out of the way first before he subjects himself and his case to another firestorm of controversy.

Not sure I agree with this in its entirety. From all that I’ve read about Fitz, I’m not sure that he worries about a “firestorm of controversy” one way or the other. The way you phrase it, it sounds like he might be looking over his shoulder for attack from the press. But, from the many posts I’ve read here (Me3 especially, back in his heyday at FDL), Fitz goes about things in a way that it is calculated to put pressure on possible flippers, working his way up the food chain, etc. So, imo, Fitz is gonna continue to work Rove big time, but we’ll only learn the results when Fitz has his poker hand in the best possible order.

Valley Girl says:

So, imo, Fitz is gonna continue to work Rove big time, but we’ll only learn the results when Fitz has his poker hand in the best possible order.

Agreed.

GJ tomorrow? Has it met on Thursdays previously?

Besides, after witnessing a years worth of Rove engineered clusterfuckedness, old Turdblossom must be losing some of his capital too.

If I was a Republican with a tough race, I am not sure I would have The Architect of a crumbling presidency on speed-dial.

“You want me to put my politcal life in the steady hands of Karl “33%” Rove?”

-GSD

With the signs of criminality all pointing directly at Cheney and Bush themselves, I can’t see Rove as being important as more than a useful leverage point to get at the top criminals. Why would Fitz indict Rove if it seems there’s still more information to squeeze from that turnip? I suspect we won’t hear anything regarding Rove’s status, because he’s probably easier to manipulate by Fitz’s investigation while twisting in the wind. Maybe not as satisfying for plameologists, but I’d rather Fitz gets his man. Or boy king.

I have a feeling this is Fitz related as well.

For starters we all knew that Rovian Rove slime tactics were going to be employed in the 06 mid-term elections, I do not see that as news.

The Whitehouse sure did make news out of a non news event.

Timing is everything.. Tick tock …tick tock… I think the White house is trying to distance itself from a ticking time bomb..imo

Interesting comment on NPR today
Karl Rove is moving from a policy position to focus on politics. As if these fouls could tell the difference.
Erm…
For all us anzious types, keep in mind that the Ryan conviction comes at the end of 8 years.
Do not expect to see things roll all the way up before 2008.

We sure could use Valerie’s intelligence on Iranian nuclear procurements right now.

Wonder if the Bushies actually did a pre-emptive strike on her just to prevent that kind of accurate intelligence from hampering his push to nuke Iran.

Karen Hughes was part of the White House Iraq group; it would appear that the WHIG conspired to out Valerie Plame. That could very well suggest that Karen has an indictment in her future.

I like the way these folks refresh, restaff, reshuffle and renew: gently shaken, not stirred, so as not to bruise the gin. Very dignified and matter of fact. Suave ands swank, even. Nothing unusual, nothing to see at all. Everything’s Under Control. Somehow different but completely the same. Unless some commenters are correct and this is all for the cause of establishlong a decent measure of “formerdom” before indictments. But they way they’ve played the game, it will go from nothing can touch them to nothing can protect them, at the rate the crud is leaking out.

I don’t like to make comments on the way people look (glass houses, you know), but Rove has a certain presence that will make things very believable, if he’s indicted. What do you call a figleaf that gets lost in pubic hair?

Better put up the curtains folks, from this MSNBC poll it looks like the show is over.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12361506/

-GSD

Could be that Cheney tasked Hadley in the context of the WHIG to deal with the uranium problem.

At some point, one of the 2x started to worry about the consequences of stepping over the line and asked BigTime for confirmation of the legality. BigTime just lied hoping he would remember to tell the little man what to say and do if the issue ever came up. And surely it wouldn’t – I mean these people were deep into violating the Constitution (4th amendment).

Re Fitz’s workload: Ryan’s definitely going to appeal. How much energy/effort does it take for a prosecutor to fight an appeal?

the next time that Jane or Christy does a nice long think piece on Plamegate, I hope they take the time to discuss the implications of what Pollyusa and Jeff found and posted about over at the next hurrah

But then, thanks to pollyusa, I noticed that the quotation of the INR analyst’s notes in the SSCI report is significantly different from what we’ve got, and irons out precisely that latter ambiguity. What is the deal with that? The INR analyst’s notes appended to the INR memo that we got today reads:

Meeting apparently convened by Valerie Wilson, a CIA WMD managerial typ and the wife of Amb. Joe Wilson, with the idea that the agency and the larger USG could dispatch Joe to Niger to use his contacts there to sort out the Niger/Iraq uranium sale question.

The SSCI report p. 40 has this, with internal quotation:

An INR analyst’s notes indicate that the meeting was “apparently convened by [the former ambassador’s] wife who had the idea to dispatch [him] to use his contacts to sort out the Iraq-Niger uranium issue.”

Similarly, the quotation from the INR analyst’s notes further down on 40 differs slightly but significantly from what we got today, leaving out “complete” before “control” in describing the French’s control over the entire (a word that is also absent) process.

But the point is that unless this is some other document, it appears that the SSCI simply and flatly misrepresented the INR analyst’s notes to make it seem more definitive that it was Plame’s idea to dispatch her husband.

Another note of particular interest, given the obvious efforts of the GOP controlled SSCI to smear Wilson, is the mention of the discussion of the contracts concerning the “Iraq/Niger” deal that took place during that meeting. The SSCI makes it appear that no documents were ever discussed…. but its obvious from the notes that (while the contracts were NOT part of Wilson’s ‘talking points’ that he would use with Nigerien officials) the nature of these contracts were discussed in some detail based on the information that Bushco was being given by SISMI….

GSD @ 8:42 pm (#24) – I believe it was C.S. Lewis who said “No arrangement of rotten eggs will make a good omelett”. I think the President can thank Rove for his approval numbers not being in the teens.

Rove and Bush are definitely trying to get ahead of something. Whatever it is, it’s a lame and cosmetic attempt. I’m just hoping that we don’t have to go through another election cycle with no further indictments.

And is it just me, or did Snotty McLiar look like he was about to burst into tears at his big bye-bye in the garden with Uncle George saying heckofajob, Snotty. And that remark about the rocking chairs together back in Texas and recalling the good ol’ days? Bleh.

puppethead @25 -

I think its Rove’s position in the WHIG that is important. Its the executive position from the WH to balance the OVP tilt. Imagine you are sitting in the meeting. Rove has veto power.

Well, I, for one, did not feel buoyed by all the news hitting the pipeline today.

Rove’s out of the picture to come up with his “homophobia” scam for the 2006 election, that’s all. He tested the waters with the Immigration thing, it backfired a lot, but he’ll get a wedge issue in there somehow.

I did comment months ago about the concerted effort by the DOJ in various parts of the country taking this administration apart bit by bit. Now, the DOD has people in on the action, and according to that Harper Magazine article, the CIA has agents refusing assignments that might be deemed illegal?

i understand why the Dems might let the GOP continue to hang themselves, it makes sense…

Wyo Nate 38, hope you are wrong.

Rove strikes me as the sort of guy who can slime while he is flossing his man-boob rolls. I don’t buy the concentrated focus spin. His people just need a name and they are all over it.

JM Re Fitz’s workload: Ryan’s definitely going to appeal. How much energy/effort does it take for a prosecutor to fight an appeal?

No laywer here, but I’ll take a stab at that one. imo, all of the Fitz team involved in Ryan are already loaded for bear, and probably have alot more ammo than the apealee (?) and counsel will have seen. Fitz must have assembled a good team on this one, and I’m guessing that Team Fitz will take over, freeing Fitz for other matters.

Meta @ 36 -

It was telling, wasn’t it? Snotty did what he could would what he was given. What is haha funny is that given a day or two he will replay that tape and decide he hates the creep.

#24, gsd….I think y7ou’re on to something. I’ve written that Rove IS very talented in areas, but I also think he sometimes gets “legend status” a little too quickly. Let’s look at some quick things:
1. 2000 presidential primary: Rove’s boy was only turning in a so-so performance…until the knife-cutting in Carolina. Otherwise, the “outsider” repub nominee was catching on fire.
2. 2000 presidential election: we know the florida nightmare. Still, at the end of the day, the best Rove could do, with a candidate with tons of money, was SQUEAK thru a win via the courts. Most agree, Rove couldn’t even get his boy a mojority vote nationally.
3. 2004 presidential election: we got 9-11, on-going terror scares, a country at war, America in fear and “trusting” the sitting president for his strength, all the advantage of the incumbent…and the best he could do was pull off a win by what???…..70-80 thousand votes in Ohio?? That’s it?
Not a very stellar record. He’s won, but with tons of advantages never can crush the opposition. Perhaps Rover is a tad over-rated?
Ghostman

Thanks Cujo. I never heard that one from Lewis, but you are correct:
“No clever arrangement of bad eggs ever made a good omelet.”
http://www.secondchanceinc.com/quotegallery.html

p.lukasiak @ 34 -

There is indeed some amazing stuff going on in the emptywheel comment threads. A couple of people I don’t think we have seen over here but who have a “cron” available that allows them to get to some amazing stuff.

The thing that I have noticed between those threads and the LeftCoaster posts is that it is starting to look like that the SSCI was a party to the coverup.

tryggth,

I just spit chicken noodle soup all over my monitor. It took me five minutes, 8 paper towels, and the last of the Windex.

Hey, that’s product placement….

The Rove announcement is significant in that Rove operates best when he’s out of the spotlight. The fact that he’s in the news at all is a big deal. The shift away from “policy” is an eye-roller, since “policy” in this White House gets less care and feeding than your average pet rock. But he’s not going to be terribly effective on the “politics” side of things, either. Again, he works best when he’s in the shadows, and right now he’s in the sights of a man who just bagged the former governor of Illinois. I think the bottom line is that people are slowly edging away from him.

What interests me more is Fitz’s strategy. Is he going to keep the focus on Libby, with occasional bombshell discovery filings, or is he going to go after someone else? Rove is an obvious target, with the whole what’s-the-deal-with-Viveca-Novak issue still unresolved. But Hadley is still in the mix, too, as are a number of other medium-sized fish. I could see Fitz indicting one or two other people just to make the defense funds dry up and to stretch Barbara Comstock out a little. (Does anyone else imagine her as Jodie Foster’s uber-bitch from “Inside Man”?) Thoughts?

you said “man boob rolls”.

One other thought: Does anyone else think Rove’s lost a lot of weight?

OfT: “Oil jumps above $72 to new high”
http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/1…../?cnn=yesz

p. lukasiack — thanks I’ll try to put something up about that. Unfortunately I’m in LA & don’t have my notebooks, flow charts etc. here so it’s hard for me to go back and confirm all this stuff so it’ll take me a bit longer.

I need to travel with a giant trunkoad of crap these days.

Frank Probst- and what’s intriguing is that we have no idea what Hadley or the other medium-sized fish have negotiated with Fitz. But, again, I don’t see Fitz playing to the crowd- meaning an effort to get the Libby defense funds dry up… But, Fitz is such a clever poker player, now that you mention it, I wouldn’t put it past him… at least if there was nothing more to be gained from the defense fund people.

#48, Mr. Probst….couple of things-
I don’t think Fitz is making strategy on thoughts of drying up funds, etc. he strikes me as a by-the-book guy…and slow and methodical. He just plods along….and sends fancy people to jail (chuckle)
Now, on Rove…I saw a re-run recently of a speech he gave at some Republican lawyer’s national meeting in D.C. His speech was an unoriginal canned piece of crap about “them damn trial lawyers”…sigh, it sounded like 1990. Anyways, I noticed that Rove looked tired, worn out. Not much pep. It really stood out to me.
Ghostman

IMO Rove’s “shift” away from policy was FORCED on the WH by the GOP. IMO Republicans wanted a press release from the WH that specifically scapegoated Rove/Bush on “policy” to give congressional Republicans cover to separate from the WH on “policy.” WAG alert.

Rover Rated.

-GSD

Methinks this is the beginning of the Great Stepback on Rover….Poor Chimpy is going to stuck in his House of 1000 Shrews. Not a very “manly” way for him to go out.

Also, check out the BBC—Tony Blair is facing some serious troubles by standing with Bushy Soprano on the Iran crank-up.

And I have no idea what Rove will say. It will be the best political theater of the decade.

It seems obvious that Libby’s lawyers will pointedly ask all the parties if they knew about or authorized the leak of the info about Plame. They can’t, or won’t, incriminate themselves. Their only choice is to perjure or take the fifth.

Does anybody have any info on James Baker’s whereabouts? Is he steadily building the stonewall the WH hopes lasts until the end of 2008?

his name was popping up here and there a couple weeks back, now nada

And you know how it goes with this administration, no news is…the warning flag that laws are being broken.

i can’t and won’t add to the speculation here. who the hell knows? that rove sure does seem like a bad guy though ;-)

however, for all LA based people (and environs)–please feel free to drop by this event
http://www.paulkopeikingallery…../index.htm

i’ll be the guy staring at my wife wondering why she got all the looks and the talent in the family.

they’re her pictures, of screaming crying children, all with angry titles relating to the bush admin or to christian millenialism. might be up some of your respective alleys.

saturday night, 6150 wilshire, 6 PM on–all the galleries are open and it should be fun.

gnight all.

Frank Probst What interests me more is Fitz’s strategy. Is he going to keep the focus on Libby, with occasional bombshell discovery filings, or is he going to go after someone else?

Publically, he has to keep the focus on Libby for now, so that Libby defense team keeps getting cut off at the pass. But behind the scenes? Never thought Fitz was going after one guy at a time, in terms of investigation. Moveable feast, in that regard.

I just hope that in my lifetime, some president will have the balls to give the U.S. closure on the names, War on Terror, War on Drugs.

Wait a second, I live in wyoming, maybe I could seek office and declare a war on the wind.

(note to self-epiphany-war on wind-halliburton to build big walls-need lieberman’s approval..)

Appeals are never as much work for the winners as the losers. My guess is that Fitzgerald will mostly stay in a supervisory role and let his team continue in the lead on the follow up. However, there are still plenty of interesting things going on in No. IL.

In Libby, there is a hearing on the 21st, on the show cause order. Once upon a time, it was going to be on some of the motions too, but several things have received extensions, so I don’t know where that stands now. Fitzgerald filed another Motion earlier this week to clarify (or alternatively get reconsideration) the Judge’s order on the Ex Parte filings and clear up whether or not Gov can make Ex Parte argument as to discoverability (i.e., national security, grand jury, etc.)

I don’t think argument has ever been set on the Motion to Dismiss and I think Libby’s lawyers requested argument. Argument is coming up with the Motions on the subpeonas as well.

I had wondered when the Sun article came out if Rove’s crew were trying to set up a scenario of a classified memo (like the NIE) but one that does not “specifically” mention Valerie’s covert status, to indicate that Rove may have ended up with access to that document (like Libby did the NIE info) and line up a similar “declassification” argument.

IMO, that argument doesn’t work at all if there is info on covert status or they are in a “should reasonably have known” type of situation, but the precedent has been set now – President admitting to ‘declassifying’ with no big consequences, so setting up the memo to be just “another” declassification doc, this time one that Rove is authorized to leak — that’s what came to mind for me, fwiw.

Link to the Harper’s article mentioned above: http://www.harpers.org/sb-cia-wehrmacht.html

Sounds like another shoe is on the way…

Wyo Nate @ 56 –

I’m guessing he is sitting on the sidelines waiting to see on whom’s behalfed he is going to be defending Iraq’s debt forgiveness.

Talk about awkward…

Another investigation may be coming re: Pete Sessions and bribery, Scanlon and Rudy involved so thay may sing. Melanie Sloan has sent a very strong letter to, well, Abu, but they have a lot of evidence. See Raw Story story. ( I know)

My best friend also spoke to me today of a case she heard about that I’m sure we’ve referenced here generally regarding a bribery scheme involving Iraq contracts where there were millions of dollars worth of cars and trucks provided to the ? middlemen. She said she heard it on BBC news, but I haven’t heard it tonight. Anyone know what I’m talking about?
I’ll keep looking.

I think there are a lot of egg beaters spinning out in the justice system between Abramoff, Scanlon, Rudy, DeLay and a number of others. As these cases progress, the corruption thing will continue to loom large and Unka Karl’s smear campaigns will look pretty tacky and unconvincing to pissed off Repugs. I don’t know about Fitz, I agree with Valley Girl #21, and our discussion just after Libby’s indictment about Fitz methods and duck feathers about the media. I think Libby is getting frustrated and his lawyers’ greymail attempts are wasting a lot of time for depositions. I think Fitz is ready for Libby, will hit Rove when he’s ready and not before; I think if Rove goes, so goes Cheney. Who knows about the Chimp….

So my prediction is that Rove has trouble ahead as do many Republicans which will tie his grimy little hands from now to the election (not that he won’t try).

No grand jury tomorrow, it’s Thursday. Maybe Friday.

Wolcott delivers a good-natured (?) ribbing of the FDL commentariat:

I don’t have to tell you who David Byrne is, and if I do, tough. Look him up. Learn something. Don’t be one of those dumb-dumbs who posts queries in Firedoglake or Eschaton on the order of, “Who’s Richard Holbrooke? I see his name a lot but don’t know much about him” or “What do people have against Richard Cohen–could somebody explain? I think he sometimes has some good points to make, though I haven’t read him very much.”

Remind me never to inquire about any Richards.

WyoN: You are too late. The new WH Chief already has a book out on that. Walter and the War on Wind.

Washington Post intelligence reporter Dana Priest will be online Thursday, April 20, at 12:30 p.m. ET to discuss the latest developments in national security and intelligence
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00971.html
You think someone at the Post would think to preface this with “Pulitzer Prize Winning” Washington Post intelligence reporter…

Frank,

It’s the CIA, so make that a phone-shoe that is about to drop.

Would you believe?

-GSD

Mary — that sounds very plausble. The Sun article probably appeared so the trip report, like the NIE, can suddenly become a case of “oh that old thing — we declassified it years ago.”

Hey thanks, tryggth

Googled it. Well, at least Dad will have a lot of money to help Jr. with any legal bills that are surmounting. Carlyle Group, Halliburton’s older sister?

Richard Holbrooke. Wasn’t he in Midway and All The Presidents Men?

-GSD

watertiger has an appropriate photo and caption.

http://derenegade.blogspot.com…..-fitz.html

Thanks for the Wolcott link, punaise. WRT his comment, part of the FDL phenomenon imo is that it is a learning environment and that’s ok.

Best political theatre in a decade, indeed.

Thanks zen, that was a great one.

GSD 9:
lollygagging and peccadillo in the same sentence – heh heh

punaise #65- I don’t think that’s ribbing- I think that’s total compliment to the regular commenters on FDL!!! I mean, like, someone new shows up and says, so, what’s all this stuff about Lieberman (or…)? Okay, that’s forgiveable… maybe… but then there’s someone who shows up and says “why the fu*k has FDL been ignoring the (insert word) issue?”… And then someone here comes back with “Chowderhead, where ya been?”

#65…..well gosh, honestly I DID post a comment the other day asking about Cohen….but I hadn’t read anything about him. Some folks were kind enough to give me a short reader’s digest version…which was all I needed, and I thank them very much.
So….who is James Wolcott?
Nevermind…he probably sips wine like a girl. I wish him well.
Ghostman

sorry, make that Chowdernuts… (is that the correct spelling? certainly looks weird…)

Read more on Blumenthal’s analysis here:

http://www.thoughttheater.com

Valley Girl,

Often, I find myself lost among the sea of nicknames for people. I think most of them were decided on long before I started pillaging the blogs for information.

“Appeals are never as much work for the winners as the losers.”
Thanks Mary, that is very helpful.
I have a major league off topic question wrt the Duke Lacrosse team grand jury if you have the time or the inclination. The Defense is leaking pic’s of the alleged victim and the defendants, that they maintain vindicate the defendants. Didn’t they share all those pics with the grand jury that indicted their clients? I know defense attorneys can’t cross-examine, but I thought they could present evidence to the grand jury?

Ghostman- not to worry- regulars suss out those who are sincere in their quest for information. Hell, and it still embarasses me, but a while back, I actually asked what does “DINO” mean? And people were kind enough to reply. But, by then I think they realized that I usually try to figure out stuff for myself (as do you), and that this was just a momentary lapse of googling on my part.

It still wouldn’t get Rove off the hook for his fibs, but it would be his shot at taking most other stuff off the table. No idea if it would work bc I have no idea what Fitzgerald is targetting to accomplish over the long haul and what he has. But Bush only got Leaker in Chief from the last round, and not any Congressional chits, so they may have defused some of the reaction to it coming out that he did the same with the Powell memo.

That may be the next revelation from Powell. We all knew the President had declassified the memo and set up the disclosures . .

John,

I had read that the pictures were time-stamped and showed bruises on the alleged victim, including an open cut on her knee.

I’m sure most of you are with me on this but I don’t buy this “demotion” for Rove as anything but theatre.

I found the Kintenborg article on Belloc and blogging:

International Herald-Tribune

Matt O, if you run across a nickname you don’t understand, just ask and someone will resond. If you don’t know it, chances are a lot of others don’t either.
ghostman, I don’t read Wolcott but IIRC, Christy will link to him occasionally. It’s my understanding that he shares FDL’s position about the corporate media and the Republicans.

Oh punaise that’s hilarious.

From the Blumenthal article:

In his request for documents from Rove’s files, Libby dropped mention of Rove’s current legal status.

For months, Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin, has assured the press that his client, who was believed to be vulnerable to indictment for perjury, is in the clear. But Libby insisted that he was entitled to “disclosure of such documents” in Rove’s files “even if Mr. Rove remains a subject of a continuing grand jury investigation”.

Barbra, barbra, barbra…

Scooter, are they really defending you?

Ghostman – I believe Mr. Wolcott can drink his wine any way he likes. I am certain it’s much better vintage than what I sip!

If Rove has his security clearance, he will still be involved in policy. Bush loves him and his wise opinions. I’m with Matt, but even that can’t protect him from Fitz.

to paraphrase Jimi Hendrix:

“Move over, Rover
Let Fitzy take over”

Front page of AOL news links to their Daily Pulse blog with polls on rating bush’s perfomance on economy, the shake-up in staff, Iraq, War on Terror an bubble boy is consistently getting a poor rating on all of them including retaining crumbsfeld. The poor ratings are in the 82% range with something like 77,000 respondents.

JC 82 – I am very out of the loop on the Duke case, so I can’t really say much that would be helpful. Whether or not they turned over the pics to the prosecutor b4 the GJ convened might be at issue, and several other things. Are reports that the GJ did not see the pics before they returned the indictments? Sorry – I don’t think I can be much help

Via Frank’s link, an excerpt from the Harper’s article:

“My source, hardly a softie on the topic of terrorism, said of the split at the CIA: ‘There’s an SS group within the agency that’s willing to do anything and there’s a Wehrmacht group that is saying, ‘I’m not gonna touch this stuff’.â€

Help…

From now until the November elections …. it’s all hands on deck. The last firewall is keeping the Republicans in control of Congress and subpoena power.

The Republicans in Congress as well as the President are depending on Karl the Wizard to conjure up a winning campaign for the 2006 Fall Elections. Nothing else matters.

What domestic policy? All policy in this Administration is political.

No need to worry about foreign policy. Dick has got that one covered. It’s Iran or bust. Who knew in 2000 that our foreign policy would come to be summed up in four words … the oil must flow. And if that doesn’t work, Bushco and Dickco being the business men that they are, have an exit strategy: talk of war keeps the price of oil flying higher (even as supplies are plentiful). Now who said that Bushco couldn’t defy the laws of economics. ;-)

Ghostman, James Wolcott is a writer for Vanity Fair and has an excellent way with words. He is wonderful on politics, Right-Wing Bloggers and popular culture. He just doesn’t suffer fools gladly. worth the visit.

A Recent Favorite

Yeah, I am less sure of her reliability now, than when the story broke, but the Duke Lacrosse suddenly knows so much. When the story broke, nobody knew nothing about nothing.
The story no one is covering is the handling of the situation by Duke’s administration. The incident happened March 13/14. As far as I can tell, Duke waited until after their Men’s basketball team lost in the NCAA iirc March 25? to publicize anything about the underage drinking, the hiring of strippers on Duke owned property, multiple 911 calls…. Those were facts and public health issues that Duke’s administration knew about on March 14 and that they were supposed to communicate to their community and to Durham.
If the players are only guilty of not helping an injured woman get to a hospital, Duke’s negligence made that worse.
Sryacuse just announced they won’t accept Duke Lacrosse players who want to transfer. Given how much tougher Duke is academically than Syracuse, that to me is amazing.

Punaise,
Thanks for the Wolcott link. I was so excited last night to see that he’d linked to TBogg’s Mickey and Mallory Malkin, I never got further down the page.

punaise No. 65

“Remind me never to inquire about any Richards.”

Nix on Dicks?

I predict Karen Hughes will be brought back from State Dept to handle the policy side vacated by Rove.

This gives Bush two benefits: (snip)”>

Yes, she’ll be back. But more than practical help for the beleagured prince, will be her soothing presence. The familiar musty odor of CVS talc and pork rinds. The protective heft of her, and those adoring adoring eyes….

I wonder what her pet name is. Mama Bear maybe.

Sorry, No. 66

Huh… tags need work. Subject of above is, of course, reply to “Man Hands” Hughes… Qeuvino post #7…

Wolcott is a fist-class snarkster, maybe the best IMO, when he’s “on”. (As far as I can tell, other times tend to NY-centric gossipy party circuit stuff). He can dissect a stooge with a whithering economy of words. Like Jane, he’s not someone into whose sights you want to wander aimlessly.

That said, I do think it was a bit of a dig at our usually earnest sincerity. But that’s OK:

Group hug, everybody!

Hmmm…

What do you suppose it means if document production for SSCI phase II is at odds with document production for Fitz?

Hear that report is imminent. I think Fitz determines when that report is produced.

Sen. Roberts, your complicity is showing…

GSD 71

“Richard Holbrooke. Wasn’t he in Midway and All The Presidents Men?”

That was Hal Holbrooke. Richard Holbrooke is a former ambassador to the UN.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..html#a7976

For those who didn’t see it, Olberman’s farewell to Scottie McClellan. So sweet.

Thanks Mary.
“Are reports that the GJ did not see the pics before they returned the indictments?”
I don’t know.
From the start the Duke players have all said, “nothing happened.” The forensic evidence appears solid that the woman was raped, sodomized, and beaten. I guess the players are now saying that it happened before she arrived at their party to “perform” as an “exotic” dancer. If her injuries predated the party, you would think at least one of these boys would be adult enough to call an ambulance or take her to a hospital to get her injuries attended to. That didn’t happen.

neurophius: Nix on Dicks?

well, yeah, since you put it that way.
twitchy re Richie?

I vote that Rove is on someone’s belated Fitzmas list.

Matt O., yes, a lot of the “special names” confused me too at first. As JC says, ask. Haven’t seen Tweety and Pumpkinhead much lately, and those are confusing, in more than one way. But, I was really embarassed in retrospect about question re: DINO = democrat in name only. IIRC (if I recall correctly) JC, Suin and Zennurse all clued me in.

“Like Jane, he’s not someone into whose sights you want to wander aimlessly.”
LMAO.

hi Siun if you’re still around

“Oh, Fitzy day, calloo, callay, he chortled in his joy!”

RBG 101: that TBogg phrase certainly is a thing of beauty (the phrase, not the image!)

GSD 71

That’s what I thought too!

(Do we really have to post snark tags around here?)

is the comment numbering off? I see GSD’s as 72, for instance, not 71

Great post Swopa, thanks for linkingit. I am not sure if you are right, but you sure make solid points, as per usual.
OT, Fubar’s map, that you posted in your FDL post last weekend, is terrific for showing how our military has Iran surrounded. I wish the corporate media would pick up on it. As a visual it communicates so economically how provactive the positioning of our forces is to Tehran.
Also, the fallout from a nuclear bunker buster is going to blow over some of our troops regardless of which direction the wind is blowing, as well as a lot of other people that the WH hasn’t yet declared war on.

punaise #120- watch out, or you’re gonna have your question featured in Wolcott.

Shorter answer as to why Rove is out at DCOS –

It’s bad form to have the preznit’s senior staff indicted.

GWB the day after the Rove frog march: “Karl Rove? Never heard of him — didn’t he use to be a Democratic political consultant?”

On a personal note, I met Kos tonight at Drinking Liberally — and he (sorta) recognized me. Yea!!!

Kos has an excelent post up about the sierra Club supporting Lincoln Chafee…even though he has a lowly 20% rating on their own 2004 scorecard.

What is it with these national fundraising machines?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..1152/35605

Kos is from my neck of the woods or thereabouts.

I hope our friend James W. expected a little FDL blowback for his snarky little comment, which I felt was far more appropriate to Eschaton than to us.

I found the investigation I was looking for, it was that Robert Stein thing, he took $2million and a Cessna, a Lexus and a bunch of other stuff. It’s from February, so I don’t know why it was mentioned on BBC today, nothing in Corp or alt media. Oh well, I’m glad, it was driving me crazy.

Was anyone able to do the conference call today, and how did it go?

I think the spam filter may hold some posts with links for a bit and when they appear, they appear as if they went through immediately, so numbers change. ?? I think, therefor I am (likely to be wrong).

Rice has decided that we won’t be having any V-I days.

I admit it – I’m scared to go to sleep. It’s not mushroom clouds or NSA. I a terrified I’ll be dreaming of a wall full of pictures of hands.

john casper 110:
the second woman, the other dancer she performed with, gave a statement that the accuser wasn’t injured when they arrived. [together, IIRC]… but when she left the house, something was obviously wrong. could barely stand. seemed drunk. there’s a lot yet to unfold here, i guess.

Jane, Good catch.

I expect the next WH spokesperson to be a superb Thrower of Sand In The Eyes. I predict WH whining that PlameGate is wayyyy complicated. I expect Confusion By Minutia. I expect Confusion By A Plethora of Leaked Documents. I expect a Plague of Irrelevant, Mind-Numbing Details. I expect Distraction via Shakeup of the Day. I expect a multitude of pseudo newz eventz in a deliberate effort to confuse, distort, distract, and weaken opposition.

——–

THE FACTS:
Cheney gave instructions to ‘out’ Plame = T
Bush gave instructions to ‘out’ Plame = T
Libby acted on instructions to ‘out’ Plame = T
Rove acted on instructions to ‘out’ Plame = T

THE CONDITIONS:
conspiracy = T + T
treason = ‘outing’ a CiA agent
timeOfWar = 2003

THE EQUATION:
conspiracy + timeOfWar = treason
———–

Any time that Rove can raise doubt, or confusion, then he wins. Progressives need to stick to the facts and keep it simple.

My take at trailer dialogue for L’Affair PlameDefame:
A time of war. Four men. One secret agent.
Some conspiracies are only criminal. This one was treason.

Fitz would certainly make a good programmer. Very logical mind. Keeps things simple: true/false, and/or, if/then.

Keeping it simple is not partisan. It helps focus on logical relationships. Which is how it should be.

I saw that Sierra Club thing also. Gonna cancel my membership tomorrow.

bionic at $118: “Do we really have to post snark tags?.. Speaking only for myself, i do appreciate it because I am waaay too serious and can’t do snark very well. And I often fail to read the ’snark’ accurately. Have gotten into much trouble over at kos because of my ..um.. disability (failure to understand snark).

VG 121/122? (this is so confusing):

yeah, it may be too late to tiptoe back from the precipice.

Rove’s not really been demoted. Isn’t Chimpy’s highest priority keeping both houses of Congress in GOP hands? Absolutely the most important thing? He gave Karl one assignment: save their asses.

To those two, nothing else matters.

I believe I saw punaise change from no. 65 to no. 66–thought I had made a mistake.

Mary (at currently 126)

That sounds like as good an explanation as any. I noticed earlier today a comment that I could have sworn was one number only to see it was one more.

Thanks for setting my mind at ease. I am not crazy.

Right? Right? Bueller?

GrandmaJ says: (130?)
bionic at $118: …

cool – we get paid for commenting now? :~)

#121, valley girl….ha! Now that cracked me up! Setting aside my little tiff with Mr. Wolcott (a self-created tiff, I might add, chuckle), you folks here at FDL are to be complimented. In the short time I’ve been around, I haven’t hesitated to SOMETIMES respectfully disagree with the folks that run this place or hang out here. I may not convert anyone to my point of view…but you folks always let me have my say. Good for you!
On a side note…and I believe you folks call this “tin foil hat” stuff, but Mary at 126, the hands comment: I also recall reading the remarks of Randi Rhodes about this same subject regarding the new chief of staff and “hands photos”….um, here we go:
Am I crazy, or do I recall, from many years ago, how in church “hands” would be featured alot. there would be a drawing of hands…”the hands of God”…or a small statuette of hands, usually painted gold, of the hands of God…the hands always clasped together in prayerful fashion. And now…the chief of staff collects all these “hands” photos of Bush…like he (Bush) is some sort of religious leader??? Maybe I do wear a tin foil hat tonight?
Ghostman

Zen -

I was able to join in on the call. It was pretty cool, a bunch of people on there.

Pacha threw out a lot of great tips to get us started.

It was a lot of fun. The reception I got was delightful.

neurophius 133ish

I believe I saw punaise change from …65 to… 66

damn, I just aged twenty years overnight!

GrandmaJ at 130

No problem really. I think we’ve all been Emily Latellas of the snark impairment variety.

What we do is quite marvellous, really. All of us from everywhere building these communities.

There are so many people here whose voice I “get” even though all I have is their written word. And then there are others who I admit I don’t always know if they are joking or not.

As for my own writing, I always know when I am at my snarkilicious best! And it might not be what I wrote, but I know what I meant.

Thanks isis2 for your 127.

Teddy, I think you’ve nailed it. Any policy initiatives emanating from the WH in the next 6 months are strictly about holding Congressional majorities in November. After that, it’s pretty much nothing but lame duck until 2008. Barring another invasion, BushCo’s legacy has already been written by Rolling Stone…The Worst President in History.

via Billmon– http://billmon.org
Washington Post: “Karl Rove quits policy position to focus on midterm elections”

This is like reading that Jack the Ripper has given up his medical practice to concentrate on his night job.

That’s kind of my take on it too.

Message from Dr. Zi-Ra:*Warning*Faux News

Faux News

Well, Matt, I should think so!! YOu have made very valuable contributions here. I’m sorry I missed it, I got online just when it would have been ending, I think.

I have a question, but I should be going to bed.

Why is it such a big deal that Val Plame might have suggested Joe for the Niger trip? I believe she has a different story about this, and I understand nepotism, but he was a very logical choice for that mission and I really can’t understand why it’s something to criticize. Given George Bush’s givt for nepotism and crony hires (as in the Brooks Brothers crowd who all work in govt now), I would think they’d just shut up about it.

readerOfTeaLeaves, thanks for a very fine comment. After I read it, I recalled the AUMF was in 2001, pre leaks. That’s important and adds credibility to your “treason” and “conspiracy” theories, both of which I buy.
One thing you did not address was “declassification” and how that might relate.

Ghostman – could be and more scarey still, the word “insurance” comes to mind. Also, “thing” or should that be “Thing?” *g*

OT, but in the spirit of the spirit that Jane and Redd seem to promote:

http://tinyurl.com/jq4po
Students besiege Bush

Sure, it’s Jeb and not George, but still. They are protesting his handling of the 14 yo killed at “boot camp†aka Camp Bybee, run by a County Sheriff’s office. Apparently, they would like to see arrests of the guards shown on the videos beating and kicking the boy, the ME who listed natural causes related to *sickle cell complications* fired and an apology for the boy’s parents. Bush met with about 30 of them and that went well.

“After their meeting with Bush, the students called the conversation “political” and decided to spend the night outside his office door.

It’s amazing how well people can interpret politiquese when they don’t have a Fox News commentator to filter for them.

RBG and LL re: Sierra Club

A few things you need to know about the Sierra Club and about groups who worship Lincoln Chafee.

First, the Sierra Club, IMHO, lost their way a long time ago. I worked at Interior for Bruce Babbitt and they were constantly telling us that our actions weren’t good enough. They have zero sense of policy and their politics are all built on fear. I’m very negative toward them, and I consider myself a professional conservationist. Anyway, again only my opinion, but I feel like they actually prefer Bush in the White House to Clinton or Gore or Kerry because it helps them raise money and perpetuate themselves, which I believe is their only goal any more.

Second, when national groups like the Sierra Club and Planned Parenthood find a Republican who votes with them AT ALL, they typically support the lame but occasionally helpful incumbent rather than rock the boat for a Dem challenger who would support their cause — whether it is environmentalism or reproductive rights — more regularly. It makes no sense on an individual race level, but these people still like to put out press releases that talk about their bipartisan support, and you can’t do that unless you have one member from the other side of the aisle. It’s dumb but common.

Hey Punaise!

I’m supposed to be sleeping and with high pollen here had to take an allergy pill that’s making my eyes droop … how’s the work coming?

g’nite all! falling asleep on keyboard is not to be recommended … see you in the am!

“Why is it such a big deal that Val Plame might have suggested Joe for the Niger trip.”
IIRC, it’s spin from the WH against Joe’s credibility. Deadeye told Russert on national TV that he asked the CIA, “what do we know about Niger?” That eventually led to Joe’s trip. Joe said DeadEye asked him to go. DeadEye said he never asked Joe to go, but Valerie did. IMO, it’s just the WH spinning anything to get the get the attention off them. Rule #1: Always make it about the other guy/gal. Rule #2: When in doubt, refer to rule# 1.
Appeal to others if I have my facts wrong here.

JC – I think you have your facts right, but I also think it goes more directly to “why were they talking to ANYONE about Wilson’s wife – even if she were NOT covert?” Kind of dirty pool in most halls. However, they can spin that they only mentioned her at all bc they were trying to clarify who sent Joe. IOW, make up that he said Cheney sent him (which he did not) and then make up that they were only discussing his wife in the context of countering the incorrect claim (that he did not make). I think the “excuse for mentioning her that doesn’t make it look like a direct Rove hit job” was as important, if not more so, to them than the (added benefit) ability to nanner about nepotism. IMO/FWIW

Thanks, John, I thought it was about that stupid and Rovian, but I also wanted to be sure I wasn’t missing something.

Do you read Larry Johnson over at NO Quarter? He has an interesting post about the generals with a note from Pat Lang about his experience with the military meetings Rummy says are so chummy and interactive.

http://noquarter.typepad.com/m…..spin_.html

Just after that one is a post about the INR memo with points I thought were good.

well, Siun, my week-long FDL detox in the desert was moderately successful – been actually getting some work done amidst the daytime lurking. Late Nites are tough, real tough. One comment at a time, or something like that. bonne nuit to ya.

Somnambulist, I went to your Faux news links and the second one goes to a Google search. Is that right, and if so, I don’t get it.

ShowMePatriot–that’s why I generally give my money only to small grassroots groups. I slipped up this time and joined Sierra Club because I was so upset about what’s happening with the environment. But at least it gives me an excuse to call up and let them know why I’m quitting.

Mary, so it’s the compounding lie that will eventually bite them, right?

I am going to sheepishly admit that I am having trouble absorbing the INR memo and I went to emptywheel and found it a bit confusing. I think Larry J’s post helped me see that is is essentially proving that they lied, lied, lied.

So disgusting.

LL= Support the Union of Concerned scientists instead. But you might ask punaise and Prof Foland first; they are our resident scientists, but I think I remember Prof Foland saying good things about them. I like them and have donated for a couple of years now.

Mary, thank you, as always.
Thanks Zen, I will definitely check that out, because I like Pat Lang whenever I see him on the Lehrer News Hour. Also appreciated your sparkling review of Wolcott.

zennurse – resident scientist? ROFL! mistaken identity. I’m a designerer.

I didn’t mean you, LL, I meant ShowMePatriot, sorry.

Time for sleep, if you could just see the typos I’m correcting! But they’re good for a laugh!

Goodnight friends, I’m so glad you’re here, or I’d be completely flip city. I swear this blog community has kept me sane for the last 8 months. It’s strange to feel you know people when you’ve never met them…

Thinking of Mrs K8 tonight and hoping she is better.

…but not of the “intelligent” variety.

You’re right. There are a few larger organizations I still trust and support and UCS is one of them. ACLU, Amnesty Intl, Human Rights Watch, and a few others haven’t let me down yet (I hope). But I know my money goes way farther when I give $35 to a small organization that doesn’t pay outrageous sums to executives and fundraisers.

Oh, punaise, I’m sorry/sleepy. Do I mean Valley girl? Who do I mean?

There is a rumor going around certain circles that Cheney has received a target letter, and that an indictment is probable by the summer. Just a rumor…

Now punaise, you are bilingual and clever as hell and clever people have high intelligence, imo, so knock that off!!!

And may I say how nice it is to have you “home”? We missed your wit and generosity around here, but I bet you had a nice time with punaise, jr, and a good rest from us.

zen: yes, Valley Girl often comments about her niche in the male-dominated science world.

(still chuckling….)

a target on Dick Cheney!? with concentric circles? Stop! I’m dyin’ here!

3L, which circles?
Crop circles?
Do tell!!

Link?

You know, punaise, until recently I had thought you were female. Must be the French name, since I don’t understand french and am easily misled.

thanks for the kind words, zen. damn, feigned humility gets me nowhere. it was a dual-pronged remark:

1. I’d never want to be associated with the “intelligent design” crowd
2. I’m regularly awed by the sharp analytical legal-beagles and political minds and the committed activists here. It’s hard work just trying to follow the bouncing ball…

You know, we should have a thread one night where everybody gets to ask the questions they’ve been too embarrassed to ask. You miss things if you lag behind the group mind by even a few hours. I am sure there are some readers who are wondering who Viveca Novak is or precisely what B. Comstock’s connection is to all of this, for instance.

TRex, that’s a good idea. We have so many new folks and we know from experience that there are many lurkers who tell us they’re intimidated to comment. Let’s mention it to Jane tomorrow and see if she’ll do it. I bet it would be lively.

I have to sleep now, really, I just looked at the clock. Are you on the radio now, TR?

zen, my phrasings and patter are probably ambiguously gender-neutral; at least I eschew macho-isms.

Well, enough about meme. How did you like my latest movie?

Or why we call Jim Brasy “Church Lady” or who Mata Whori is.

OT: My guess for new press secretary? Dan Senor.

Dan Senor????

Jim Brasy?? ;-)

To Bed.

Sweet Dreams.

Zen – we must be on a similar wavelength, as I was just looking at No Quarter (did I mention wanting to avoid disembodied hand dreams?)

I thought he did a very nice job on a short & sweet on the memo too.

http://noquarter.typepad.com/m…..inr_m.html
Larry Johnson helps decipher the INR memo.

And just a few days earlier, he raised the question:
http://noquarter.typepad.com/m…..mmy_f.html
- did Woodward lie when he said that Tommy Franks called Feith “the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth.” ?? *G* Bc when Franks went on Hardball bashing of The Generals and promoting his book, he seems to think that Feith is “brilliant.†And Larry makes that connection about 14 months of planning putting us about the time of the Tora Bora Franksaster.

Are you on the radio now, TR?

No, my shift ends at midnight ET. Just sitting here eating some banana bread my mom made gave me when I was in town at Easter.

I shudder to think what it would be like to have a mother who can’t (or won’t) cook. Everything my mother cooks is The Best Thing You’ve Ever Tasted.

The Penultimate Truthy

;>)

bonne nuit zen
or as we used to say to the kids when they were younger: a do-do!

(pronounced doe-doe, from dormir=to sleep)

db: cool graphic, but why penultimate?

Jim Brady, I mean.

Dan Senor is the kinda reptilian angular guy who was the Pentagon spokeman in the early part of the Iraq Invasion.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/gove…..r-bio.html

That poll says a bunch doesn’t it?
We won’t roll out our product in August!
Our man Fitz is talking softly and carrying a hefty sized stick – something the Chimp could have done while looking for a hit-and-run driver in the Middle East. ‘ It’s the war stupid’
To lose one war could be regarded as misfortune – to lose two is beginning to seem like carelessness. So, matter how many games of musical chairs the criminal cabal will play it’s all about the war at the remains of the day. Pardon’s should be ruled out early if there’s any justice. No justice – no peace.

( Can I say hi to Woolcot? And love to all our ladies of the lake)

Dan Senor is also (recently) Mr. Campbell Brown, she of (I think) NBC News.

TRex: That’s an excellent idea. I’ll do it tomorrow night, we’ll have a de-lurker post that invites people to join in and ask the questions they’ve been afraid to admit they don’t know the answers to. It’ll also give us a very good idea of when we’re being too obscure.

punaise @ 183

It’s a ‘Brokeback theorum’ moment, P…When two individual states are unable to ‘quit’ each other… Symbiosis occurs.

And this renders them unable to exist separately in fact as well as in deed…The Chang and Eng of the American Ruse, fated to share adjacent destiny in the penultimate act before the final curtain.

Do you think Wolcott will eavesdrop and then take back snarkalicious questions if we have a free for all, Jane? If he promises not to mock, then I think it’s a great idea. I especially liked today’s question: who’s this Wolcott fellow?

darkblack – got it, thanks.

TRex: That’s an excellent idea.

Aw. Thanks1

*blushes*

the questions …they don’t know the answers to

that ties in with the lofty idea of a user-generated wikipediesque FDL “glossary / nick-name & acronym-finder” where one could find out about EPU’d, LOL, IIRC, Judy Kneepads, I’ll be here all week – try the veal, and more serious stuff. A place for some of Pach’s manifestos to reside. Redd’s primers on court proceedings. Snarkives. Dare I say: a living FDL cultural repository.

Punaise,

I use the Urban Dictionary for a lot of acronyms, including a recent e-mail from a certain somebody.

ah, bon? do tell

Psych-Out Laura

laura’s aura
laure azorra
l’or osera

I went to your Faux news links and the second one goes to a Google search. Is that right, and if so, I don’t get it.

…right
…I

don’t

get

it.

Can I just say that if Rove has no policy role, only a political role (and why that’s on our dime is beyond me), then he has absolutely no need for a security clearance. In fact, someone with a strictly political role presents an example of a person who should not be permitted, in general, to have any clearance. If he’s not making policy decisions, he doesn’t need to know any secret stuff. And he shouldn’t be able to delve into secret stuff to do oppo research.

Um, this morning’s first thought is that the Repubs in Congress must be REAL REAL happy that Karl is going to make sure they’re re-elected (uh, make that tied at the knees and ankles to the Decider). Carl Bernstein argues in his long but amazingly comprehensive piece in Vanity Fair that some Republican congressmen are quietly trying to decide what to do about the Administration, and I’m guessing the top answer wasn’t have Rove supervise re-election efforts for them or their colleagues.

John Marcus at 34 :

The appeal is a huge piece of work for 2-4 people, but does not ususally mpact the rest of the office the way a big trial does.

Trials are big physical events, like a multi month full contact footbball(or rugby?) game.

An appeal is more like an academic exercise, like cramming to finish a term paper. Though for the big ones, they will sometimes set up a moot court. Which is usually a lot of funn for everyone except the person being prepped for the arguement.

Appeals are like an elegant single combat, trials are like a mob fracas.

O/T. Another CT New Haven area traffic alert: president Hu Jintao visiting Yale. There will be human rights protests of course, re: falun gong. I’m just glad chimpy isn’t with him. I do hope his visit combats some of the warmongers China baiting though. (yes, you Joe.)

BTW. I keep hoping Rove’s status is a change for the diminished. I want ankle bracelets for him though, Fitz.

I watched the Scotty/GWB feel-good good-bye show on the WH lawn yesterday and was struck by something I haven’t seen commented upon here. Scotty said he was going back to Texas and that he hoped that he (Scotty) was back in Texas before Bush got there (paraphrased obviously). What the heck was *that* supposed to mean? The possible implications are staggering, and delicious, but I know that since it came from dumb-as-a-post Scotty, it most likely means nothing at all. Still…. wtf?

Note to Scott – it’s time for you to go home and write your book now, son.

LHP – would the appellate work most likely involve a different cast of characters from those who were involved in the trial work?

Will taxpayers be paying Rove to run an election?

SECURITY CLEARANCE REVOKED FOR MISUSE OF SECRET INFO: “[Former CIA Director] Deutch’s intelligence clearances were revoked last year because he had violated security rules by keeping classified information on computers at his house.” [NY Times, 2/6/00]

I’m sure happy teh future vice president of this country finnished up his other chores so he can pay attention to the issues that might save the constitution of the united states of america

we need a hero and we need him fast

teh fitster fits that bill

me to me: I was thinking about the Constitution last night trying to fall asleep. What a difference there is among our forefathers and our
aft fathers. I know this administration has been slowly changing things….but try to imagine if there chore today was to write a constitution! Sweet Jeebus, we’ve come a long way, baby!

Jane- you are right, I’m sure that something is coming down the pike. Something that would make Scott look worse than he already does.

This is OT, but does Andy Card normally travel to schools to read books with the president?

This is OT, but does Andy Card normally travel to schools to read books with the president?
“What do I read next? ” Well, the preznit’s favorites include Wind in the Willows . . . children’s books I like gone sour with chimpy’s enthusiastic endorsement. It’s like looking at my favorite teddy bear that someone threw up on.

I always thought the “goat” story had some kind of hidden symbolism to these religious fanatics.

Of course, the Republicans and cynical Democrats are saying that this just frees up Rover to do more thuggish political work.

The problem with that explanation is that Rove was ALREADY doing political work of that very sort from the White House. (And he’s not exactly infallible. Remember the Social Security and Terri Schiavo messes?) Unlike with Al Gore, who the GOP/Media Complex jumped on for returning a single phone call to a donor from his desk phone instead of his cell phone, Rove can spend his entire day on the phone strong-arming backers and the press wouldn’t and still won’t say ‘boo’ about it.

So why physically move him out of the White House, since he can do the job he was doing there — political thuggery — better than anywhere else?

Because his efforts to buy off Fitzgerald by offering up Libby and Cheney have not been enough to save his ass, that’s why. He’s going to be spending an increasingly large portion of his waking hours talking with his lawyers, and it’s hard to do strong-arm political thuggery when you’re preoccupied with avoiding the orange jumpsuit.

It may suit Fitz to let Rove dangle, but it is frickin killing the rest of us!

Jayt at 203:

I don’t know the tradition at NDIL, but the practice as SDNY was, whenever possible, for the people who did the trial to do the appeal. Obviously if the lead trial attorney left the office right after the win (which is VERY common–this is the moment of that lawyer’s greatest self marketability) the appeal could be assigned to someone new.

{Totally OT, but in SDNY after Guiliani left, the appeals of some of the Wall Street cases were given to inexperienced newbies B/C the incoming US Attorney had essentially campaigned for the job by having his very outspoken law partner complain that the insider trading cases were bullshit. As you may expect, the new kids lost their appeals and undid years of really cutting edge work that has not been attempted again until Jim Comey [the man who also created the Enron Task force] and later, Dave Kelley went after — what was the name of it NEED COFFEE–Imclone? You know, Sam Whatshisname and Martha Stewart. After that show of testicular fortitude, Elliot Spitzer followed suit}

The idea being that the people who did the trial already know the facts and law of their case and remember the tiny details in the record and are emotionally invested in winning the appeal (not to mention wanting to win to protect their own career prospects).

Each US Attorney’s Office also has a 2-4 person “Appeals” unit made up of senior attorney’s. They are more like faculty advisors for doctoral candidates and mentor the attorney writing the brief through the several drafts. They also make you practice your argument in front of them and, for big appeals, organize your moot court, which start out brutal but end up hilarious (and which often concludes with a beer bash).

It is much more difficult for a new attorney to come in and have to learn the facts from scratch. Back in my teaching days, I would also do appeals referred from other attorney’s. For some reason, a lot of lawyers would rather gnaw off their own leg than brief and argue their own appeals. I can tell you that when you come in cold like that, most of your 30 days that should be spent researching and writing, gets eaten up reading and annotating the record. The “record” is the trial transcripts and exhibits and prior rulings.

It is much easier to brief and argue an appeal from a case you have already worked on and I much prefer it that way, though I still occasionally take appeals from others.

jackaroyd (198) — Ding-ding-ding!! But that’s exactly the point…the WH wants to make it look to the base like they are actually doing something constructive about the sagging numbers, so they move Rover in title and job description only down the figurative hallway. They also want him to continue to do his ratf*cking that he does so well, since it’s the only thing that’s kept them in office this long. Without Rove doing his deep ratf*cking, which requires access to every possible record…we’d be shet of these incompetent gits, they’d have no leverage over the Repugs who are running for office.

But I do buy what Phoenix Woman (211) suggests, that Rover needs more time to meet lawyers “if Rove remains a subject” of Fitz’ investigation, as well as building a subtle firewall between the WH and Rover pre-indictment.

[God, I do want that evil lard*ss ratf*cker to be indicted and soon…]

Me to Me

Pat Fitz is famous for being shy and totally unwilling to “work a room”. He is the last person you should expect to run for elective office.

I think Rayne (and Matt O. upthread) has it right regarding Rove, this move is pure theatre. The fact that every political talking head on teevee last night made a specific point of mentioning how much more significant the “Rove removed from policy decisions” was than Snotty walking the plank. They’re trying to salvage Bush’s 2nd term by marketing “big changes” within the administration a la Reagan 2nd term. IMHO.

LHP – thanks for the info.

I’ve always assumed Fitz was trying to get Libby to turn. If that’s true, we probably won’t see much else happen unless Fitz thinks he has a good case without Libby’s turning or he thinks he running out of time (or something else forces his hand).

86 I had read that the pictures were time-stamped and showed bruises on the alleged victim, including an open cut on her knee

Timestamps on pictures can be faked: it’s like setting the time on your computer, but slightly more difficult (you have to know the camera menu). Whether someone would have done it for this purpose is another question.

Ghostman, #79 – How do girls sip wine?

How do guys sip it? Straight outa the bag?

What is Fitz’ game plan that this needs to be dragged out. It is NOT good for the country to have this drag on any longer. The longer he drags it out, the more I think he is carrying the water of this administration. Actions speak louder than words.

I wouldn’t even call this “shake up” a “shake up” at all. It is just a bunch of recycled Bush administration’ers.

The only new addition will be a Press Secretary. I wouldn’t call that a shake up.