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The Associated Press informs us this afternoon:
Attorneys for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby dismissed the idea of a White House plot to leak a CIA operative's identity to the press and said Libby plans to tell jurors at his perjury trial that he had no reason to lie.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent years investigating who leaked Valerie Plame Wilson's identity to syndicated columnist Robert Novak in 2003. While nobody was charged with the leak, Libby is accused of lying to investigators about his conversations with reporters.
Fitzgerald wants to keep most of that backstory out of Libby's trial in January. But in court documents filed Tuesday, defense attorneys said they have a right to argue that Libby doesn't believe he did anything wrong.
Novak's story ran as Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, criticized the Bush administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq. Former State Department official Richard Armitage has acknowledged being the source for Novak's column, a fact that neither defense attorneys nor prosecutors discussed in legal filings until Tuesday.
"It is doubtful that anyone committed an 'underlying crime' here," Libby's lawyers wrote. "The government's investigation began as an effort to discover which government officials had 'leaked' Ms. Wilson's affiliation with the CIA to Mr. Novak. After years of overheated media speculation that Ms. Wilson's identity had been publicly revealed as part of a White House plot to wreak revenge on her husband, Mr. Armitage (who was no White House ally) finally confirmed in August 2006 that he was Mr. Novak's primary source."
. . . Fitzgerald has not specifically commented on that allegation. In court papers, he has argued that the upcoming trial should not be a forum to debate the leak itself or question why Libby was charged and others weren't.
Now, I'll leave it to the resident Plameologists (and the esteemed M. T. Wheeler, when and if she has the opportunity) to list in luxurious, encyclopedic detail all of the many reasons that the "underlying crime" extends well past Armitage's conversation with Novakula, and why Libby was up to his treasonous earlobes in the whole mess. The point is, none of it will be a surprise to Irving Lewis Scooter Libby and his lawyers.
They know damn well that there was a crime, and that Fitzgerald is probably looking forward to prosecuting someone for it as soon as the perjury case is done. So Team Libby just wants a sneak preview of what kind of case Fitzgerald has built against him (and, by extension, against Scooter's boss, Big Dick Cheney).
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Swopa!
and Fitz!
Fitz for the heck of it!
Let’s help Cheney out- everyone send a condom full of camels- prison supplies!
Tweety’s pretty consistent about Iraq- get the fuck out now- don’t pass “GO”- don’t collect $200.
Completely OT, and then EPUd, but fun…
I heard about this on Talk of the Nation this afternoon (when it wasn’t about to make my head explode), and it seems like a bunch of fun. It’s Fantasy Congress, like fantasy football but with politics.
http://www.fantasycongress.com/fc/
I joined the Georgia Democratic Survivors League and named my team the FDL Fanatics.
Earlier this morning, Christy had a thread that started by referring to an NPR interview with two voiceover guys who did lots of the negative political ads (cue the threatening music and dramatic deep voices . . .). I posted this there, but it’s at least as appropriate on this thread.
Imagine what those two voiceover guys could do with Irving . . .
(ominous music)
His name is Irving Lewis Libby, Jr., but everyone calls him “Scooter.” Everyone, that is, except for US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. To Fitzgerald, he is “the defendant, Mr. Libby.”
(music deepens)
Scooter was Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff. He was important, and everyone knew it. He knew things. Important things. Secret things. Things that could get people killed if they became public.
(deeper music still)
And then they became public.
(silence)
In a fit of political pique, an undercover CIA agent was outed, along with her cover company, thereby endangering the lives of countless other CIA operatives. Once important sources went silent, and new sources became difficult to recruit.
All because someone in the White House was angry over an op-ed column by the agent’s husband.
(resume music)
When federal investigators asked Scooter about his role, he told them that a journalist had first told him about the agent. That was a lie. And it was documentable as a lie.
His name is Irving Lewis Libby, Jr., but everyone calls him “Scooter.” Everyone except Patrick Fitzgerald. To Fitzgerald, he is “the defendant, Mr. Libby.” He’s accused of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements to federal investigators.
Feeling lucky, Mr. Libby?
(music crescendoes)
Why don’t you tell us what you really know, before it’s too late?
(music ends with the sound of a cell door slamming)
OT
Larry Johnson posts a letter from Iraq …. Read this folks :
http://noquarter.typepad.com/m......html#more
view terrorstorm
DAILY KOS: Curbing noxious human emissions in DC; what does it mean to us the dems won?
123Malgr les menaces du Conseil de scurit de l’ONU, l’Iran poursuit son programme de production d’uranium enrichi et refuse de cooprer avec l’Agence internationale de l’nergie atomique (AIEA) pour la rsolution de problmes cls poss par ce programme, selon un rapport confidentiel de cette agence onusienne, dont plusieurs agences de presse ont nanmoins obtenu copie mardi 14 novembre.
fed up of the threats of the sec council of the un the Iran pursues his production of uranium enrichment and refuses to cooperate with the international atomic energy agency
concerncing the key problems and their solution put up by this prog according to a confidentiel report of which multiple nbews agencies got news 14th of nov.
lemonde: iran threatens the united nations thru nuk bombs
Libby’s first name is Irv (not Irving).
The “I didn’t do anything wrong; I forgot what I didn’t do; I was too busy running the country to have done what I didn’t do; I’m not sure I remember; I’ve gotta find out for my ex-boss what you’ve got on him; and some Powell flunky (who never liked us) did it” defense.
Does Barbara Comstock hold Scooter’s lawyer’s mouse when this drivel gets typed up?
===========
Who’s Next?
===========
William Ockham @ 9
I refuse to believe that. :)
Sure thing Abramoff.
6 to 8 corrupt Democrats, but he offers no Republican Senators heads on a pike.
Casino Jack is doing the same thing as serial killers Ted Bundy and Ottis Toole.
They charm the coppers, continue getting steak dinners and nice hotel rooms and relish still having everyone around them hanging on their every word.
Scumbaglia extraordinary.
-GSD
As to Scooter, he’s gonna make sad inmate.
Tweety says that the next president will seem smarter than this one…
Really goin out on a limb there aren’t ya Chris?
wiki, fwiw:
rwcole @
13
Is Katherine Harris running???
The search is on for a presidential candidate who seems smarter than Clusterfuck. Baker’s on the G4 searchin an searchin–oh this is HARD work!
rwcole @ 13
That came straight from the American Media Institute Center For the In-Depth Study and Reporting of Blinding Glimpses of the Obvious.
_
from Tina Fey, SNL:
Making false statements, five years.
Perjury, five years.
Going to jail with the name Scooter, priceless.
rwcole @ 13
.I’m getting smarter, I keep my Mt. Dew away from the monitor now……
TPM reporting that RGJoe got himself a standing O from senate dems today.
Whoo, my blood pressure just went through the roof.
Tweety n Tucker both singin the same song today:
Roooodeeee–Rooodeee!
I like the “there wahrn’t no underlyin’ crime committed, so what’s all the hubbub?” defense.
It’s right up there with “It’s her own dang fault. I mean, if she didn’t WANT to be outed, she never would have gone undercover in the first place!” Poor Scooter, the victim of an irresponsible woman.
Ok, that’s a wee bit off the topic, but still…
ROOODEEEE seems ta be the favored candidate for goopers who are embarassed ta be goopers.
Claude Reigns other famous role: “The Invisible Man”. And why do I get a feeling of an unseen presence hovering around the investigation? Anyone care to make prediction about other indictments? Jason Leopold need not apply.
So Armitage has graduated from being dubbed Novak’s “primary source” (which he got through deliberate obfuscation of the difference between primary=first chronologically and primary=most important) to being dubbed “THE source.”
If they actually had a leg to stand on, they wouldn’t have to spend so much time trying to spin the press…
TeddySanFran @ 14
Oh, golly gee, so there are Oedipal issues involved?!?
Who could have seen that coming.
bdu @ 20
Here’s Bob Somerby, this might help your blood pressure:
On Meet the Press, you don’t get to hear people like Webb, who were right. You’re condemned to hear people like Joe, who were wrong. In fact, you’re condemned to hear them again and again.
Big Dick Cheney? Perhaps tiny Dick Cheney, may I add no sack to that as well.
OT - a fairly wonky but (if you can get past that) enlightening take on free trade over at TPM Cafe.
rwcole @
13
They must be planning a Sybil the Soothsayer spot on MSNnnnnBeeeCeee…
;>)
Rudy’s going to cause a Republican civil war. I predict Rudy will do quite well with libertarian NH Republicans. Then he’ll get the Howard Dean treatment from the party insiders and their willing dupes in the media…..
The Jesus Jumpers aint gonna dig gay lovin’, gun bannin’, abortion toleratin’ Rudy.
So we’ll have to figure out who will ride in on the white horse to save the party from liberal Rudy.
-GSD
GSD @ 31
Draft Dobson!
;>)
Marion in Savannah @
15
Nope. The marsupial is. Big improvement.
Rudy had his mistress move into Gracie Mansion before his divorce finalized. I can’t recall if that was his first or second wife. He’s dreaming.
Santorum/Haggard 2008.
-GSD
Ya can see the wheels turnin in Tucker’s preppy head….”Oh shit- wouldn’t it be great to have a gooper president that didn’t embarass ya every time he opens his mouth and who tells the religious whackos ta go fuck themselves.”
Looks like the clock is ticking on Hot and Tender Denny Hastert.
Denny’s Gonna Git.
-GSD
GSD—yeah- that’s got a ring to it- if Haggard finishes his trainin program in time.
Hey–
Tucker vs. Rangel- anyone wanna bet on who wins this one?
I really think that the Fundies are getting ready for 40 more years in the desert again.
-GSD
P.S. I might have to stop watching CNN with all the Glenn Blech whoring going on. He’s a banal warmonger.
ifthethunderdontgetya @ 27
On Meet the Press, you don’t get to hear people like Webb, who were right. You’re condemned to hear people like Joe, who were wrong. In fact, you’re condemned to hear them again and again.
The next time someone IDs Joe as a Dem, I think my head is going to explode.
His *only* qualification for that D at this point is his say-so that he’ll caucus with the Dems. Even so, we saw exactly how much that meant when he was still running on a big D ticket, I can only imagine how little it means now that he’s bought and paid for by the big Rs.
Rangel’s gonna tie his tie into a bowtie from afar…
Darkblack,
How about a picture of Pastor Haggard with the Tammy Faye make-up tears running down his face….
He has sinned against the lord and he needs some churchin’ up.
-GSD
GSD @ 31
Didn’t Brownback (R-KS) throw his hat into the ring? He’d be the great fundy hope, since I understand the fundies hate McCain (even though he’s been sucking up lately).
hey swoopa, thanx for the fitz fix
now I need some evaluation if the top secret material the judge allowed a few days ago.
won’t the president refuse to allow it, and won’t that get the case dismissed?
Meanwhile, when do we get the House ethics report on Foley?
OT This might have fit in better in the last thread but I wasn’t around at the time.
Yesterday, I posted a comment about the Iraq Study Group’s mission and structure, and the principals beyond the oft named James Baker. However, most of the work of the ISG is done not by Baker, Hamilton, or the other principals but by the members of the 4 working groups. I thought it would be worthwhile to examine in however limited a way who these members are. I will treat each working group in a different comment. The members’ bios and list of associations I give are imperfect and incomplete (Correct or add to them at will.) but are meant to give a first approximation of who they are and what they represent. You will note that almost all of them come from think tanks or policy centers. Many have cycled between government, business, and various schools and institutes.
The Iraq Study Group: The working groups Part 1
Group One: Economy and Reconstruction
Each group has a nominal head from the US Institute for Peace which facilitated the formation of the ISG.
This group is unusual because half of its members come from the business world.
Gary Matthews
USIP Secretariat: Task Force on the United Nations and Special Projects
His only economic experience that I know of was as an editor at Kiplinger Letters.
Oil:
1) Raad Alkadiri PFC Energy
PFC Energy believes in peak oil, calculating the peak to come in around 2015
Alkadiri was Policy Adviser and Assistant Private Secretary to the UK Special Representatives to Iraq, Sir Jeremy Greenstock and David Richmond in Iraq in 2004 during the occupation.
2) Amy Myers Jaffe James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy: Energy
principal advisor to US AID’s project on Options for Developing a Long Term Sustainable Iraqi Oil Industry. You could not get closer to Jim Baker than this.
3) James A. Placke CERA
CERA are also energy consultants. They are cornucopians, i.e. they believe in abundant oil and do not believe it will peak.
Banking:
1) Jay Collins Citigroup
2) David A. Lipton Citigroup
Strategic think tanks
1) Frederick D. Barton CSIS
Center for Strategic and International Studies, (Sam Nunn, a conservative defense minded Democrat, heads this institute.)
2) Keith Crane RAND
RAND equals Military industrial complex to many.
3) Michael E. O’Hanlon Brookings
Center to Liberal institute
O’Hanlon does mostly defense/security issues but has done metric analyses of Iraq
http://www.brook.edu/views/op-.....060616.htm
4) James A. Schear National Defense University
Background in peacekeeping and humanitarian affairs
(The NDU’s mission is to train future leaders in government on international, defense, and strategic issues. Quite a few of the members of the working groups have connections to the NDU.)
Construction and communication:
1) Jock P. Covey Bechtel
2) K. Riva Levinson BKSH (Communication and public policy consultants)
headed by Charles Black, senior advisor to Reagan and GHWB.
Group Two: Military and Security Part 2
Paul Hughes
USIP Secretariat: Post-conflict Peace and Stability Operations,
From January to August 2003, Hughes served as the chief of the Special Initiatives Office for the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance and as the director of the Strategic Policy Office for the CPA in Iraq. From 1996 to 2000, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for Humanitarian Assistance and Anti-Personnel Landmine Policy. Hughes is one of three members of the CPA who appears in these groups. It would seem to me to be an anti-credential.
1) Hans A. Binnendijk
National Security Council Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control (1999-2001). From 1994 to 1999, Dr. Binnendijk was Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University (1994-1999). Principal Deputy Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff (1993-1994).
2) James Jay Carafano
From the Heritage Foundation (conservative)
Coauthor of Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom
3) Michele A. Flournoy
Center for Strategic & International Studies (Sam Nunn, a conservative defense minded Democrat, heads this institute.)
Member of the Aspen Strategy Group (a Scowcroft and Perry co-venture)
4) Michael Eisenstadt
Washington Institute for Near East Policy (Pro-Israel, founded by Martin Indyk who was with AIPAC. Of course, Indyk himself has been at Brookings, a center to liberal think tank, which just goes to show how interconnected many of these centers and institutes are.)
5) Bruce Hoffman
Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency, RAND Corporation (Military-industrial complex)
6) Clifford May
(I have no idea why this guy is here)
President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Member Committee on the Present Danger
Regular contributor to National Review Online
Director of Communications for the RNC (1997-2001)
7) Robert M. Perito
Post-conflict Peace and Stability Operations, US Institute for Peace
State Department careerist
Deputy executive secretary of the National Security Council (1988–89).
“There was no thought given to the possibility that, as soon as U.S. troops arrived in Baghdad, people would go on a systematic campaign to loot the city. This is just ignoring the lessons of history.” From a Frontline interview.
8) Kalev I. Sepp
Terrorism and Irregular Warfare, Naval Postgraduate School
Former Special Forces officer
Military specialist who said, “Looking back on each of my four tours of service in Iraq, from January 2004 to December 2005, I have seen distinct and steady improvement in the coalition and Iraqi counterinsurgency fight, from near-chaos to a disciplined, purposeful campaign. We may yet succeed. We certainly have the capacity; the question may ultimately be one of will.” Military people tend to have this terrible “can do” mindset which clouds their judgment.
9) John F. Sigler, Rear Admiral (ret.)
Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University
Middle East security policy, the Interagency Process, military transformation, disaster management and policy-level wargaming
10) W. Andrew Terrill, Lieutenant Colonel US Army Reserves (ret.)
National Security Affairs, Strategic Studies Institute
Middle East specialist.
Author of Precedents, Variables, and Options in Planning a U.S. Military Disengagement Strategy from Iraq (Oct. 2005) and Strategic Implications of Intercommunal Warfare in Iraq (Feb. 2005). At the time he thought a civil war was a low probability, worse case scenario. Again I wonder if he has changed his mind.
11) Jeffrey A. White
Washington Institute for Near East Policy (Pro-Israel)
Defense Intelligence Agency careerist
Military Senior Advisor Panel
1) Admiral James O. Ellis, Jr.
United States Navy, Retired
Commander, United States Strategic Command
2) General John M. Keane
United States Army, Retired
Vice Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer for the Army from 1999-2003.
Defense Policy Board
Military analyst for ABC News
Council on Foreign Relations
3) General Edward C. Meyer
United States Army, Retired
4) General Joseph W. Ralston
United States Air Force, Retired
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1996-2000
Passed over for the Chairmanship due to an affair while he and his wife were separated.
5) Lieutenant General Roger C. Schultz, Sr.
United States Army, Retired
Director, Army National Guard
GSD @
40
All the more reason to click through his ad link, upper left corner, to make him pay for the FDL servers!
No wonder Bush hates Ahmadinejad.
Mahmoud is giving Bush a run for his money for leader with the most executions under his belt.
Boy, what a world, what a man of God.
-GSD
Thank you Hugh, very much!
(Already getting queasy)
Group Three: Political Development Part 3
Daniel Serwer
USIP Secretariat: Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations
Interethnic and interreligious conflict in Iraq, Albania, Bosnia.
1) Raymond H. Close
A very old foreign policy hand
CIA Arabist for 26 years, retired 1977.
Writing on Clinton’s attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan: “What worries me most, in the final analysis, is that our attacks on the targets in Afghanistan and Sudan were reminiscent of what we call “vigilante justice” in American folklore. This kind of policy weakens our leadership position in the world and undermines the most effective defenses we will have against the terrorist threat: a commitment to the rule of law, dedication to fairness and evenhandedness in settling international disputes and a reputation as the most humanitarian nation in the world.”
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/.....close.html
2) Larry Diamond
The Hoover Institution (neocon, libertarian)
During the first three months of 2004, Diamond served as a senior adviser on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Baghdad
3) Andrew P.N. Erdmann
Former Director for Iran, Iraq and Strategic Planning, National Security Council
In a NYT’s Op-Ed of 12/27/06, opined that the question was not when to withdraw, but how to broaden and deepen its engagement by strengthening Iraqi institutions and that those who opposed the war have not helped in this. (Ain’t going to happen, Andy, but his idea does, I think, have a lot of support in these groups.)
Senior advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (2003) Director for Iran, Iraq and Strategic Planning at the National Security Council (2003-2005)
4) Reuel Marc Gerecht
(I have no idea why he is here either.)
American Enterprise Institute (Neocon)
CIA Middle East specialist, one of the neocon’s foremost Middle East analysts, whatever that means
Advocate of regime change in Iraq and Iran
Director of the Middle East Initiative of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC)
5) David L. Mack
The Middle East Institute (Pro-business)
(Its major funders are Chevron, Coca-Cola, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Raytheon, Saudi Aramco, and Shell.)
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (1990-1993)
6) Phebe A. Marr
US Institute for Peace
Historian of modern Iraq.
National Defense University (ret.)
7) Hassan Mneimneh
Director, Documentation Program, The Iraq Memory Foundation
This is a project that grew out of the Iraq Research and Documentation Project at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University to document Baathist rule in Iraq.
Currently, the Executive Director of the Iraq Foundation
8) Augustus Richard Norton
Arabist
Professor of International Relations and Anthropology, Department of International Relations, Boston University
Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association; co-founder of the Conference Group on the Middle East, co-founder of the Action Group of Concerned Middle East Scholars
9) Marina S. Ottaway
Democracy and Rule of Law Project, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(A lot of the participants on all sides have passed through the Carnegie Endowment.)
Democracy and post-conflict reconstruction issues, with special focus on problems of political transformation in the Middle East and reconstruction in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and African countries
Taught at the University of Addis Ababa, the University of Zambia, the American University in Cairo, and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa
10) Judy Van Rest
International Republican Institute (Republican)
Senior Advisor for Governance for the Coalition Provisional Authority (April 14, 2003-July 1, 2004) and Director of the Office of Democratic Initiatives: promoting election administration, civic education, political party building, women’s leadership training, and non-governmental organization development to local government, media infrastructure building, and transparency in government and civil society. (All of which were so successful, weren’t they?)
11) Judith S. Yaphe
Middle East Project Director at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University
Senior Middle East analyst for 20 years
Rangel was pretty easy on Tucker- other than laughin his head off at Tucker’s fave presidential candidate ROOO-DEEE- and dismissing it with “God would never be that good to me as to let Rudy be the gooper presidential candidate.”
“Why Rudy won’t get the Republican nomination. Turn your sound up.
Group Four: Strategic Environment Part 4
Paul Stares
USIP Conflict Analysis and Prevention
Postconflict stability operations, and counterterrorism policy
1) Jon B. Alterman
Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (Sam Nunn’s organization)
Legislative aide to Senator Daniel P. Moynihan
2) Steven A. Cook
Council of Foreign Relations
(A fair number of participants have also passed through here as well.)
3) James F. Dobbins
International Security and Defense Policy Center at RAND
Author of the two volume RAND History of Nation Building
Bush Administration’s representative to the Afghan opposition after 911
4) Hillel Fradkinv
Hudson Institute (Conservative, free trade): Center on Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World
American Enterprise Institute 1998-2001; wrote “Why they hate us” (Hint: jealousy and for our modernity)
Project for the New American Century: Signed the Sept. 20, 2001 letter to George W. Bush urging the president to target Iraq as part of the war on terrorism
5) Chas W. Freeman
Middle East Policy Council (Conservative)
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia 1989-1992
6) Geoffrey Kemp
Regional Strategic Programs at the Nixon Center
Special Assistant to Reagan for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs on the National Security Council Staff
7) Daniel C. Kurtzer
Middle East Policy Studies, Woodrow Wilson School
(Remember Lee Hamilton is the School’s Director)
Ambassador to Israel 2001-2005
8) Ellen Laipson
Southwest Asia project Henry L. Stimson Center
National Intelligence Council (NIC) (1997-2002)
9) William B. Quandt
Brookings Institution (Center to Liberal): Saban Center for Middle East Policy
Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia
National Security Council during the Nixon and Carter administrations and participated in the Camp David negotiations
10) Shibley Telhami
Brookings Institution (Center to Liberal): Saban Center for Middle East Policy,
Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, University of Maryland;
Council on Foreign Relations
Human Rights Watch
11) Wayne White
Middle East Institute (Pro-business)
Bureau of Intelligence and Research Office of Analysis for the Near East and South Asia
Principal Iraq analyst and head of INR/NESA’s Iraq team from 2003-2005
Chief of INR’s Maghreb, Arabian Penninsula, Iran and Iraq division and State Department representative to NATO Middle East working groups from 1990-2002
Maydaze,
Brownbag is not officially in yet, but he will step in to scoop up his 27% fundie base.
I am sure we will hear the same woman from the Santorum concession speech screaming “No” when Brownbag concedes his race.
-GSD
beth meacham @ 53
no link?
OT—–Sherrod Brown will be on Lou Dobbs in a minute.
perris, formerly known as me to me, @ 55
Huh. No linky there. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS.....i.drag.mov
It’s a shame that most people don’t realize that it isn’t the talking-head on camera is the responsible person that decides the “story” (subject/talking-point) that is being broadcast, but the behind-the-scenes management and producer(s). They’re the ones who send the ‘reporters’ to do the interviews and stories and set up the backgrounds referenced for each interview.
The producers, in fact, are the ones who decide who gets questioned/interviewed and the ’spin’ of the story/interview well beforehand.
The talking-head’s job is to ’sell’ that angle and ask the pre-decided questions to the subject to record their answers. If it’s live, the talking-head is under even more pressure to make sure the interview/story is confined to the spin the producer has already decided upon.
Remek @ 59
Paula Zahn, is that you?
-GSD
It amazes me that almost everyone blames the folks on camera for outrageous statements/behaviors when it’s the people behind the scenes who are really responsible for the things we hate about them.
Remek @ 62
Nobody is forcing the folks on camera to sully their good name with the feces they throw out there, whether it’s at a producer’s behest or not.
If you don’t stand behind your reporting you should put your foot down and refuse to front the story until it’s satisfactory. Otherwise, it’s nobody’s fault but your own if the public at large assumes that *you’re* the one pushing the erroneus information.
It’s the job of an anchor or “face reporter” to put their stamp of ethics, their reputation on the line with the information they report, else they’re little more than a pretty talking head mouthing someone else’s agenda.
GSD @ 62
Paula Zahn, is that you?
-GSD
Paula has about as much to do with the scheduling and spin for her shows as Entertainment Tonight does for theirs. She’s just the ‘Talent’ - the folks behind the scenes hold the real power over what she says and how she says it. She’s easily expendable if she goes against what they want.
http://downwithtyranny.blogspo.....-less.html
Howie has a new DWT post up- comments on Rahm, comments on Dem leadership vote, including an interesting email.
OT but outrageous!
I just watched the little presser with Collins et al about their efforts for reinstatement of the hugely effective IG (Bowan) for Iraqi reconstrution that was canned in the last bill passed and both she and Lieberman said they still had no idea who “surreptitiously” inserted it, but it was not them.
Feingold was not asked and neither was Coleman.
She said it was probably a staffer in the House.
She said the main thing was to get the IG reinstated via their legislation.
I say, WHO DID IT? I think this is a major stinking pile of coverup and should be investigated asap– there is someone with huge ties to these corporate thieves who is involved. I smell a huge rethuglican rat, maybe a bunch of them.
(and how the heck can a staffer make law without anyone knowing?)
Remek @ 64
And if she had any integrity as a reporter she’d let herself be “expended” before she reported a story she didn’t stand behind.
It’s this kind of “I didn’t do it, I’m just doing what I’m told” attitude that has let our media (and our government) become the cesspool we’re all-too-familiar with these days.
Goddess it’s good to see the Fitz show return.
I just can’t believe how well it’s setting up:
We get the next two years of
- treasongate,
- ineffective GOP WH leadership,
- snipping and all-out war between the crazed right and moderate conservatives,
- insane neocons trying to win the quagmire (I mean, Perle and Kisinger, with Baker the aged statesman? Sheesh),
- Republicans eating their own for leadership and of course for presidential positioning,
- the Press trying with increasing shrillness and absence of the truth, to make it all seem, well, ‘fair and balanced’,
- investigations of countless corruption cases,
- and at the top of it all, 31% clusterfolk, next to the evil one, Darth.
Man, this is gonna be fun. Popcorn, anyone?
Paula who?
bdu @ 64
Exactly!
So, how many of those folks we see on tv are in it for the career opportunity/paycheck, and how many because they really, truly believe what it is they’re saying/reporting?
There’s the rub.
For those who are only doing it for their career/paycheck you have to then blame those over them - the producers/managers who direct them to the interviews/stories as well as how they will approach/spin it in the final broadcast.
beth meacham @
59
Not to try to start any sort of YouTube wars (we all know how painful they can be), but I do believe that this is the REAL reason Rudy won’t be President:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IrE6FMpai8
Anything that features The Short-Fingered Vulgarian (God, how I miss Spy Magazine) has got to lose you an election…
I see the George Costanza defense approach is at play here….defense attorneys said they have a right to argue that Libby doesn’t believe he did anything wrong.
Ahhh Yes, if you believe it, then it must be true.
Remek @ 70
I think you would be hard pressed to find that many actual journalists at the top of the media reporting these days. A couple of weeks ago CNN was promoting their week-before-election special report series, “Broken Government”, and the host of the program “Two Left Feet”, I think Candy Crowley, was asked live how she came up with the name of the segment. She gave a slight laugh and (apx) said “Well, actually that’s the name directed to me by executives, but it worked out to fit the material…”
Honest. I almost fell off the treadmill.
Remek @ 70
No, at that point the blame should be shared equally among the producers making the sh!t and the selfish talking head pissing away their position of great responsibility who is shoveling it instead of refusing to air it.
emal @ 74
Oh, damn… So if I really, really, really believe that God told me to write Jesus Hates You in my neighbor’s lawn with salt then it’s okay? Wow! I’m running out to the store to buy salt…
To argue that the on-camera person has no latitude whatsoever is laughable.
They can respond to questions and they can shoot down erroneous facts. Their every utterance is not scripted, that is really a pathetic argument.
Please bring your weeping tissues elswhere.
Keith Olbermann recently said that he has wide latitude in his broadcasts…..
-GSD
GSD @ 78
To say nothing of the fact that the way a line or a word is delivered can potentially completely reverse the meaning… Of course, then you run the risk of being shit-canned, but if you’re not willing to stand up (or sit down if you’re an anchorcritter) for your principles then you’re… oh… wait… did I just say “principles?” Never mind…
- Statement by Ted Wells in a Motion Response for Libby, 11/13/06
How about that nifty disinformation and spin…?
Good job, corporate media - nice little fairytale you’ve got going there about the relationship of Richard Armitage to President Bush, to whom Armitage is in fact a slavish loyalist, from everything I’ve seen. [I’ve even heard that Armitage is in fact a nephew or cousin of Barbara Bush - but I suppose only the CIA would really know for sure…] I’d love to see some evidence to support Mr. Wells’s little assertion to the contrary about Mr. Armitage.
The CSIS, which Hugh above has very helpfully exposed, as has Larissa at Raw Story today in a story about Bob Gates, is apparently largely a Scaife-funded operation, and was the go-to outfit for the “Plan B” (outside-of-channels intelligence product) cut-out of the CIA years ago. A pattern that repeated itself with the Rumsfeld/Cheney “Office of Special Plans” and now continues with the “Iranian Directorate” at the Pentagon. Anyway, high on the list of that neocon CSIS outfit is honored member Richard Armitage. In the same “one of us” category he maintains in various and sundry other outfits that constitute our “private federal government” infrastructure in and around Washington, D.C.
P.S. Interestingly, the government did not file any responses Monday to the three earlier Libby in limine motions. So the AP is left to focus on the Libby response to the government’s earlier motion, as excerpted above by Swopa. Meanwhile, the crux of the story is the ongoing graymail struggle continuing this week behind closed doors.
When the gooper congresscritters speak now- it sounds like the remake of a bad civil war movie in the camp of the confederacy.
Didja know that Jefferson Davis was a gooper- Sheeeit yes he was!
pow wow @ 78
Silly us. We think the media reporters will work to dig out the truth and the details of truth, and inform us.
Nope. I know I sound like a broken record around here, but mass media does not exist to inform us, beyond the basics. They are here to entertain us, keep us viewing, and then sell us stuff. Ratings, attractive demographics, and advertising rates: that’s the business. Everything else is extra.
Trent Lott running for leadership position:
“and the republican party can’t forget our loyal supporters who prefer sheets to tuxedos for evening wear”
pow wow @
78
If you know how to read between the lines there are positive gems in this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage
“private import-export business in Bangkok” sticks out like a sore thumb, among a few others…
Wolfie gettin a little tent in his shorts thinkin about ROOOO-DEEEE runnin for pres.
Your semi-weekly gas and oil prices
Average price for regular gasoline 11/14/06 in 50 states and DC
$2.80 plus 1 state : Hawaii
$2.70 plus 0 states
$2.60 plus 0 states
$2.50 plus 1 state : Alaska
$2.40 plus 4 states
$2.30 plus 7 states
$2.20 plus 18 states
$2.10 plus 16 states
$2.00 plus 4 states : Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina
Average daily change in the national average for regular gasoline beginning at the peak:
August 8-15: down .56 cents/day
August 15-22: down 1.06
August 22-29: down 1.19
Aug 29- Sept 5: down 1.54
September 5-12: down 1.7
September 12-19: down 1.8
September 19-26: down 1.7
Sept 26-Oct 3: down .9
October 3-10: down .61
October 10-17: down .56
October 17-24: down .30
October 24-31: up .11
Oct 31-Nov 7: down .2
November 7-14: up .47 cents/day
Average national price for regular gasoline: $2.229, up $.002 from yesterday
Highest recorded national average price: $3.057 9/5/2005
Highest average price: Hawaii $2.859
Lowest average price: New Jersey $2.046
http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/sbsavg.asp
Crude Oil:
Nymex Crude Future $58.28, down $.30 from yesterday
Dated Brent Spot $57.25, up $.56
WTI Cushing Spot $58.28, down $.30
Gas prices were up 3.3 cents this week. They hit their low on November 7 and have risen each day since. [Insert cynical statement here.] Oil prices are rattling around without really doing anything.
rwcole @ 82
mebbe he can recruit macaca for his chief of staff (dragon) since he’s out of a job!
heheh.
There’s only so much obscene profit that the oil companies are willing to forgo as a campaign contribution.
“VP wants Plame civil suit dismissed” says Wolf.
What???
GSD @
43
Ted Haggard’s 115th Dream
;>)
Wolfie buildin a pile in his pants at the thought of initiating a withdrawal from Iraq in 6 months.
Oh my God- only six months- no- we need ta stay for 6 years!!!!
Oh, darkblack, that brought a tear to MY eye… It’s all so sad {sniff}, it’s such a tragedy {sniff, sniff, snort, snork, SNORK!}
Margot @ 89 -
I believe Cheney and Libby both finally filed their motions to dismiss the Plame/Wilson civil suit today, or this week. That’s an expected development, and will be the biggest hurdle for the Wilsons to overcome, which has been known.
Rudy - Haircut and Run
McCain - Stay the Combover
Angie- great tag team—love ta see em on the pro wrestling circuit.
I LOVE Maccaca with the football- what a great manly prop. He must carry it EVERYWHERE.
How could a guy lose who carries a football everywhere he goes.
“lunch- sure - hey- go out for a pass- let’s see ya run a buttonhook!”