the strategy will be for Cheney to answer his name and a few other things that have nothing to do with the case

executive privilege for everything else and the case is dismissed

that’s IF he accepts the subpeona, I expect him to claim he is too busy to appear

yo perris, it don’t quite work that way here

we don’t dismiss criminal charges just because the Defendant’s witnesses refuse to answer questions

if it worked that way, every criminal defendant would call a witness who refuses to answer the questions, and then have the charges dismissed

scooter gets a fair chance to defend himself. if his superiors and co-conspiritors refuse to cooperate with his defense, the jury can take that refusal into consideration during their deliberations

I don’t think dead eye refusing to answer questions is likely to help scooter in front of a jury, but scooter is welcome to try that as a defense tactic

Hoist on her own petard, if I . . .[pause for ironic effect] . . . recall correctly.

If Cheney’s on the stand, the federal court system could really make a mint if they put Fitz’s cross-examination on pay-per-view.

Three cheers for the correct use of an obsolete nautical metaphor! Grog for all and to all a good night!

Question #1
Your honor, I would ask the witness to hold this mirror in front of his face that the court can determine if he is capable of casting a reflection.

Before X-examination an X-ray is in order. Make sure there’s human gear under the skin.

As to “I’m too busy”: the man has no mandated duties under the Constitution except for sitting on his glutes. He can do that in court.

I understand what you’re saying, but I’ve never though that putting an uncontrollable loose cannon on the stand is good lawyering. Cheney is even more of a nightmare witness than Bill Gates ever thought of being: he will think he can outsmart the process, and he won’t take the time to be properly prepped. Fitz is going to hand him his head, on a plate, with fava beans and a good chianti.

If this isn’t a bluff, I will be the most surprised person in the room.

I’ll link to your original comment from now on when I quote your extremely funny parody. Merry Fitzmas!
MacDaffy @
128

Sharoney @94

Thank you for the very pleasant surprise. I wrote Fitzmas Time for Salon’s Table Talk a little over a year ago.

I tend to think Libby/Cheney/Bush already have a coordinated, cooperative strategy.

But if I didn’t, and I was representing Libby and a bit concerned he might be out of the strategy loop, calling Cheney does something that nothing else cand do.

Cheney is the only person who can walk the authorization to cherrypick and leak-to-mislead right back to Bush. Cheney on the stand pretty much opens the door to the question about who authorized the NIE leak (the Decider). Nobody else puts the vanity plates on the Bushmobile, under oath.

If I didn’t basically think they were all pretty much in each other’s pocket, I’d think it was a pardon nudge.

I think it’s just good lawyering. Libby’s lawyers are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Judge Walton, trying to get anything to stick. Calling Cheney is just one more trick in a long line of failed attempts to find some reason to get this case thrown out. It will probably be just as successful as all of the other attempts, as Fitz can likely stipulate just about anything Cheney might say (”Scooter was REALLY busy.”) without hurting his case.

More than anything, I think that this move shows that (a) Libby is nervous enough that he needs to be firing shots across Cheney’s bow to throw him some sort of lifeline, and (b) Fitz thinks his case is so solid that he doesn’t need Cheney’s testimony to nail Libby to the wall. I’m happy about both points.

But if I didn’t, and I was representing Libby and a bit concerned he might be out of the strategy loop, calling Cheney does something that nothing else cand do.

Cheney is the only person who can walk the authorization to cherrypick and leak-to-mislead right back to Bush. Cheney on the stand pretty much opens the door to the question about who authorized the NIE leak (the Decider). Nobody else puts the vanity plates on the Bushmobile, under oath.

If I didn’t basically think they were all pretty much in each other’s pocket, I’d think it was a pardon nudge.

Cheney places hand on Bible.

Suddenly steam starts emitting from the Bible and there are sparks and a fire starts, then the Bible just explodes in a ball of flames.

The Dark Overlord has arrived.

———

Uh, Cheney will probably testify and protect Libby a bit, but also add a lot of “I don’t recall.”s and the like.

When is this shindig by the way?