Back in June, notoriously pudding-headed NRO editor Rich Lowry did a blazingly moronic piece on NPR's "All Things Considered" where he declared that the Fitzgerald grand jury's non-indictment of Karl Rove meant that the Plame leak was not a crime and that all us liberals were morons for caring. Yeah, I know. It's difficult to listen to, but for pure "Ah-hah, sucks to you, Lowry!" value, it can't be beat. It occasioned an angry letter to NPR from me and a plea to be allowed to rebut, but, of course, they turned me down.
In the Antarctic, when scientists want to study the air, water, and weather of ancient times, they drill down into the ice and take a core sample, which provides them with a perfect cross-section of each epoch. The Libby case is like an ice core sample of the Bush Administration's incestuous, manipulative, and deeply disingenuous relationship to the media and how they played the press like a concert violin in the run up to the catastrophic set of errors that is the War in Iraq.
We may or may not ever see Karl Rove in leg-irons and an orange jumpsuit, although that would be a delightful cherry on the cake, but what we are learning through testimony about the catty, back-stabbing world inhabited by our major media pundits is not only highly entertaining, but it should serve as a valuable lesson to reporters, writers, and editors who may ever be tempted to let their desire for access cloud their judgement in the future.
There's more to it, though. This case has a certain hold on the public imagination that has more to do with the power of the narrative and the characters involved. In some ways, it reminds me of a massive multiple-night Wagner opera cycle. There's a Great War, passion, intrigue, dastardly villains, and a few heroes.
In fact, if there are any composers in the audience tonight, let me be the first to volunteer to write the libretto. It'll be great. We'll find some ponderous, ominous baritone to sing the role of Dick Cheney and Renée Fleming will sing the part of Valkyrie Plame. And in the end, after the great battle, they'll all fly off to Valhalliburton*.
(*That rather marvellous play on words came to us courtesy of reader punaise.)
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fitz
Let’s see how the MSM covers it tonight!
FITZ!
It matters.
NPR is not radical (left) enough for me these days. Oh darn. Am I not being objective here?
Watching “Hardball”. And I don’t know why. Am I losing it?
Much like the Gannon scandal, the MSM will sweep this whole thing under the rug out of embarrassment. I’m pretty sure no one would know this trial was going on were it not for bloggers.
Oklahoma kiddo @
6
It’s that or listen to Wolf say, “ahhhhhh” between every frickin word he utters!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 6
Of course not! David Shuster will be up soon!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 6
C’mon over by me, OK Kiddo, rest and let li’l Hil give you a neck massage.
Oklahoma kiddo @
5
Actually, they’re kind of sickeningly Center Right.
But don’t tell them I said that.
Why it matters…
Because criminal conspiracy has always been and always will be a crime. What is so hard to understand about that.
The problem with wingnuts is they have the Fonzie syndrome.
They just can’t admit they were wrrrrr
wrroo
wwwwwwwrrrrrrooooonnn
AP – Bombings and mortar attacks killed dozens across Baghdad on Monday as Iraqi troops set up new checkpoints and an Iraqi general took command — indications that the much-awaited operation to restore peace to the capital is gearing up nearly a month after it was announced.
Well now. Finally some action. This will surely win the war. I’m thinking of getting PO’d.
raven @
2
Probably won’t.
_
We may or may not ever see Karl Rove in leg-irons and an orange jumpsuit,
When we send him to The Hague.
TRex, you’re great. Thanks for all your writing.
Crazy Horse @ 10
;0)
How would the writers of 24 get Irving out of this bind he’s in?
Jacqrat @ 9
not soon enough for me
Jacqrat @ 9
get her a cool drink and a fan….
Mauimom @
16
No, no, thank YOU for reading. I could write in my diary all day and it would mean nearly nothing without someone to read it.
Dead Horse @
7
I dunno. So far, the interest of the MSM (read: cool high school crowd) in the lovely gossip of this case (”Russert hates Matthews – pass it on!”) is outweighing their vested interest in sweeping it all under the rug, partly, I think, because like the high school crowd, they live in blissful ignorance of just how pathetic this whole episode makes them look.
Plus Libby’s gonna get convicted, and then there will be appeals – we’ll be living with this for a while.
“they played the press like a concert violin”
Asjournalists, I wouldn’t call Novak OR Miller a Stradivarius (SP?).
But one of them might make a decent fiddle.
Barf. Ed Rogers, some “Republican strategist” up now. Big snore. Mark Green is pretty horrible/boring too.
Oh crap, and Tweety is doing a love-fest re Rudy. Plueeze.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 13
Just wait till “clear and hold” takes hold. We’ll have small units serving as sitting ducks in populated areas where our fire support won’t mean shit.
Nice metaphor about drilling the ice cores, T-R. Or was that a simile…? I can never remember.
David Shuster? Actually, he sort of reminds me of Pee Wee Herman, in a nice, not-unbalanced sort of way…..
howdy TRex! i’ve been missing you (not staying up for late night)… great to read you during the middle of the day. hope you are enjoying DC… thanks for helping to be our eyes and ears there.
You’re never fully dressed without a simile.
There’s some real estate developer in Houston now planning its next exclusive gated community: Valhalliburton…. :)
If the good Senator Lieberman wants to know how the Iraq situation is really going and what the Boots On The Ground think, he might tune in to this from McClatchy:
http://www.realcities.com/mld/…..616389.htm
Bring our people home!!
presque vu @ 18
I don’t know, maybe something like this:
CTU Agent Grouch: We have these recordings, they are showing a tag that points to a liberal bloggers site
Jack Bauer: Dammit Chloe, when did you get off whore island? Gimme the address on the bloggers and I will go rough em up
CTU Agent Rico Suave: Jack, go easy. These bloggers may be Natural Born Killers. See if you can trick em
JB: Go to hell Rico! I will prove that the bloggers have subverted justice, created this terror on our beloved Scooter and forged these incriminating tapes
(All Wingnuts Dancing in the streets)
zeppo @ 26
analogy, i think?
selise @ 32
It was a joke anyway….
presque vu @ 18
Easy, they’d have Jack Bauer torture him until he spilled everything about the rest of the conspiracy.
Or were you wondering how they’d do it if he were were on the side of the good guys? *g*
Former Fed @ 30
He doesn’t want to know. Glenn has his number.
TRex—
Didn’t know you were leaving DC so soon :(
Hope to see you yr next time up here.
I have been in hibernation mode and trying not to get over-extended and over-excited. [moi?] Resting up fm a fairly disastrous trip tho we did get a million out of the governor for equipment. Dollars not rubles. Disastrous in that between the hassles at customs, worst ever, and a strange man trying to get into my room, I had enough. I never really quit but this time was pretty close.
I remember telling a rethug co-worker that watching the PBS NewsHour should be required before being allowed to vote.
These days the fuc*er would agree with me.
Playing the press – The problem with that is that it assumes that the CM is innocent. No one was “played,” they all “play” each other.
The only people who are “played” are those who watch or read the pundits pundicate and don’t realize they’re watching a giant circle jerk.
Fortunately, most people probably do know that.
The pressing question from today’s testimony: Is “Scooter” really a common nickname in the South, or a personal descriptor?
Pssst oddball, over here.
You can tell me, no one else is listening. You write for KO, yes?
JEP @ 23
I think they were more like banjos…no one who hears a banjo can get upset at the music, right!
Glorfindel @ 39
It’s common for toddlers. ‘nuf said.
Bush tells us the economy is doing great. Tell that to the soon to be laid off 10,000 workers from Chrysler.
Marsha Blackburn said “77% feel like that we haven’t aggressive enough”!
My rule of thumb: He ran like a deer is a metaphor. He is/was a deer is a simile.
montag @ 29
“Now you can live in your very own private seaside refinery.”
OT – and EPU’d on last thread!
Biodun said:
John Forde, johnSwifty, and I are having lunch tomorrow at Sawatdee in the Warehouse District in Mpls, at 11:30. You’re welcome to join us.
Kathie responded:
Wow – I would LOVE to – but I unfortunately have to be teaching during the day! John,johnS, and Biodun – hoist one for me! Hope I get a raincheck!
Thanks,
Kathie
raven @ 44
77% of what? cockroaches?
RevDeb @ 48
Well, it was a Fox poll, you fill in the blank!
The Traitor Joe Lieberman theme song.
-GSD
One of the essential features of all wingnut arguments (like Lowry’s, for example) is “if we’re right about anything, it means you’re wrong about everything.” That they even try to make that argument tells you a lot about how often they’re right.
jeffreyw @ 45
Umm, that’s backwards. (Sez the English instructor.)
Senate Republicans are still playing shitheel games.
With a little help from Lost Cause Joe.
-GSD
You might have the Wagnerians heros in this story but the villians in this piece are third rate fools.
montag @ 52
He blushes like a beet,nay, he is a beet.
We may or may not ever see Karl Rove in leg-irons and an orange jumpsuit,
A while back there was some discussion of a case “Sealed vs. Sealed” which might involve Rove. Any update on that business?
jeffreyw @ 45
‘Fraid you’ve got that backwards, jeffreyw.
Tweety fixin to discuss “Scooter Libby, where do we find such men”? Right after the commercial for the anti-depression program.
Matthews informs us on “Hardball” that this (U.S.) “isn’t a fascist country”.
egregious @ 42
…and dogs whose anal glands need expressing.
Wiki says that Irving can’t keep his story straight on the origin of his nickname; one of his stories is that he was nicknamed after Phil Rizutto, the other because he was an active toddler. In all my years in the south, I’ve never known a Scooter.
Love ya, TRex!
Week two of Firedogging the Libby Trial is just as yummy as week one.
Wow, it seems like every time I try to make a joke, it bombs miserably and then starts off this incredibly weird conversation, e.g., nuclear footballs.
Now you know why I use the name “zeppo”…..
Libby. What a sap.
The trial’s up next on Hardball. Can those of you who’ve carefully followed the trial please give the rest of us your impressions of how this is going for Fitz’s team? I know we can’t know anything for sure until after the defense presents their case, but how do you feel about it so far? Thanks.
OT Via Froomkin, Howard Kurtz gives us the lowdown on the press. Apparently, we were wrong that the media were KoolAid chugging cocktail weenie lovers. Turns out they were deceived (for 6 years) by Bush and his winning ways. Well, Howie, that could happen to anyone. Did I mention that it only took the professional press a mere 6 years to tumble to this fact?
See, they really wanted to do their jobs. They really, really did, but gosh darn they just didn’t expect the Prez to feed them a line. I mean he gave them nicknames and everything. How could they know? How could they suspect? They were being played. *gasp* So now according to Howie this explains why the media has become “aggressive”. It’s not about them (and we should include Howie here) doing their jobs. No, it’s that they’re pissed for being made to look stupid. Thanks again for the clarification, Howie.
Mauimom @ 24
Chris seems to go for those “manly men.” If Rudy wore a flight suit, Matthews wouldn’t be able to contain himself.
Oklahoma kiddo @
59
Pro-fascist yes, full blown fascism is waiting in the wings.
Mr. Goebbels, I am ready for my close-up.
-GSD
P.S. Us troops will need to get a permission-slip from a foreign country.
“The only people who are “played” are those who watch or read the pundits pundicate and don’t realize they’re watching a giant circle jerk.”
Just call em’ “poundits.”
dab from CT @ 66
Rudy? A manly man? I laugh!!
zeppo @ 33
yeah. but i love, love, love analogies. did i tell you how much i LOVE analogies?
here is a great lecture by Douglas R. Hofstadter, (you-all have read Gdel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, right?). if you think that thinking about thinking is fun.. this is the lecture for you… entertaining, mind twisting and humorous. highly, highly recommended.
Fugg Rudy
…it should serve as a valuable lesson to reporters, writers, and editors who may ever be tempted to let their desire for access cloud their judgement in the future.
Yes it should, but it won’t. I believe very few (if any) of the current crop of reporters, writers and editors have the capacity for introspection, let alone an ability to admit errors of judgment. For them, learning any lesson at all is not in the realm of the possible.
David Schuster on Hardball. Sounds like Scooter is really in a bind with his grand jury testimony. Cheney told him about Plame in June and he forgot all about her until Russert [allegedly] told him about it in July? Not likely.
hpschd @ 56
I emailed Truthout asking if they were going to write an update on Sealed v. Sealed (and whether Leopold was at the courthouse reporting or reading the transcripts). The answer was something to the effect of we think a lot of information is going to come out of the Libby trial. No response on the Leopold question. I, for one, would like some kind of explanation from Truthout. Their credibility continues to shrink daily.
neurophius @ 73
He’s caught in rather proactive affirmative detail lies. Guilty.
This Iraq resolution business is becoming a bit tedious.
The guys in my car club call me the Scooter, cause I like fast cars and fast women.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 76
Kongress needs Kaopectate. (For its binding)
jeffreyw @ 55
Umm, the first rule of holes is, when you find yourself in one, stop digging…. :)
How, exactly, does a beet blush? :)
Have you ever thought of entering the Bulwer-Lytton competition? I rather think you’d do well at it. [teasing just a bit here]
JEP @ 68
Hee hee. Well said, and welcome.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 76
According to McCain yesterday, voting for any anti-surge resolution is “a vote of ‘no-confidence’ in our troops. You’re saying to them ‘we’re going to send you over there, but we don’t believe you can get the job done.’“
When I heard him say that, I wanted to reach through the TV screen and choke him.
_
montag @ 79
It was a dark and stormy night, and the blushing beets were oblivious to the flashes of light that illuminated their ruddy faces.
Give McCain a break, he’s mentally ill.
-GSD
Did I just hear Matthews say there is “no one to the right” of Hillary in the Democratic party on Iraq? And a follow up; will Hillary stop the Iran (that’s IraN) war if she becomes prez.? And Matthews calls attention to Rudy vs. Hillary in ‘08. A battle between two war “hawks”, I think he said.
yellow snapdragon @ 74
Leopold has had some credibility problems, but I like TruthOut. TruthOut was the first online site that got me seriously interested.
BobbyG @ 81
Repugs are masters at setting up false constructions. It’s actually a vote of no-confidence in the policy and the people who dreamed it up, i.e., Herr McCain, himself. God forbid he would ever admit to that realization, no matter how apparent that truth may be.
hpschd @ 56
A while back there was some discussion of a case “Sealed vs. Sealed” which might involve Rove. Any update on that business?
I dream that there’s a cheney indictment in there.
The Colombia Encyclopedia, 6th edition, explains the difference as:
Many would say that the distinction is trivial, and Roget’s has them as synonyms
jeffreyw @ 82
Oblivious blushing beets. Yer on yer way to stardom. :)
beth @ 69
I am being facetious (but you probably knew that). Chris seems to develop “man crushes.” When Bush wore that flight suit I thought Matthews was going to wet himself.
Darling TRex,
some Lowry loopiness after a long day -
Rich Lowry – 5/9/05
April 06
September 06
oh and,
We’re Whining !
Rudy says being manly is a drag.
-GSD
Evil Parallel Universe @
38
Actually, they used them like toilet paper.
dab from CT @ 90
Rudy, a Manly Man. Yeah, right.
egregious @
42
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_Libby
VG – Who does the “they” refer to?
And the “them” for that matter.
GSD @ 92
So as a simile … being manly is LIKE being in drag?
yellow snapdragon @
74
yellow snapdragon @
74
I am confident that Truthout is sitting on some VERY incriminating information. Some of it is uncorroborated. Some of it came over the transom and can’t be revealed – it would be too perilous to the person who provided the info.
The hassle over the Libby tapes took me right back to the Watergate hearings and the dispute over playing and releasing the Nixon tapes. History may not literally repeat itself, but it sure is self-similar (like fractals).
Senate votes against debating the Iraq War Resolution. Does this have meaning?
A note on the picture, please. Waterhouse?
Off topic -
Breaking news from MSNBC:
Reuters: Senate votes against debating troop ‘surge’ resolution
I would like McCain to explain how sending troops to die for a mistake and a lie amounts to supporting them.
Evil Parallel Universe @ 97
The Bush administration used the press like toilet paper. I was rephrasing TRex’s original.
Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 103
Guess which “Independent Democrat” senator from Connecticut voted to continue the filibuster?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 101
can’t wait for the list of the roll call vote. names to remember on the wall of shame.
it was just on a watered down non-binding bill (really a resolution that could be ammended) on the escalation. don’t think it could be any more mild.
jebus. we are governed by idiots.
Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 103
A cloture vote is usually described as a vote to cut off debate, does this mean that there will be a vote?
Leopold has had some credibility problems, but I like TruthOut. TruthOut was the first online site that got me seriously interested.
I don’t want to beat a dead horse about Leopold’s credibility, but Truthout has been standing behind his reporting 100 percent, to their detriment. I desperately want Leopold to be right about everything. I don’t think he is.
Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 103
I think this refers to the cloture motion that was just defeated in the Senate. So actually the opposite is true: no time limit has been put on the debate so that the resolution can move to a vote.
jeffreyw @ 108
It can also mean moving a piece of legislation out of committee and onto the floor for debate. That’s what this was about. Voting against cloture, in this case, prevents the resolution from coming to the floor for debate and a vote.
Stephen Parrish- happen to know who the artist is for the pic TRex used?
montag @
106
I can’t imagine… :)
Grassley on the floor talking about minimum wage. They seem to not want to talk about the war.
Ostrich brains.
Hillary is crushing her Democratic opponents. This poll guy on Tucker says Hillary “owns the woman vote”.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 115
Bull Sh*t. She can’t even rent mine. Haven’t talked to anyone who supports her either.
To continue with the metaphors (if not similes) – They all wipe each others’ asses – it’s equal opportunity asswiping.
We can’t have it both ways with the CM: that they are innocent dupes on the one hand, or complicit fellow travelers on the other. So, I’m going with complicit fellow travelers, for the money more so than any ideological reasons.
montag @ 111
Sounds like the senate is pretty tied up with bulls*it. Can the house do something similar? Why all the focus on the senate?
Valley Girl @ 112
No, I don’t; I was wondering about that also. (Just because I am a direct descendant of two American artists and am related to another American artist doesn’t make me an art expert.) :)
The darkening night was getting darker, threatening to spread its darkness against the dark, threatening walls of the imposing courthouse, oozing a sinister threat deeper than the black shadows which hid the wiry, wired shape as he leaned his shadowy two-wheeled conveyance against the wettening wall. Could that have bin a threat to the staid stone symbol of jurisprudence threatened, or was it something more nefarious, perhaps a scooter. No, it was, as we shall see, Irving.
Evil Parallel Universe @ 38
Every time I think of our MSM relationship with the Bush Admin, I’m reminded of the ‘Press’ scene in Chicago. They’re all puppets whose strings are being pulled by the big-shot lawyer… probably the most hilarious scene in the movie. And of course the press gets their big story (even though it’s wrong) and the guilty murderesses go free (while the innocent Ahah gets hanged). Quite a commentary on our supposed great fourth estate.
Crazy Horse @ 120
Nice try, but not a blushing beet to be found.
In the cloture vote IIRC there should be at least one Democrat (not of course Lieberman) who will vote against cloture so that he or she will have standing to ask for the cloture vote to be reconsidered in the future. This would likely be Harry Reid but we will have to see.
I blame Connecticut.
-
Valley Girl @ 112
Could well be Maxfield Parrish.
hey TRex – thanks for the props
dab from CT @ 90
poor camera angle, the wet was from his drooling
RevDeb @ 116
;0)
Hugh @ 104
I would like McCain to explain whether he really thinks we are all so stupid as to believe the anti-surge resolution “is a vote of ‘no confidence’ in our troops” rather than a vote of no confidence in the arrogant asshole that is wasting their lives just to kick his mess down the road.
_
TRex @
28
Let a similie be LIKE your umbrella in Valhalliburton.
Evil Parallel Universe @ 117
Actually I agree with you. I suspect most here probably do as well.
Iran strike ‘would be disastrous’
The report’s authors want Tony Blair to put pressure on the US
Blair on Middle East
A coalition of charities, faith groups and unions has warned Tony Blair that any military action against Iran would have “unthinkable” consequences.
From BBC.
Irving is asked how he got his nickname.
I fear on the contrary that too many in the beltway press will take it as a “lesson” in the wrong and opposite way. They will secretly say to themselves, “This trial is my opportunity to glean the secret tricks of the trade as employed by the Kewl Kid uber-insiders I worship, like Miller and Russert, but also to hear about the few fatal missteps that my idols made to embroil themselves in this mess. I will now figure out how to OUT-DO my idols by using their tricks, and how not to get caught or exposed, like they did.” Some in the press will try to use this as a tutorial in how to be even cleverer, savvier bootlickers who cover their tracks better.
The same thinking and denial will apply as were used by Bush admin insiders who said, last year (before the election), that the screwed-up result in Iraq was absolutely wonderful because Bush would get re-elected and the admin could proceed to dump the whole Iraq mess onto the locals but incorporate the lessons learned there (i.e., mainly about public relations before the American audience, not military lessons) and do a better job in selling and spinning the next wars on Bush/Cheney’s To Do List. Someone please tell me that my pessimism is unjustified!
Crazy Horse @
125
I can see why you’re thinking that it might be one of my paternal grandfather’s illustrations, but I don’t believe that it is one of his illustrations.
Crazy Horse @ 125
I was wondering- my first thought, but if so I would think SP would know.
Fitz was a damned good soccer player, you knew?He knows how to kick the balls and where to ‘put’ them … the field he’s on has so manyin play, so many to score. GO, FITZ and DO… IT, so we can put your HAIRY IRISH ASS to work in the Attorney Generals chair. And after that mess is cleaned up, we park your ass yet again at the SCOTUS, if you choose. Bush, his entire Administration and the Republiscums will be but a comma in the history books.
Mutual Fund Morning
The oil-based energy policies usually associated with Vice President Dick Cheney have just come under scathing attack. There’s nothing remarkable about that, of course — except the person doing the attacking.
Cheney’s Fund Manager Attacks … Cheney
By Brett Arends
Mutual Funds Columnist
2/5/2007 7:57 AM EST
http://www.thestreet.com/pf/fu…..36832.html
yellow snapdragon @
109
Leopold has had some credibility problems, but I like TruthOut. TruthOut was the first online site that got me seriously interested.
I don’t want to beat a dead horse about Leopold’s credibility, but Truthout has been standing behind his reporting 100 percent, to their detriment. I desperately want Leopold to be right about everything. I don’t think he is.
To be right about everything is a pretty high standard. I’ve spent hours with Jason and I have some trust in him. Jason works people and get them to confide in him. His journalistic philosophy is very aggressive – get the truth out. Even if you may look like a fool later it’s essential to get the info out into the public.
Jason takes a lot of chances. I think his heart is in the right place. BTW here’s alink to his picture. (4th man from top)
http://www.mentalengineering.com/panel.asp
jeffreyw @ 118
The main players on the issue are in the Senate. The House leadership has already opted to let the Senate to go first, hoping that a split among the Senate Republicans will create a similar split in the House.
It’s not working out quite the way Pelosi and Murtha planned, though.
Yay DELBERT! Caps lock unstuck?
Hugh @ 123
i think harry did exactly that – didn’t hear his vote, but he jumped up and asked for what sounded like a reconsideration, before going back to morning buisness.
Re the Southern origins of “scooter”, as far as I know, this referred to a dog that had just taken a dump and had a backside that wasn’t quite clean. It would pull itself along with its front legs scooting its behind across a carpet, leaving a characteristic mark.
Are all the presidential hopefuls in the senate? Screw them, let Murtha put up a sense of the house resolution and cram that puppy down their throats.
My previous embedded quote failed to embed – Sorry Yellow SnapDragon.
Here’s my comments:
To be right about everything is a pretty high standard. I’ve spent hours with Jason and I have some trust in him. Jason works people and get them to confide in him. His journalistic philosophy is very aggressive – get the truth out. Even if you may look like a fool later it’s essential to get the info out into the public.
Jason takes a lot of chances. I think his heart is in the right place.
BTW here’s alink to his picture. (4th man from top)
http://www.mentalengineering.com/panel.a sp
Hugh @ 143
A sign of worms, I’m told.
Stephen, i also didn’t recognize it (though at worst it’s one of his imitators), but it’s nice to know that his spirit lives on genetically within the firepup community.
hpschd @ 56
Just between you and me and the NSA, I think the Rove indictment is related to Abramoff stuff. But it’s coming.
Dru @
60
Most of my family comes from the South, and I’ve been exposed to some very entertaining renditions of Southern venacular. But i can’t say that I’ve ever heard anyone have ameaning for “Scooter” other than it meaning what most people in the English-speaking world use it for – a motorized bicycle, small motorcycle, or a foot-propelled skateboard like thing with an upright steering mechanism.
I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby…International Man of Mysterious nickname and firstname!
Hey, you don’t think that Scooter has a Walter Mitty fantasy of being “covert”?
“The Valkyrie’s Vigil” is by Edward Robert Hughes.
Here’s a bio.
JEP @
68
Ezra Pounditzes?
I’ve known one person in my life named Scooter and he was from South Orange, New Jersey.
ta-pocketa-ta-pocketa
cinnamonape @ 151
More like quarter-poundits….
beth meacham @
150
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Robert_Hughes
jeffreyw @ 122
I didn’t write it. The scrap was found around 1656 during the first destruction of Glenlivet, and is usually attributed to Hamisch Caol Illa.
Pelosi takes a pounding for Pelosi One.
per this site, it is not Waterhouse
Waterhouse catalogue
“Off topic -
Breaking news from MSNBC:
Reuters: Senate votes against debating troop ‘surge’ resolution”
CONNECTICUT!!!!!!!!!
WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(yes, I know I’m shouting)
montag @ 154
Better than Ezra?
Crazy Horse @
147
Thank you – please look at Beth Meacham’s 3:33 pm post below and at my 3:36 pm reply.
MontyCatsin – Your pessimism isn’t unjustified. As a theory, it isn’t bad, and it makes more sense then thinking that young “journalists” would follow the example of an Oblermann or a Cafferty or a Logan, or that “journalism” will return to its more independent “check on power” form of the past.
Irregardless, the reason your pessimism is unjustified is that as the CM has changed, so has the world around it. Traditional CM journalism is dying b/c of alternative media outlets. As I often point out, look at the percentage of people who are against the war, or who think that Chimpy is the worst preznit ever, despite that the CM continues to pump out the admins spin. And we can also look to the results of the ‘06 elections.
On all of the above the answer has to be that people either can see through the BS of the CM, and/or are getting their “journalism” from other sources.
Unlike many here, I don’t think the majority of the country is dumb, and that is a combination of the two – they know they are being bullshitted so they also look for alternative sources, and find them.
Thus, regardless of whether the future journalists of America are a bunch of assipees or asswipors, their ability to influence political discourse is waning, and will continue to wane. That’s why you shouldn’t be pessimistic.
This is the only Scooter I know.
Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir,
so that every mouth can be fed.
Poor me, the Ezralite. Aah.
Dankeschoen, Beth and Stephen.
Crazy Horse OT, but I hope you are still reading. I made a graphic for a TShirt several years ago. It never got used, but if you can find a use, you are welcome to it. It’s from a photo I took, so it’s all original. You may recognize the site but I can’t remember the name- nr. Pleasanton, IRRC “Wind Power- don’t blow it off”
graphic here
TRex, you DO have a composer in the audience. I have about 20 copyrights for my music. Nothing political tho, mostly religious. The most recent is a piece that deals with people who are depressed, asking God if He has forgotten us.
And speaking of egregious mental illness, new post at egregiousBlog.
Looking forward to meeting you next time you come to DC, sorry I missed you!
Re: The Senate vote.
A cloture vote is a vote to cut off debate and force a vote. The vote just failed. All that means is that there will continue to be a debate. If the Repubs want to filibuster now, I say they can have at it. There is no Senate business more pressing than Iraq. The Dems should just call their bluff and let the news media report on the Republican filibuster against the Iraq resolution. I’ll bet a dollar to a doughnut that it won’t last two days.
I dream of Cheney with the light metal heart,
I dream he’s in hell where he belongs!
shooogarp @ 159
I know, I know. I’m forming a support group. Want to join?
Why, oh why, is Libby doing this?
Considering the public humiliation that this trial is causing the administration, I’m beginning to wonder if maybe, just maybe, there is something more sinister left undiscovered that is a whole lot worse than being exposed as a cheap hustler.
Valley Girl @
166
The turbines are old (like the turbines in Cali), but the colors and the sentiment are beautiful. If only people would have worn that t-shirt with conviction. Nicely done, VG.
jeffreyw @
146
Or inflamed anal sacs.
BobbyG @
81
I suppose that McCain believes that if there was only ONE man being sent to perform the job that it would be a “vote of no confidence” in him if you said it was an impossible task.
The issue isn’t whether or not the troops aren’t competant, heroic, brave, intelligent, etc. The issue is if the strategy is capable of being successful when the Iraqi government is incable of reaching political solutions with either the Sunni’s or even major factions within the Shiites. Until this happens THE PRESIDENT’S STRATEGY! McCAIN’S STRATEGY! is totally flawed and it doesn’t matter how brave or committed our troops are. They can’t continue fighting a perpetual civil war, taking sides with a government that is supported by groups that are creating the death squads (SCIRI and the Sadrists), and ever get anywhere.
As pointed out by troops on the ground…you can clear and hold an area for awhile, but when the US leaves the militias come back in because half the Iraqi Army and police are IN THE MILITIAS. The US can’t really tell the difference in the rank-and-file troops (they don’t speak fluent Arabic to eavesdrop) or in their commanders.
The Iraqi militias have the advantage of time. They can be patient. They don’t have to win this year, the next, or even the next. They can continue with hit-and-run attrition. We’ll have to stay there perpetually, spending billions, and simplty never seeing any change.
yeah – delbert mathaney!
The cloture motion on the non-binding Iraq resolution was rejected 49-47. (60 votes were needed) Harry Reid was the only Democrat to vote with the Republicans. He did so to have standing to have the cloture motion reconsidered. Lieberman identified as ID or Independent Democrat in the tally was the only other non-Republican to vote to reject cloture. Coleman and Collins were the only 2 Republicans to vote for cloture.
http://www.senate.gov/legislat…..vote=00044
So our prez is proposing cutting funding for health research and slicing subsidies to the poor for heating. What a guy.
dab from CT @ 170
I’m from Utah, so…..If I can find time for it in my schedule.
Hmm. Let’s see. Monday. Orrin Hatch as Senator support group. Tuesday. Bob Bennett as Senator support group. Wednesday. Rob Bishop as Congressman support group. Thursday. General “I”m from Utah” support group. Friday. “How to deal with the tyranny of the majority suppressing you and basically feeling like lint on the back of flea, on tick” support group.
Nope. Schedule’s full. Sorry.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 177
Yep, a real compassionate conservative.
Valley Girl @
166
forgot to add, they’re old Danish turbines (Bonus?) from the mid-80’s, north of 580 going from Livermore to Tracy.
Crazy Horse @ 172
Thanks- it took hours and hours! Again, let me know if you can find a use for it- I have all the files saved, so the slogan can be omitted or changed. Total freebie from one FDLer to another.
Crazy Horse- yes that is the location- I seem to remember that it’s called ? Pass or ? Gap.
I remember Shelby Foote, in that wonderful voice of his, telling the story of a yankee asking a rebel captive why he was fighting. “’cause yer down here.”
The Iraqi insurgents are fighting us because we are there.
VG – Altamont Pass
Oklahoma kiddo @
101
Yes! Because the Iraq War Resolution never contained wording that allowed the use of US troops to involve itself in a Civil War or Sectarian Conflict. Basically it said that the troops could be used to compel Saddam Hussein to conform to the UN Security Council Resolutions.
Thus, IF the Senate begins to debate the Iraq War Resolution…it means that they are going to debate the very undepinnings as to why the US Forces remain in Iraq. They might then demand a SECOND Resolution authorizing the President to use troops in a sectarian conflict or nation building exercise. That might (would!) fail…and thus Bush would be in violation of the War Powers Act.
That would be playing hardball…threatening an article of impeachment…if Bush fails to respond to “softer” resolutions.
Maybe that’s what Feinstein meant when she said that if the Tubthumplicans continued to block the votes subsequent resolutions would be more serious!
Valley Girl @ 182
Altamont Pass is in the Livermore / Tracy area. McNerney country.
Eureka Springs, AR @ 184
YES! Thank you, thank you. That was going to be niggling at the back of my brain until I remembered…
VG — Altamont Pass, the very first commercial windplant in the world.
Since there’s been some discussion of the value of Truthout, here’s the interview i did with Kelpie Wilson last week.
And i still think that there’s some fire behind the confusing smoke of Leopold’s earlier writing. He was playing too close to the big boys, and got burned for a reason that had nothing to do with his reporting.
I live to see Rove remanded.
Punaise- gotta be quick around here!
I couldn’t follow the Libby testimony today – any bombshells?
Valley Girl @ 190
coulda woulda shoulda
While the idea of not ever seeing Karl Rove in leg-irons and an orange jumpsuit is disappointing, that event was never likely. Bush would pardon him long before things ever got to that stage. However, if this trial helps further shrink the Republican Party to the size Norquist dreamed of for the government, that’s a fair trade.
Cool. I very much admire your grandfather’s work.
punaise @ 192
The Libby trial? Culled a wooly shootah?
new thread. Christy’s on the phone with Feingold… hmmm… I think… gotta reread.
punaise @
191
Not counting the continual bombshells exploding against the people we conquered, it was same old same, more details about lying about lying. Though the small details seem to be mounting up.
Jeezus, punaise, you wit, sometimes here i just wish i could see the sunset behind that bridge you can see from the Beserkley hills.
Now that’s a fine comment with which to be EPU’d.
Crazy Horse @ 197
many thanks, from the People’s Republic of Beserkely!
If a CIA agent investigating WMD in Iran isn’t important enough for Bush and Cheney to protect, then who the hell is?!
How did a mother of preschool-age twins and a career diplomat inadvertantly expose treachery in the WH? The treachery fundamentally undercuts all claims of Bu$h, Cheney, or the neocons to protect American national security.
Bush, Cheney, and their minions now claim that they were ’stabbed in the back’ (see: Wagner; Ring Cycle). Bullsh*t. These villains , who are evidently practiced at placing the blood-dripping knife in the hands of their dead victims, have betrayed the safety of every single American.
Count me among those waiting with baited breath to see how many Americans figure out who is REALLY holding the knife, dripping with so much wasted, heartwrenchng blood.
Treachery. Villainy. Betrayal.
But also heroics. (See: Plame, Valerie; Wilson, Joesph: Hamsher, Jane; Hardin, Christy; Fitzgerald, Patrick… and unnamed FBI, CIA, and DoD employees.) In that fact lies my only hope.
Pelosi being hammered for Pelosi One.
Can you blame her?
Carnahan
Wellstone
JFK Jr.
Anyone notice how Fitz basically drew out in the GJ testimony how Libby actually did recall details of his meeting with the VP back in June…in fact he recalled very specific details months and months later.
Libby remembers Cheney’s demeanor and his own emotion about the revelation! Amazing, given that he had no recollection about the meeting!
Then Fitz shows the Libby remembers other events at the same time despite all the “terribly important” events that led him to forget the meeting with the VP.
F: Do you remember talking to Grenier about Wilson’s wife
L: No, not about that.
F Why might you have talked to him?
L: Wanted information from his boss McLaughlin, who was unavailable but VP wanted to know ASAP
F: Did you talk to Pincus?
L: Yes, and gave talking points…
F: When you spoke with Cheney, was there a problem with telling [Pincus about Wilson’s wife?]
L: Didn’t think it was a point worth mentioning
F: VP thought it was interesting enough to tell you, and you were interested enough to write it down… did you think it might elucidate Pincus?
L: wasn’t a talking point Cheney gave me, and those seemed sufficient
F: Did you feel prohibited from mentioning it to Pincus?
L: No.
F: Can you rule out the possibility that you told Pincus about Wilson’s wife?
L: I don’t think I did. I have no recollection of doing it. I’m reasonably certain I did not. (Fitz asks several different ways, same response each time)
F: Conversation with VP was before Pincus, right?
L: Yes.
F: And was first time you heard it?
L: Yes, although my recollection is not perfect.
In other words, Fitz has shown that Libby, IN FACT, did NOT forget about his conversation with Cheney about Plame. He remembers all sorts of things about the meeting, about his feelings about learning about this information, about Cheney’s response to it, that he didn’t feel “prohibited” from repeating it, that’s he’s reasonably certain that he didn’t pass her name on to Pincus. He remembers that the Conversation was sequentially before the pincus interview and that the information about “the wife” wasn’t one of the “Talking Points”.
Yet he asserted that he didn’t recall this meeting?
Fitz nailed him!
We’re winning!
I think it’s f-ed up that people here on this blog continue to smear leopold.
leopold was the first reporter to implicate cheney , the first on the 250 emails missing, the first on the WHite house iraq group, blah blah.
we have no idea what happened with rove because no one has any info.
but to read the people here saying he has credibilty issues when the trial so far has proved all of his reporting correct is BS and immature.
His reports say he is working from the actual court transcript.
and I am sick that the powers that be here keep censoring my comments just because I defend leopold.
Cherry on the fruitcake Trex, cherry on the fruitcake
poor baby ……..
there, there …….
now, go to your room please.
TRex,
Thank you and all others at FDL for providing such truthful analysis with honesty coupled with dramatic flair and a dash of satire. It makes the unthinkable a little easier to cope with. Peace to Plame House and all who care about justice.
Jane & Christy, such a great site & community. However, having adopted & loved this country and trying so hard not to once again be afraid, I remembered something: We The People. That’s powerful. Maybe we need to remind those people we’ve voted into positions that they represent WE THE PEOPLE. A simple fax/communication blitz: WE THE PEOPLE. REPRESENT US NOW!
75% of WE THE PEOPLE are asking for the opposite of what our reps are doing. Maybe it’s time to remind them how they got their jobs.
I put this in “Why It Matters,” because it does.
GSD @ 83
I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear you say that.
KathieinMN @
47
Oh, wow! If you see me, I’ll be the one in the corner eating the chicken pad thai.
jeffreyw @
108
Nah, it means that the Democrats weren’t able to get enough Republicans to defect to overcome the filibuster.