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(Photo credit to AFP/Mandel Ngan.)
Former Amb. Joe Wilson will be appearing this evening on MSNBC on Keith Olbermann's show, beginning at 8:00 pm ET. And then will be on Larry King Live on CNN, beginning at 9:00 pm ET. No doubt, the Libby trial and the investigation of the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's name will come up, along with teh pending civil suit that the Wilsons have filed against Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Richard Armitage, and a number of other unnamed defendants will come up as well.
There will be lots to discuss, and we wanted to give everyone the space needed to discuss it.
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Joe! Valerie!
Truth, justice and the American way!
FDL rocks!
FITZMAS!!!
The whole Countdown show is on Libby. One for the record books.
Oh, and…
FITZ!!!
Joe Wilson on Countdown now!
Amb. Wilson currently on MSNBC with Olbermann…
Merry Fitzmas!
Here is the man himself. Public Service. This Constitution has been defended. Tell, it, Joe.
You go, Joe!
MERRY FITZMAS
Sheesh … he knows how to nail it! What a hero!
Hi EW, Jane and Eg! (waving)
Tried to call you EW, but you did not pick up phone.
Joining you in a toast from a diatance
What a beautiful Picture, thanks Christy
Cheese and rice, it sucks to be on the left coast at times like this.
I don’t have cable :-(
ding
Fitz looks so much taller than the rest of the team. A giant indeed.
Woodhall @ 16 - Crooks & Liars will have it up I’m sure.
Joe Wilson framing the Libby verdict in all the right ways.
Joe Wilson - a patriot, a brave man, a good guy.
Mr. K8 and I are so happy that we had the chance to meet him. It feels so wonderful to see this little bit of justice done for his sake and for Valerie’s sake.
He’s so modest that he puts his and his wife’s aggravation in contrast, as a small thing when contrasted with the suffering of our servicemen and -women.
What a guy!
DING!
To the Wilsons!
litigatormom says “Tweety making a special comment inspired by National Review. WH sold this war based on false information. Why did cheney let bush “testify” to congress about uranium. The sound you hear is the sound of me falling to the floor from shock….”
I Tweety brings this up in a segment everyday from now until Congress announces
1. investigation into Cheney’s involvment or
2. investigation into Bush admin claims for war authorization
I will forgive Tweety for all his other faults.
Typo?
“with teh(?) pending civil suit”
They do look elegant, don’t they?
I have no TV, so I follow along here. ;-)
Merry Fitzmas everyone!
The following quote from Kevin Drum from earlier today says all that you need to know about the FDL coverage - “CNN and Jane Hamsher both report that a verdict in the Libby trial is coming soon.”
Congratulations to you all.
John
Hey gang. I’m at Plame House watching Olbermann with Marcy, egregious, Stoller and some other readers. Jane had toleave town already but we have beer and pizza, thanks to egregious.
Woo hoo!
I salute the Wilsons.
I was held hostage all day just finally catching up.
EPU’ed in the last thread
I was meaning to do this earlier but I just looked at the reaction to the verdict at the Libby Legal Defense Fund site:
Seems like there is no cheer in Mudville tonight. The mighty Scooter has struck out.
Woodhall Hollow,
I have CPSAN but no MSNBC, CNN, or FOXNEWS.
Firepups have been posted the best of Libby Verdict coverage here though and its GOOD reading.
Quoting from another Blog, “rumor has it that a star was placed on the wall at CIA headquarters”…
I just wanted to know if it is possible a life was lost because of the leak? If so, I would think those responsible are guilty of murder. But I know of whom and what government I am speaking of, and it would just be swept under the big Bush rug!
Pach.
Wish I was there with you all. Celebrate heartily. You have earned it.
OUCH! Mods? The phone number?
Any little fishes on the pizza pie?
Have a great time and enjoy this evening– we are with you, um, virtually.
I need to order me some pizza and beer while I wait for the last episode of Frontline’s News War to come on. Last week’s episode was fabulous and made up for my dissapointment in the first 2.
EW - I’m really hope that phone number is Libby’s cell phone.
emptywheel #31,
Personally, I liked the name emptywheel but if you prefer chez Pach, OK.
To the denizens of Plame House. I’m so glad I made a small contribution. And to steelthing while I’m thinking about it.
*ding*
Hagel talking about Impeachment over at Think Progress!!!
OT but … Pach, nice post you put up at Gillie’s News Blog.
http://www.thenewsblog.net/200.....-bono.html
Hello
My phone died
I’m still a patriot.
Let’s see Bush– or let’s have him admit it!!
Thanks FDL and EW for everything you have done for our country. Oh, and hugs
It’s beginning to look a look a lot like Fitzmas…
Pachacutec says “Hey gang. I’m at Plame House watching Olbermann with Marcy, egregious, Stoller and some other readers. Jane had toleave town already but we have beer and pizza, thanks to egregious. Woo hoo!”
Thanks Pach for keeping us in the loop on the whereabouts of Team FireDogLake …it’s always nice to be able to put a
face to a name,a place to a Plame,a place for the fame, (oh never mind) Have Fun!ROTFLMAO!
MARCIE!
Tequila time! Here’s to youse guys!
Count one. GUILTY!
Another salute to the Wilsons!
And to the entire FDL crew. We will be a better country for all the efforts seen here in the last year and a half.
Emptywheel, you’re an American Hero to me.
In other news: Editor Explains Why Paper Dropped Coulter Column
~snip~
“Lancaster County residents of whatever political view — conservative, moderate, or liberal — deserve intelligent discussion of issues. Ann Coulter no longer provides that.”
New Era Editor Ernie Schreiber expanded on those comments when reached early this afternoon. He told E&P that Coulter “was hurting our credibility. Our community is largely conservative and Republican. They expect insightful discussion of issues. Ann Coulter wasn’t giving us that. We have lots of conservative columnists who do — Cal Thomas, Jonah Goldberg, Robert Novak, Michelle Malkin, among others.”~~~
my bold
Brian@32 - There was talk of such a thing, but of course we’ll never know for sure. That’s why they put stars there and not names. The thought that the possibility even exists puts a lump in my throat.
Joe Wilson was terrific on Countdown. One quibble: when asked about the fact the original crime was prosecuted, he could have used that brilliant point from Fitzgerald–that by lying and obstructing justice, Libby threw sand in the face of the umpire.
Libby’s actions, confirmed unanmously today by a jury, prevented us from getting to the real crime…
I wish some of these folks would mention Marcy’s book.
My phone is less happy than it was.
Present at the creation of a new media paradigm, etc.
Hey, FDL, you rock so hard!
Bristol-Meyes Squibb’s new product line.
Treason
I guess that bottle of wine WAS a big one!
Let yer hair down honey!
YA DONE GOOD.
Schuster: “upper end” of sentencing from Walton likely, since Scooter was a public official.
Schuster: Prosecutors believe Scooter have info about conversations with the VP.
Doesn’t Walton have a reputation for giveing out tough sentences?
Just watched Olbermann and Ambassador Wilson. And I have to admit, that in the relief and euphoria of the guilty verdicts today, I allowed myself to forget what was behind it all. For Valerie Plame, for her service to our country which was cancelled out for political gain, I am truly sorry.
EW
Please send email w/ #
I do not have Pach’s number with me.
I don’t understand how they interpret the possible 25 years for the four counts to only be anywhere between 1 1/2 to 4 years. Anyone understand the sentencing guidelines here?
LoneStarLiberal @ 53 ” Joe Wilson was terrific on Countdown. One quibble: when asked about the fact the original crime was prosecuted, he could have used that brilliant point from Fitzgerald–that by lying and obstructing justice, Libby threw sand in the face of the umpire.”
Thanks LoneStarLiberal. Some of us w/o MSNBC have been relying on firepups like you for the lowdown. Thank you and keep it coming… or as they say in Crawford, git ‘er done. he he he or as they used to say in Crawford git ‘er done.
Schuster: Prosecutors believe Scooter have info about conversations with the VP.
Wow wow wee wah!
The Libby site also has a copy of an editorial from the NRO (National Review Online) which begins:
And it ends (2nd to last sentence)
Yeah, that’s the ticket. Criticize the guy you want the pardon from.
Do you smell that? That’s meltdown, son! Nothing else in the world smells like that! I love the smell of meltdown in the morning.
http://www.scooterlibby.com/news/Read.aspx?ID=275
If the Libby Legal Defense Fund were so interested in Scooter’s defense, why aren’t they going after for Shooter? The usual tactic of “defense” funds is to try to direct attention to the real culprits as they perceive them. I find the absence of this effort strange at LLDF.
LHP- email me at tenureransom at Hotmail dot com
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0306-38.htm
I thought Joe Wilson did an excellent job linking the carelessness and callousness of the leak of Valerie’s identity to the way troops have been treated in this war. The sense that BushCo has no consideration for anyone rang very true — and may reach a wider audience as we learn about how troops and veterans are treated after their injuries.
LHP- …for some info you are seeking
has anyone been able to get some kind of commitment from anyone in one of the houses that they WILL get the information the Fitz has?
RevDeb >
Maybe itz wishful thinking on their part
If I remember correctly the sentencing guidelines in use recently have been ruled illegal according to a recent SCOTUS decision
Throw da book at em anyway !
“…This is not a game.” - Lorie Van Auken (2001.09.11 widow)
If Libby’s conviction stands, he’ll be disbarred and lose his livlihood. He was a VERY successful lawyer before Cheney recruited him.
I feel sorry for him. No I don’t.
I feel sorry for the dead and crippled american soldiers and for the Iraqi civilians who gave their lives without a vote.
‘Git ‘er done’ - a phrase from another conservative mean-spirited faux Southerner…
Eugene Robinson on Tweety was funny, he said “that editorial has been in the can for quite a while”!
Hey, pups, couldn’t Conyers [or some other Congress critter] now hold hearings to “investigate” the leak of Valerie’s CIA identity [since apparently Fitz isn’t going there]?
Then the committee could subpoena Libby [et al]and ask about all those nasty little facts that came out @ the trial, namely that Cheney “leaked” Plame’s identity to Libby and told him to go use/leak it to “discredit” Wilson/push back on Wilson’s criticism.
Comments?
PS - Marcy, just sent you a bcc of my letter to Tweety re his confusion over his oft-repeated “where’s the report of Wilson’s trip.” Gave him page numbers of your book. Nimrod.
Hugh — I’d missed that. In their anger about the verdict, they may piss off the BoyKing, from whom ALL pardons flow.
Sigh.
In an attempt to do a nice thing ex-Mr. Prop is trying to install an new wireless router that can handle wider bandwidth so I will have better toobz.
The problem is the router was delivered today and it is not cooperating, so I keep getting kicked off the toobz.
Of allthe nights to have intrnet troubles!
Suds & 68 - it may be labelled as Libby Defense Fund but it has ALWAYS been the Cheney Defense Fund.
Just put my peanut down. What a day. I have a headache. As soon as it subsides, I’m going to have drink #2.
Do you think the prosecution team is completly drunk out of their minds by now? Not that it’s right per se, but so understandable
If Libby’s conviction stands, he’ll be disbarred and lose his livlihood. He was a VERY successful lawyer before Cheney recruited him.
I feel sorry for him. No I don’t.
I feel sorry for the dead and crippled american soldiers and for the Iraqi civilians who gave their lives without a vote.
Fukin A right!
OfT: Christy, I saw a blue pearl CR-V today and thought of you — it was dreamy!
The verdict has just blown every thing else off the screen today, but there was some good stuff in the hearings with the US attorneys today, names named.
About all the repugs have to come back with is the fact that none of them reported the calls from the senator or congresswoman as the rules required. This will be the point of attack for them.
Pach, i don’t want you to disclose the Plame House location (we have that under constant satellite surveillance, and we have teh emptywheel phone chip) but don’t you think the neighbors should be able to watch their own tvs? And we’re most concerned about the sound “leakage.”
Were you at all instructed to party so loud?
Someone around here put up a post awhile back about what happens when a NOC is outed - all the ramififications and risk and consequences. I’d love to read it again, but my memory ain’t what it once was…
The Ambassador seems always to come back to that point, in every interview. I’ll bet Valerie has been moody these last few years, with secret troubles she cannot talk about. He can only intuit what she knows, the friends and colleagues she has lost to this thing…
I hope they can negotiate a decent compromise from the CIA, so she can write her book.
Excellent point Neill
A couple of random thoughts…
If Fitz is true and his work is done
Half a loaf is better than none
Marcy, you rock.
Litigatormom rocks too. I feel like the kid in “My Cousin Vinnie” who ditches his lawyer and shouts, “I want her!”
(of course, I don’t need a lawyer right now… but if I did…)
so according to the radio, libby is only facing a coupla years
there is no need for any kind of pardon if that’s true
LHP - Git thee to a Starbucks!!
Ah, KO just referred to the “sand throwing.”
Christy! Pach! Marcie! Dogs!
Rockn’ROLL!
Roll away the STONE!
Watched MSNBC & FOX tonight….got to say that MSNBC is overlooking the role of the news in all this…. why did Scooter lie? He had excellent reason to believe that news people would NEVER contradict ANYTHING he said under oath! It’s interesting that they avoid that one.
JeffreyW - The US Attorney story will be back in the news probably with more attention due to this conviction.
LHP @ 80 - Gosh darn IT folks!!!!
March 6th 2007
A great day that will go down in infamy. I don’t think anyone else has down this so I am going to venture forward from my lurker den and proclaim the the 6th of March will forever be known and celebrated as St. Fitz Day!!! A holiday for all true believers that are seeking truth & justice. This could be bigger than Mardi Gras if promoted right.
Strolling slowly back to my den.
This is a great day for firedoglake.
Remember the early days, when everyone was fretting about how few woman bloggers there were? It seems so long ago.
does anyone know anything at all about “sealed vs sealed”?
does it even exist, are these charges already filed waiting for a hearing or is it discretionary weather or not the case is heard at all
Neil >
The name Marc Rich comes to mind…
“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” - Gandalf the Grey
Christy, FDL legal eagles -
Is acceptance of a Presidential pardon an unequivocal admission of guilt as a matter of law (beyond the political spin noise)?
.
That’s funny, this morning on the FDL Gabbly someone said “gosh, there are a lot of men here today!”
it’s even Fitzmas in HEAVEN!!!!
seriously though, thanks for the great coverage, all of you. WHAT A BLAST this has been.
DING to the Wilson’s, indeed!
I had to go back and look at Tweety’s special comment. I was so irritated by the roundtable, setting the table for a pardon, that I skipped over his last comment. It’s true that he was pretty hard-hitting about how this is just the tip of the iceberg–that the administration needs to start answering some questions.
Olbermann, of course, has been fantastic. 15 minutes with Ambassador Wilson. 15-20 minutes with David Shuster, who has done heroic work on this story. And now a look at whether this White House is under a cloud. His first take: the forecast for this administration is at least partly cloudy!
Is it just me or does Mrs. Libby look like Michael Jackson without an umbrella?
I. Guilty
II. Guilty
III. Not Proven Guilty
IV. Guilty
V. Guilty
If you rotate it 90 degrees, it’s a big middle finger. :)
I don’t feel one bit sorry for Libby. Not in the slightest.
On the other hand, the timing of the US Attny scandal couldn’t be better, because I bet that Abu Gonzalas was planning on firing Fitz from his job in Chicago just as soon as this was over…and well, now they have once again overreached themselves and Fitz can go after Conrad Black.
Thank you, I was afraid to say that!
Wow, Howard Fineman on Countdown has really cut loose: about Cheney being the “man behind the curtain,” about how this gives the “seal of approval” to all the critics; “White House playing fast & loose with facts.”
Where were ya earlier in this fiasco?
TeddySanFran - Boyking
is that a gerund? “Libby suffered a boyking. He get boyked.”
Undrerstand the guidlines? yes. Have a copy here at home with me here? no.
After totally humilating myself by mis citing the section of Rule 6 today I am loath to ry to cite statutes from memeory ever again.
With that caveat: Setencing guidlines do not focus on the sentence referenced in the criminal statute, They are focuus on conduct.
The crimes that Scooter is convicted of do not have the usual “degree of difficulty” enhancements that drive up a guidlelines calculation.
It doesn’t look like it nvolved a “high degeree of plannig” (in fact it looked like Scooter made them up on the spot), it (the perjury) was not a violent time, it was not done for $.etc, etc, etc
I keep wondering if Fitz’s “I’m done” posture might be intended to convince Scooter that his cooperation might so valuable enough to earn him a “get out of jail free” card? IANAL but if I were Jeffress, that’s what I’d be computing.
LoneStarLiberal: I was so irritated by the roundtable, setting the table for a pardon, that I skipped over his last comment.
Yeah, I was struck by how damn cynical they were, basically saying that these CYA pardons are OK. Where’s the outrage? This is just like Poppy’s pardon of all the Iran-Contra conspirators, and they acted like that was perfectly OK! WTF?
I like the way urban pirate “looks” at things…
“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know, it’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” - Mark Twain
John Dean up next on Countdown. Keith has good guests on this tonight. No shills.
I keep wondering if Fitz’s “I’m done” posture might be intended to convince Scooter that his cooperation might so valuable enough to earn him a “get out of jail free” card? IANAL but if I were Jeffress, that’s what I’d be computing.
I’m hoping it was a signal to congress that they need not worry about interfering with his investigation.
KO: up to 25 years
Me too.
I have to admit that asking if ‘Are we there yet?’ caused me no end of amusement.
Man,what a great day for America!
I do want to give Chris Matthews credit. Remember, he was the reason Libby contacted Tim Russert. Matthews has been a junkyard dog these days, and more power to him.
Keep posting the media coverage of the Libby Verdict everyoneand links tocoverage at C&L, NPR etc. This is great.
Wolcott puts it succinctly:
Let the Whining Begin:
I think Jeralyn says the sentences are concurrent, so you cant just add the charges together.
Good point.
Keith is addressing the prearrange pardon theory
Keith asking about “pre-arranged pardon.” Good question.
Did anyone catch Fineman (sp?) on KO compare possible Libby pardon at the end of Bush’s presidency, to pardons at the end of Clintons. Wouldn’t the most appropriate comparrison be Bush Sr. Iran Contra pardons of the same gang of pnac attackers? *sheeesh*
I listened to Jeralyn on the Rachel Maddow show this afternoon and she was saying the sentences would run concurrently.
Evening gang — checking in for a minute or two, between changing sheets on The Peanut’s bed (she’s not feeling well…’nough said) and getting ready to get her back up in bed again. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the support through all of our coverage. You guys rock!
(And Teddy at 84 — It is an awfully cute little car, isn’t it? I LOVE mine. It is my first brand new car, and I have to confess that the new car smell is wonderful. *g*)
I wanna hear from the Flamethrower…Norske, Norske, Norske!!!