. We got mentioned (by name) on Fox News, and nobody used the word "terrorists." Okay it was James Boyce and he definitely does a good job. But what's up with Fox letting real liberals on the network? Must be some last-ditch effort to put one over on the Carson City Democratic Committee. Bastards.
. Shorter Tom Maguire — "Why can't Patrick Fitzgerald be more like Ken Starr?" I know wingnuttia is growing nostalgic for the days of blabbermouth prosecutors and the tight-lipped Fitzgerald drives them apeshit, but that is the law. Only thing that sends them into orbit faster is the reminder that Joe Wilson was, in fact, right. The next one who accuses him of lying better produce some friggin' uranium pronto, know what I mean?
. Regarding press coverage of the Libby verdict, Dan Froomkin does a rundown and curiously notes that "[o]utside the Beltway, views are a little less contrarian." Go on, pick yourself up off the floor, the shock will wear off eventually….
. Speaking of the Washington Post, TBogg points us to Barbara Comstock's most recent handy work, a collection of quotes on Scooter-As-Victim from "obscure publications, cable access shows, and D-list celebrities like President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Fox, The Weekly Standard, Slate, MSNBC, the Washington Post (again), the Wall Street Journal (again), Cal Thomas, Ted Olson, Paul Wolfowitz, Mary Matalin, Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes, and the Wall Street Journal (again again)" Entitled, with appropriate victimology "What You're Not Hearing about Scooter Libby," one publication should be embarassed to be on such a list, but sadly they're not (thus earning the sobriquet from TRex of "The ComPost.") FWIW, I think Froomkin needs a raise.
. For those still too confused by the whole damn thing, Steven Colbert explains it all for you.
. Note to jurors: we appreciate that you're a compassionate bunch, but please stop running around saying it's okay if Scooter gets pardoned. See the idea is that prosecutors who can't crack the big fish (i.e., Bush and Cheney) need convictions against the littler fish in order to flip them and get the evidence they need. They probably did not mention that in the midst of the trial but it is nonetheless true, and your comments serve the interests of those who hope to escape responsibility if Scooter never talks, which is what will happen if he gets pardoned. Got it? If you didn't think he deserved to go to jail, you shouldn't have voted "guilty." That is, you know, what's supposed to happen at the end of it all.
(video thanks to Scarce, who also put this lovely post up at DailyKos, muchas gracias)
Related posts:
- The Taxpayers Paid Dick Cheney’s Personal Defense Attorney to Obstruct Any Inquiries Into His Crimes
- Cheney Refused to Release the Journalists
- Cheney’s Betrayal Made an IIPA Charge for Libby Possible
- SCOTUS Denies Valerie Plame Wilson Her Day in Court
- Cheney’s Lawyer Already Leaked the Content of Cheney’s “Privileged” Interview
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me worry?
Juror #10, Anne Readington, said she got hooked on the case. But she only got part of the story and she seemed particularly susceptible to Wells sobbing. So, maybe you could invite her to share her thoughts one Saturday. She needs to see the whole picture. Maybe that will make her change her mind about pardoning Libby.
My eyeballs and ears hurt from watching Fox
Blech
If Scooter is pardoned, can he be compelled to testify against the big fish?
Would a pardon negate his 5th amendment right against self-incrimination?
The cacophonous demands emanating from the Fox/Nat Review/Mark Steyn/John Podhoretz/Kathryn Jean Lopez/Byron York/WSJ Wurlitzer for a pardon for Lil Kim, who served time for her perjury conviction, are deafening.
Stop, Wurlitzer, stop! Bush must not pardon Lil Kim! Perjurious rappers must always do their time, and their convictions must stand!
Note how Colbert shows the GOP/Media’s lockstep recitation of the “confused jury” talking point. A subtle, stinging indictment of the Republican lapdog media.
Froomkin doesn’t need a raise so much as he needs to work for a more principled organization.
Sparkles the Iguana @
5
Hey, if Scooter can shake it like Li’l Kim, he deserves a pardon.
I was reading Froomkin yesterday. He replied to one reader that Valerie Plame may not have been covert according to the IIPA definition, but that her work was classified. The IIPA includes under “covert”–anyone who is outside the U.S. or has been outside the country in the past five years.
My understanding has been that Plame is classified, period. Therefore, the CIA would not say whether and when she was outside the U.S. So Fitzgerald could only legally say that she was “classified.”
I thought Froomkin had it wrong.
I saw where the Wilsons are moving to Santa Fe. It is a good place to heal. One of our favorite parts of the world. I wish them the best.
Bill Kristol: Anti-Christ or confused Machiavellian pawn in a game he does not comprehend?
Talk amongst yourselves…
Can you freakin’ believe that Rich Lowry?
No, Rich, it wasn’t the “revenge” thread that Fitzgerald picked up on; he was looking to see whether the IIPA had been violated. Fitz was selected by AG Ashcroft, who had to recuse himself. Fitz is a registered independent, neither Republican nor Democrat. Then, during the whole Grand Jury investigation proceedings it became clear that Libby had committed perjury and had made false statements to the FBI. It’s just that simple, Mr. Lowry.
To Rich Lowry, I suggest your need to get thee to Apologists Anonymous, Go! You’re in serious denial, buddy.
that woman juror proclaiming sympathy for libby on hardball last nite was an embarrassment — and apparently she’s an attorney.
Phoenix Woman @
6
One problem for MSM is the the Republican spin machine knows them oh so well. When they issue talking points they can be assured that part of the media will parrot them because they are on the payroll; another part will parrot them because they are lazy; and yet another group will cling to them as cover for their own inept judgement on what is or isn’t news. Thus the talking points have built in excuses for the boys and girls of the press.
The confused jury talking point especially resonates because it allows the inept ones to say: “See this is confusing and that’s why we didn’t cover it very well. Even the jury was confused and they sat there and listened to hours and hours of this confusing stuff. So what do you expect from us? Now lets move on to the latest American Idol scandal.”
EPU’d but very interesting:
*xyz @ 173
Actually, I believe that Pachacutec coined the term ComPost.
Forrest Prince @ 12
I’ll bet you fifty bucks they have him or Jonah Goldberg on All Things Considered today.
I suppose it is too soon to ask if there has been anything coming from Conyer’s office to Fitzgerald’s? Anyone seen boxes moving around?
Rich Lowry is a punk.
Can you freakin’ believe that Rich Lowry?
No, Rich, it wasn’t the “revenge” thread that Fitzgerald picked up on; he was looking to see whether the IIPA had been violated. Fitz was selected by AG Ashcroft, who had to recuse himself. Fitz is a registered independent, neither Republican nor Democrat. Then, during the whole Grand Jury investigation proceedings it became clear that Libby had committed perjury and had made false statements to the FBI. It’s just that simple, Mr. Lowry.
To Rich Lowry, I suggest you need to
Get Thee to Apologists Anonymous, Go! You’re in serious denial, buddy.
linda @ 13
No doubt! The complete non-sequitur here is the very idea that since Scooter doesn’t really appear to be the prime mover in the whole, ugly debacle; somehow his crimes of perjury shouldn’t count. Well, that sounds like two things: Well’s attempts at jury nullification almost worked; and, I don’t want her for an attorney any damn day. Stick to the facts honey; if you thought he was innocent, you should have voted that way. You’ve had your fifteen minutes, apparently you accidentally did a good job against your better judgment, now shut the hell up and go away.
linda @ 13
Someone needs to send that women a reading last, starting with EmptyWheel’s book and John Dean’s Conservatives Without Conscience. We can’t expect *everyone* to know what a double-authoritarian conservative type is. I didn’t
Congratulations to FDL for the shout-out from Boyce. Too bad , it had to come on stinky Fox.
Juror 10 should be given a copy of Marcy’s book to read before she spouts off any more nonsense about a pardon. Why bother with court procedures? Judge people on whether or not they seem to be “nice people” and “fun.” We got an idiot for president because the media thought him a nice guy you’d enjoy having a beer with. How did that work out?
Maybe Number 10 is hoping Kate O’B’s husband’s federal employment agency will give her a lucrative job if she spits out the Republic mantra.
OT – Jane and Marcy, I loved the video yesterday. The very best part was hearing Pach’s name spoken aloud. I speak Spanish and French, but not Incan, so I am sitting here drilling the sound into my memory banks. Thanks.
TRex @ 17
Speaking of Jonah, have you seen is LAT’s opinion piece of crap today? It would be too easy to snark to pieces so maybe you don’t want to see it. ;>)
Isn’t ‘progressive’ the FOX (the ‘paranoid and false’ network) dogwhistlespeak word for ‘terrorist’…Yet?
;>)
johnSwifty @ 21
For some reason I figured her as one of the holdouts. Good thing for justice that she is apparently too wishy washy to stick to her guns.
Pretty much OT, but because FDL inspired me to get the ball rolling on this event, I’m passing it on.
I’m working on a team that is going to bring YearlyKos into Second Life. We just launched the registration site in Second Life, and there is a diary up on DKos, crossposted at yearlykosconvention.org/yksl
Check it out. Let me know what you think.
Latest FaBlog: The Transparency of Republicans
Did anyone catch the buried paragraph in Baker and Leonnig’s WaPo pardon piece today?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..184_2.html
Paragraph 14, second web page:
This must have to do with threatening to call Cheney and/or Rove, and then guaranteeing the OVP and West Wing that it was a red herring, that their secret was safe with Libby.
Fall guy indeed. Seems like Bush has a moral obligation to pardon, and that’s why the neocons are screaming bloody murder for it.
Any other conjecture?
Jane,
Fitzgerald said he’s done. I know you don’t want that to be the case, but it’s the case. Scooter is not going to flip, and Fitzgerald’s team is “going back to their day jobs”.
That means that there is only one logical next step: impeach Dick Cheney. Fitzgerald said, didn’t he, that he would turn his stuff over to Congress if appropriate? Wasn’t he hinting that an impeachment investigation would be the most logical recipient?
Besides, if you want to go after higher-ups, Rove was not higher up in the hierarchy than Libby; both were very senior. There is only one logical next target, and that is Dick Cheney.
Sally @ 23
ARRRRGGGGHHH!! Can we please stop beating up on misguided juror #10 before we antagonize her and make her go all rabid lamb on bloggers in general? The best way to make her stop cheering for a Libby pardon is to talk some sense into her. Find out where she is, tell her she can make a guest appearance here at FDL and then reason with her. She seems to be fairly intelligent and rational. She just has to get over her emotional response to Libby.
Damn jury consultants probably did a number on her.
Jane, You rock!! Let’s get juror no. 10 here on an FDL forum and we’ll be very nice, but we’ll kill her with the facts.
Re: publication(s) that should be embarrassed to be on the list:
The New Republic has suffered from an identity crisis ever since Martin Peretz bought it
Slate has also suffered from an identity crisis right from its inception, and now that it is owned by WashPo, well…
Exactly, if these pinheads want Scooter to walk away from this, instead of a pardon, how about asking him to tell the goddamn truth?
Just saw another FDL reference. It’s in the comments of Mark Green’s post at HuffPo. He and his brother Stephen just bought Air America Radio. It’s a very encouraging read, and I definately agree with this commenter’s idea:
Hire Jane Hamsher to be the Program Director. Do real journalism, like FDL did with the Libby trial.
Go after the issues, calmly, thoroughly, and honestly.
The left doesnt need to be a mirror image of the right. Liberals like content.
By: arvo on March 08, 2007 at 08:49am
moe99 @ 33
I second that emotion!
All of this “Libby is a victim” meme is coordinated and planned. It has been for a while.
I believe that it is setting the underlying tone such that the possible Bush Pardon will not be met with disgust but cheers from the general public.
Again another coordinated transparent effort by the supposed press corps to influence public opinion to server their personal interests. No amount of screaming, letter writing or boycotting is going to change this.
The only thing that can is an educated American Public.
Joe Buck @ 31
There is a necessary intermediate step:
Start a Congressional investigation into the outing.
Going after Cheney will only be politically possible after a Congressional panel gets its hands on Fitzgerald’s evidence gathered over the course of the investigation, which it can do using the proper legal proceedings.
Please see LHP’s quoted comment at 15 above.
Our role, as citizens, is to put pressure on Congress (Conyers in particular) to immediately start an investigation into outing of Valerie Plame’s CIA identity.
John Swifty @ 11.
Kristol is Copper-bottomed Bad Man. He knows exactly what he is up to. With his friend No One is supposed to mention, A Finkelstein, he is out to screw America on the4 way to his daft messianic vison.
Though she kept on shilling for a Scooter pardon Ol sixty grit OBeirne didn’t know what a pardon does = she thought that a pardon is a expungement. Tweety had to keep on setting her straight. The juror doesn’t know sh*t from shinola and was enamored with the teevee personality Tweety Mathews and his coaching.
Scooter will always be guilty of the crime unless he wins an appeal. A pardon means hew is GUILTY as sin. Will Scooter now be disbarred like a real world attorney would be – like in a New York minute?
Scooter is a major player. He was never a lowly office aid. This needs to be known.
Great Job on Stephanie Miller, Jane. Great stuff.
Did anyone else notice that not one letterd to the editor in the NYTimes mentions the need to impeach the VP. I can’t beleive not one person mentioned it.
Also Ted Kennedy has a pettition to tell The HEAD NIT WITH NOT TO PARDON LIBBY at http://www.democraticmajority.com/nopardon
Just in case JAYACKROYD is still reading. I sent this to the last post but I don’t want you to miss out on a trip to Canaan. So here it is again. For reservations in the Valley try http://www.canaanrealty.com/?g…..GAodIw4S2g Canaan Realty rents houses in Timberline and has a few other place in the Valley. They are nice folk and the places are a lot nicer then the State Park Facilities. (I know, my family has owned a home there since 1976. And sorry but it is not longer a rental.) They will have less problems with the dog issues. Also don’t forget to take the dogs up to the Dolly sods. Lots of Blueberries and cranberries up there. But I can’t tell you where, as I am sworn to secrecy. Also if you go in late August or the fall look for the wild apple trees. They make amazing pies.
*xyz @ 39
OK, I backslid and checked the new thread (I really need a 12 step program) It’s not just Conyers, It’s Rockefeller.He is allowed to see classified info so his investigation could not be grey mailed!!!!!!!
portia @ 32, re-read my first sentence, please.
Just on MSNBC: Allison Stewart introduced more info on how three jurors from the Libby trial all are comfortable with Libby getting pardoned. She then went for commentary on this topic to from Jessica Eckert, the Exec Director of the Eagle Forum, “a conservative organization”.
Eckert said that she’s not sure if the “Conservative Movement” has a cohesive opinion on pardoning Libby, but they do believe Bush should pardon the two border agents who are in jail for shooting a convicted drug dealer trying to cross the border into the US. Then, the topic of Libby never came up again – Eckert and Stewart just talked about immigration and what 2008 candidate the Conservatives want to represent them. (She said the top 3 candidates are not acceptable to conservatives – they really like Duncan Hunter.)
Poor work by Allison Stewart. She should get someone to respond to the Libby story who actually knows about it and has an opinion… someone like Jane, Marcy, or Christy would be a good start!
Topanga-lib @ 42
This doesn’t surprise me at all. I sent several letters to the NYT during the Judy Miller scandal but I don’t recall seeing anything but fawning praise for our intrepid press heroine in the letters section. All praise and not one letter expressing even the mildest displeasure?! Incredible. Shortly afterwards, I dropped my subscription.
MariaSquared @
27
And I think Juror #9 had the hots for Juror #10. Otherwise, why would you describe this wishy-washyness as ‘intelligent,’ Charlie Brown?
LandOfTheFree @ 45
What about the other eight?
linda @ 13
Remember she lives in DC. Her appearances trolling for a pardon are also her apologia. I’m sure she’s very worried about attracting and retaining future big-money clients.
So sad.
Topanga-lib @ 42
Thanks very much.
Sounds to me like Harriet Grant has a plan….
Milbank
I’m trying not to hyperventilate but WHATTHEFUCKIS WRONGWITHTHESEPEOPLE?????
Sally @ 44
People can give her lots of books. That doesn’t mean she will read it. Better to give her a platform to make her case and hear arguments for and against.
Regarding *xyz’s call to action and getting Conyers involved – I’m more than happy to get involved after next Wednesday. I am incredibly busy until then. I live in MI (not in Conyer’s district, but he listens to all of us) and will be happy to help with whatever is needed, though obviously the legal work is not my forte!
Making a very public statement, a PR-savvy move like the rubber stamps FDL sent to Congress a while back, would help to turn the public perception away from “aw, Libby’s a nice guy who got played!” back to “this guy is a felon, his actions were directed by his boss, and we need to get to the bottom of the crimes committed.”
Yes you should be worried Jane. They’ll be offering you cocktail weenies next.
drive by from work – Hey Firedogs!
TRex – that very appropos shoutout from Max Blumenthal last night was the perfect antidote to the malaise @ chez cbl caused by all the Concern Troll juror noise – congrats Dino Boy
looseheadprop @ 43
I gave up on Rockefeller after he did no more than send a ‘note’ of concern to the VP office about the whole NSA wiretapping deal. He’s got no more huevos than the rest. It’s a shame he holds the positions he does. He should step out of the way if he can’t lend a hand.
You know, I’m just as pleased and congratulatory that you folks are being recognized for your innovation and excellence. I just think, damn, do you have to ALSO be ABSOLUTE HOT BABES at the same time? I mean, here I am trying to be a modern twenty-first century male and appreciate you for intelligence, drive, professionalism and character, and here you are being all hot and attractive and everything! Help a brother out!
Can’t you, I dunno, bitchify yourselves up or get all schoolmarm or something? I mean, look at Janet Reno, look at Madeline Albright, look at Bella Abzug* for crissakes! Here were women who knew how to kick sexism’s ass while presenting a countenance that frankly said “I’m gonna kick your ass,” so we knew what was coming.
You guys, you’re just giving us a mixed message – that you’re leaders and innovators, while at the same time you’re three-dimensional, accessable, real human women.
I just don’t know if modern males like me are ready for that kind of mixed message, you know?
*I would have included Helen Thomas in this list, but frankly she was quite the babe in her day, too…
Sparkles the Iguana @
5
That’s a post.
Here’s one my favorite exchanges between Juror 10 and Tweety on Hardball last night:
Tweety is not very good with metaphors…
punaise @ 18
Occam’s Razor in practice
What happened to this week’s picture of Shooter and Lieberman at the Capitol Republican luncheon they attended together?
I have a caption for it: “Vice President Cheney shows Senator Lieberman newly declassified steps to the traditional Republican ‘Scooting-around-justice’ dance.”
The article with the photo might also have included this:
“A senior White House official, speaking on the condition of amnesia because of the recent conviction of Libby, said that Lieberman said that “the dance isn’t all that difficult, once you stay the course.’ The official also reported that, Cheney, in response to Lieberman’s comment, cocked his head sideways and said ‘Don’t tell anybody that I told you so.’ Adding ‘Come on, Joe, I’ll show you some other steps that’ll improve your credibility.’”
Love to Jane, Marcy, Christy, the beautiful ladies of the lake, AND to Helen Thomas.
Albatross @ 58
Marcy looks like she’s trying to help you, man, with that bookish choice of eyeware but fact remains that cogent speech, well reasoned opinion (and a darn cute little smerk) are just too sexy for words. I join you in being lost to the collective charms of the Ladies of the Lake.
Great snark, Jane. What drives wingnuttia crazy is facts. No matter how they spin it, Iraq is a disaster, New Orleans was underwater, and Scooter got convicted. In their attempts to do everything but acknowledge these realities, they self-destruct in a haze of increasingly stupid lies and overblown, overheated rhetoric. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
It doesn’t last, of course. In a few days or a few weeks, they’ll be back not only spouting lies but more often than not the same lies. In the past, they could get away with this. The problem today is that the web has a memory and is waiting for them. Depite their best efforts and those of their stenographic enablers, the truth seeps out into the wider society and is picked up on by the electorate. Bummer.
the tight-lipped Fitzgerald drives them apeshit, but that is the law.
Non sequiteur, but I see from my traffic stats that most readers here won’t follow the link to see for themselves.
Just to sample one of my problems with Fitzgerald – in a letter to defense in Dec 2005 negotiating discovery, he named the five reporters who had received a Plame leak, then added this:
We also advise you that we understand that reporter John Dickerson of Time magazine discussed the trip by Mr. Wilson with government officials at some time on July 11 or after, subsequent to Mr. Cooper learning about Mr. Wilson’s wife. Any conversations involving Mr. Dickerson likely took place in Africa and occurred after July 11.
Why no mention of David Gregory, who received the same leak at the same time (or didn’t – Dickerson denies it)?
Is that, hmm, ethical? I would think a prosecutor ought to tell the truth in discovery, but perhaps opinions vary.
And what this has to do with Ken Starr, or in being tight-lipped, absolutely eludes me.
Joe Buck @
31
Fitzgerald has been saying the investigation is over since the fall of 2004. He’s known since then what happened, the past two and a half years have been spent proving it.
He also said if new information comes to light (i.e., from someone he has convicted) he will certainly pursue it. That is his “day job.” I’d love to see Cheney out as much or more than the next person, but I think some careful listening to a subtle prosecutor who doesn’t want to set off earthquakes is also called for.
Simp at #38: You nailed it. We so desparately need the “new media” to get bigger and bigger audiences. We need to get everyone we know to check out places like FDL, Air America Radio, Keith Olbermann, etc. to get the public more educated instead of being propaganda drones.
There was a list leaked awhile back that showed there is a coordinated effort by mega-business to not advertise with Air America. You think Pox News ever had this problem? Hardly, and given that, they still lost over $100 MILLION over their first few years.
It seems to me that blogs, AAR, and so on exploded in popularity of the last fews years, and now have sort of slowed a little in terms of audience growth (obviously FDL has been great recently with the trial and curious to see what the numbers will be after the dust settles). Without big ad budgets, it is incumbent on all of us to drive the numbers up. Our word-of-mouth marketing efforts will be crucial for the long-term success of the “people’s media.”
OhioBlue @ 49, I’m with you.
portia @ 53, there’s no indication arguments for and against will have any influence, either. The fact that she could find Libby guilty and then want him pardoned doesn’t speak well for her reasoning ability.
carolyn urban @ 55
Or sausages and quail wings…
maunga @
40
Mr. Kristol is Mr PNAC.
Hugh,
Their other problems is that it grows harder, day by day, to ignore the collosal failures, both domestic and foreign.
Total and abject failure has become an 800 lb gorilla.
The long-term effects of the disaster that has been this administration has just begun to be felt. The future is not so bright, nor is it anything that will be cured in the next 6 years.
Maybe we could give the members of Congress lacy embroidered handkerchiefs (for when they have their vapors about the Libby conviction). Not sure what should be embroidered on them, but I am sure someone here will have a very good idea.
portia.vz @
53
Use juror Dennis Collins tactic, “We didn’t try to convince them, we asked them to convince us.”
Jane, good post!
And Jim Boyce was what’s known in the NBA as “a makeup call”, after the wonderful spectacle of them using a gay porn star to bash librul students at Columbia…” :o)
Memo to Crazy Annie and CPAC:
“Depends on what you mean by “faggot”…” :)
Topanga-lib @ 42
bump
OhioBlue @ 49
it’s one thing to be a juror. it’s another thing to go on national TV and talk about it. whole different ambiance, as they say. she obviously was a follower more than a leader.
HotFlash @ 71
But weren’t his plans for rebuilding America’s defenses based upon a pure and unfettered love for this country as instilled in him by his father?
Couldn’t agree more with your Note to jurors Jane.
Albatross @ 58
you better go back to school and learn how to walk and chew gum at the same time ….
OOOPS How do I send a clean link?
Zippin’ by — Jane and Christy, your posts this morning should be required reading for the Libby jury.
What on earth are Jurors #9 and #10 thinking?????
This ain’t about them!!! and what they find “fun” or grist for a book deal. It’s about the legal process…which has only just begun.
Good on ya for your posts this morning. And jurors, STFU. Please!
Interesting: I just got an email from Ted Kennedy, and he’s doing spin on the GOP spin.
Kennedy doesn’t have the text of the full letter on his website, so here it is:
TeddySanFran @ 51
Wasn’t she paraphrasing Lady Macbeth?
As for jurors sympathetic to Scooter, you see this all the time when neighbors are interviewed about the axe murderer who lived down the street: “He was always such a quiet, young man, very polite and clean, very clean.”
More from Hardball:
WTF?
Imagine how different the landscape would be if these were all failures of a Democratic President. Could a Democratic President ever survive these self-inflicted calamities?
Hugh @ 84
Stockholm Syndrome?
linda @
13
Hold ON. That one was the lawyer?
Huh. First of all, she’s the one who had a conflict that almost got herself booted off the jury on the first day of deliberations. A lawyer from Baker Botts who had argued a case against (or with?) her showed up, for the first time. He shouldnt have been in the courtroom at all.
Also, she was all of a sudden taking notes during the Defense close. As if she wanted to get him off.
It stinks a little.
Biodun @ 85
Somebody posted this earlier: March 19th Time Mag Cover
johnSwifty @
11
Bill Kristol is a twerp. He is not confused. He can look you right in the face, smile, and tell you lies till your head explodes. That’s not confusion, that’s cognitive dissonance, on your part.
Kristol’s sense of entitlement is exceeded only by the tightness of his rectal muscles ……
Albatross @
58
cold shower, dude! it is on you to take us seriously regardless of what sets off your synapses
Could it be that Fox is SCARED of sponsor pull-out? We’ve quickly demonstrated that money/popularity can be whipped away from AnnC, and they’re afraid the same will happen to them?
emptywheel @ 88
Yes, She is the lawyer, as I understand it.
Thanks for the insight on her behavior.
Wow, what a difference it makes to have you, Jane and Christy in the courtroom.
johnSwifty @ 87
No its just that most people have a hollywood/prime time tv view of what a criminal “should” look like. Criminals look mean and nasty and dirty and shiftless, are often of a minority ethnic or racial group, are uneducated and don’t speak an educated english, and they have creepy looking friends and girlfriends. Libby looked like, well, them and their families and neighbors. Notice how Harriet Grant wore the same coat and scarf every single day? It made her seem ordinairy (its hard to believe that she really own only one coat), like them. Etc.
You have to factor in to the willingness of jurors to see a pardon, the fact that they saw a whole parade of sleazeballs who seemed to have done worse: Rove & Fleischer & Novak all come to mind.
It makes someone very cynical about the process to sit through a trial where all those names and their actions are bandied about, with the knowledge that they are all walking, and not question ‘why not this guy?’
There have been a lot of positives from the Libby trial, but when you peel back the layers, instilling faith in the judicial system racked up as many negatives as positives.
“Where was Rove?” was a pretty legitimate question and its sad that, for whatever reasons, the Prosecutor couldn’t answer that question. But it hangs out there as a legitimate question and the cloud isn’t just over the OVP or WH, it’s over the DOJ and Judicial system as well. The Special Prosecutor’s investigation showed some early signs of being able to remove that cloud, but the public pereption is that Rove managed to walk off, that Fleischer managed to walk, and that Armitae managed to walk and that’s not reassuring to many people.
Add the now exposed handling (tip of the iceberg perhaps) of USAttys and the cloud becomes clouds and they gather.
Not that many are paying attention, but you know also have mistranslated summaries tendered to the court by DOJ in terrorist trials – mistranslated to the point of adding in all kinds of incriminating statements that just do not exist in the actual conversations.
This DOJ has managed to get a judge to accept as valid arrest warrants based on tortured testimony. Some of the highest Justice officials in the country signing off on sending persons in their custody overseas, to Syria and elsewhere, for torture and where the facts, such as in the Arar case, are clear and undisputed, you have other Justice officials submit state secrets filings to both prevent the criminals within DOJ from being brought to any kind of justice and to allow the process to continue.
You have DOJ going before the highest courts of this country and arguing to the court that the US never engages in abuse and torture – while pictures o Abu Ghraib and internal reports about the Geneva Conventions violations at the So. Car. brig sit on a desk – their revelations kept from the court and lawyers involved silent about their contents.
You have floods of reports from interrogators about the mistreatment and abuse of “detainees” and floods of information going to DOJ about the innocence of many of the “detainees” and yet still, DOJ goes to court time after time to cover up with states secrets the crimes authorized by the chief Exeutive and by DOJ itself, and AGs, Dep AGs, and OLC in particular.
Why shouldn’t Karl Rove walk? What AG or AGs COS or Dep AG or their staff or DOJ lawyer who has lied or misrepresented facts to the court or to the American public in press conferences or public statements – where is the accountability for any of them?
It doesn’t exist. Instead, what exists are corporate payoffs to those who committed crimes and covered them up for this President. Why shouldn’t Libby walk? DOJ has guaranteed that each of their own will walk.
Fitzgerald forgot to mention the worst of the clouds.
Dan Froomkin makes a very valuable point. “… no executive of any company would be allowed by his shareholders to remain mum on a top aide’s indictment — not to mention conviction. He’d be fired.” If I remember correctly all the way back to 2000, the biggest justification Bush had for his lack of experience for the presidency was the “corporate card.” As in: “Your assessment of my lack of experience is correct, but I will run the White House on the corporate model. I will hire highly qualified people, take their advice, and be responsible for their actions.”
In other words, he’d be the CEO of the USA, not “The Decider.” I’ve got news for him. The corporate model calls for his immediate ouster.
emptywheel @ 88
She’s not a member of the DC Bar…
http://www.dcbar.org/find_a_member/index.cfm
Tom Maguire @
66
I don’t know Tom (as someone who did follow the link). You think maybe they did speak to Gregory and Ari had oversold what he said to journalists? Dickerson sure thinks so. At some point, I’ll do a big smackdown of your Andrea Mitchell stuff, too. Libby’s team had the ability to call both Gregory and Mitchell; they chose not to do so (and LIbby’s team withdrew their request for Mitchell’s notes, just when they had a shot at them). You might think about why that is.
But for a guy trumpeting honesty, I don’t see how you make so many mentions of Russert without noting that Libby called Russert just when it became clear that Russert would get subpoenaed. You want suspicious, I call that suspicious. You want a reason why Russert fought testimony, you might look to what Libby’s lawyer told him (same guy who tried to tell Judy not to testify unless she’d corroborate Libby’s story).
Truth goes two ways, you know.
Tom Maguire @ 66 — a trrrrroll i’faith! Read it all and weep, Mister. At least you appear more literate than Al et al. Do you you know about Herbert spencer? The man who wrote about “…contempt prior to investigation”?
JohnSwifty 78 and HotFlash 71 Right on! A Real Patriot. He is prepared to sell the US down for his messianic vision. “We have a mission……. look here.” These are W Kristol’s people.
http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm
Kristol’s sense of entitlement is inherited from his parents: Irving Kristol and Gertrude Himmelfarb.
fahrender @ 90
I’m playing Devil’s Advocate, of course. If I were a religious person, I would say he is the Anti-Christ. As I’m not, referring to him as Damien is nothing more than an insult to Hesse.
No, I think he’s as evil as they come. He’s the drum beater and doesn’t even have the guts to lead; styles himself a backstage puppetmaster.
There are some very interesting clips on youTube were he is confronted directly. I won’t go off on my usual rant about how he, personally, flew the planes into the world trade center; but I will offer that part of his particular brand of evil allows him to be the greatest opportunist at the expense of other’s suffering since the dawn of human civilization.
emptywheel @ 98
Emptywheel Shoots! She Scores Again!!!! The crowd goes wild!!!
twolf1 @
89
Tweety pressed her hard to say something regarding Cheney but she was not going there. In fact, I think these jurors are more than a little fearful. They know how this administration treats its critics and they don’t want to lose their livelihoods over it. Juror #10’s husband might suddenly get fired for ‘performance issues’. It must be very scary to be a little no one on TV asking to analyze the VPs culpability. No wonder she was evasive.
Jane Hamsher @
67
Fitz is like Colombo, in slow motion …..
“Oh, I almost forgot. Just one more thing …..”
I don’t think Ann Redington is an attorney, rather she works as a comptroller for a law firm. See the jury graphic at the NY Times.
I agree portia @ 103. There may be fear of retaliation.
AZ 98 NO she does not “Shoot” she took the ball on touch on her own goal line and she went the length of the field, shrugging off 15 tackles and out-sprinting Jonah Lomu to touch the ball down under the posts. The lady plays a real game.
Woodhall Hollow @ 105
The lawyer is the one who works at Consumer Protection Agency.
AZ @ 102 — I mean, Sorry!
Tom Maguire: It’s non sequitur, not “non sequiteur.” Hope that helps!
Woodhall Hollow @ 105
The lady said was she is voyeur and that desribes the hotel sales person who like celebraty gossip.
maunga @ 107
Actually, I retired from that game a decade ago.
It’d be sprinting the down field, skying my defender in the endzone, and pulling the disc down for a score.
If only I weren’t so short.
Tom Maguire doesn’t agree with most FDLers, but not correct to call him a troll.
MoDo on Denis Collins on Scooter and Grant:
Should someone be scared?
Tithonia @ 113
I agree, while I don’t get his logic vs a vs Fitz & Starr, he doesn’t come over and attack people personally. I give him some credit for sticking his toes into the water here, and has expressed gratitued to FDL for the live blogging. And he doesn’t personally slap down the FDLers who comment on his site.
EW, so a decade ago is about the right time for you to be out-running Jonah Lomu! Mind you, with that size and that speed, most of us would be out-running him in sheer terror, eh!
“the alleged wife!” LOL. At least they got “the wife” joke!
maunga @ 117
I had no terror when I played rugby, even the year I played with no health insurance (boy was that DUMB).
Terror is what turned me into an ultimate player.
Instead of rubber stamps…..
How about a mug with a CIA logo on one side, Dick Cheney’s name on the other, with a very promenant hole in it.
:)
In todays WP chat, Dana Priest once again says Valarie Plame was covert.
bonkers @ 110
’tis true, and we can respect him for matter-of-factly identifying himself at a place where he knew he would find precious few, if any, like minds.
EW 119 Well mosdt women when it comes right down to it stand up to terror better than a lot of us.
It shows my age when I say that when the 2nd row who was the Lions captain in 1963 was cutting me off as I legged it (Wing!) down the field I fairly flew in terror that the bloody giant would cut me off…… He did and it took them 10 minutes to scrape me off the game going on on the next field.
mui @ 115
I’m hoping they meant the cheney group
From 98: You think maybe they did speak to Gregory and Ari had oversold what he said to journalists?
Huh? Maybe if we had some evidence, for starters; secondly, if the prosecution didn’t believe Ari, why cite Dickerson at all; third, if Gregory “talked” to them, where is the NBC News announcement or discovery to the defense?
At some point, I’ll do a big smackdown of your Andrea Mitchell stuff, too.
Bring it. It’s been months now, IIRC. But I may be having a Libby moment.
Libby’s team had the ability to call both Gregory and Mitchell; they chose not to do so (and LIbby’s team withdrew their request for Mitchell’s notes, just when they had a shot at them). You might think about why that is.
It is the job of the defense to introduce reasonable doubt, not mount an independent investigation. But I welcome your theories as to why neither Dickerson nor Gregory were called by Fitzgerald; for a guy ostensibly running a leak investigation, who was mighty incurious about Ari’s leaks. (I think Fitzgerald didn’t want to further undermine Fleischer after he washed out on Pincus, but that is just me).
But for a guy trumpeting honesty, I don’t see how you make so many mentions of Russert without noting that Libby called Russert just when it became clear that Russert would get subpoenaed.
I’m not following – I presume you are not arguing that it is OK for Fitzgerald to file false affidavits and offer phony discovery letters when he is going after perjurers (that would be really tough on the legal system if he were going after a murderer…)
But I can’t imagine your actual point. Is it that Libby is a liar? I thought we were talking about tight-lipped Fitzgerald.
I’m going to take Fitz at his word and assume that he’s done. I don’t see Libby plea bargaining at this point- he knew the evidence against him and didn’t bargain when he could have saved himself a conviction.
I’d love to see more- but Fitz says it ain’t comin- and I can’t see where he has any motive to shade the truth.
morning all. Jane – I heard you on Stephanie Miller this morning, stellar, as always.
Tom Maguire doesn’t agree with most FDLers, but not correct to call him a troll.
Well, thank you – I’m actually a bit shorter and much less attractive, so I don’t mind being called a troll, but it’s nice to think my inner beauty can be appreciated.
Ken Starr’s ran an investigation that leaked like a sieve. He was also more than a little ethically challenged, which was pretty ironic considering. He continued to represent clients like Big Tobacco while conducting an investigation into a President who had major and often negative positions on their activities. He was also Richard Mellon Scaife’s poodle and accepted a post created for him by Scaife at Pepperdine. He later relinguished this under pressure but did eventually end up their anyway.
The law firm comptroller works at Hogan and Hartson? That’s possibly the most “connected” firm in D.C. They represent the biggest of the big businesses of the world, and are staffed by loads of lobbyists and other political insiders. Wonder if she’s knowingly helping out some friends in advancing the “poor, poor Scooter” PR campaign? They’re softening up public opinion for a potential pardon.
bonkers @ 130
Making up for all the days of work she missed?
No reporter pierced Fitzgerald’s effort. No one made her bones on this grand jury, as Sue Schmidt did on Starr’s. That is yet another reason why TradMed despises Fitz, and why they today trumpet Wells’ “success with the jury” in getting them to agree Scooter was the fallguy. It is an interesting definition of “success” but it fits TradMed’s narrative.
Karl Roves brother?
I thought I remembered a resemblance,
click here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rove
Jane Hamsher @ 67
Fitzgerald made it crystal clear, he WANTS congress to take this further, he has BESEECHES them to request his files, data, information and he WANTS to be called in to testify
now, I gotta tell you, they are not on this and that information is about to be lost to “classification”
if there were ever a roots project to get something done, I can think of nothing more important to date then getting congress to aquire the information the tall man has for Aemrica
Jeebus! I’m sorry!
[Mod Note; No problem. It’s been fixed.]
Tom @ 128
I was trying to be a little droll in saying “a troll i’faith”. I apologise, for if you are one, you are very strange: I have not met our sort of troll with humour…… perhaps I should say O grovel.
looseheadprop — didn’t start that 12-step just yet, did you?
Incoming. Feedback desired.
Typical MoDo:
(NYTimes link behind TimesSelect firewall.)
Who is the th’em’ that is going to get ‘expletive’d ? Sounds like a specific party in her sights, as she confides her hopes for revenge ?
Mods, delete my post. The URL is too long and busted the margins.
Karl Rove spotted at parade in SF.
johnSwifty @ 64
So, you guys understand the Fitz thing for us womenfolk, Dave Ehrenstein, Pach et al. GOOD.
This White House deliberately gave up one of our secret agents. That’s TREASON.
An agent who wasn’t just a ‘foot soldier’, but one who was responsible for a 300 man team, who’s mission was to find and stop the flow of WMDs on the black market.
They knew that as soon as Valerie Wilson was named, everyone who had used Brewster Jennings as cover was at risk. Everyone who worked there and anyone associated with them, was now a suspected CIA asset.
They closed our eye’s in the war against nuclear weapons and put brave people in harms way.
How many agents did we lose?
How many agents are missing?
This White House has done more damage to America’s undercover services, then any foreign enemy could ever have done.
It’s not about lying or covering up, it’s about TREASON and we need to be looking at it as such.
bellesouth @ 76
Please delete- I made a booboo Thanks
maunga @ 107
Did you know the origin of basketball? George Hook told us at a USARFU coaching clinic I once took that basketball originated in the US as a winter conditioning drill for rugby players who lived in climates where snow on the ground made winter rugby impossible.
Just my little trivia contribution for hte day (Oh, and George Hook was a wonderful rugby developement officer lent to US rugby by the Irish, I learned so much from him)
USARFU=United States Rugby Football Union
TeddySanFran @ 132
So whom does he consider Libby the fall guy for? Is he demanding that person be prosecuted? I suppose the party of dead enders no longer cares about the “rule of law” we heard so much about in the Clinton years.
Albatross at 58. Sounds like you are on a horny dilemma.
For Tom Maguire, about Dickerson…
Maybe he had another source beyond that supposed roadside mention by Ari Fleischer. Just a thought.
JoyB @ 141
I think Pach is rubbing off on me…Fitz looked good…DAMN GOOD; and that Chicago accent…oy veh! ;-}
Tom Maguire @ 125
You have this remarkable habit of believing your absence of evidence is stronger than common sense. You have never had evidence to support your Mitchell charges, your Russert charges, most of your “theories.” I’m just suggesting there are very SIMPLE explanations that you like to overlook in the face of your overwhelming lack of evidence.
As to the “evidence” of a Gregory conversation? You might look to the same place as they put the announcement abotu Russert talking to FBI in Fall 2003. We don’t get such announcements every time.
I don’t know that they spoke with him–but then neither do you know that they didn’t speak with him. I should think the Dickerson explanation–as a way of saying there was a conversation that didn’t apparently include a leak, actually hurts your argument.
Oh, it hasn’t. I really thought your Mitchell points were fair until the Defense acted in the way it did. The main point is, the defense chose not to call Andrea Mitchell, even though they were sure she got a leak. They chose not to get her notes, just as it became clear they could have them. They likely know what Libby said to her on July 8. You want evidence? That strikes me as evidence that they did not want her unless they could use her for self-impeachment. THey certainly didn’t want her “truth.”
Well, Ari’s leaks couldn’t qualify him for IIPA, since Libby was so sloppy in the way he informed him of the matter. On the other hand, Libby COULD have been found guilty of IIPA, depending on what he said to Judy. You keep whining about underlying crime. Ari couldn’t have been guilty of IIPA, LIbby could have. SImple difference.
But as to your independent investigation theory. Hmm. Gregory and Mitchell were central to Wells’ opening. But he didn’t call them. Instead, he called a bunch of people–Sanger, Woodward, Thomas, etc–who were safe. Why not Mitchell? Again, it’s pretty clear they didn’t think they’d help.
No. You keep babblng on and on about how suspicious Russert’s fight against testifying is, which is the basis (I might call it “evidence” if I were more generous) for your allegation that Fitz filed a false affadavit. But in every one of those discussions, you ignore a very simple explanation, one that has an exact parallel with Judy. Libby contacted Russert in the same manner as he did Judy, at an equivalent time. It is not unreasonable to assume he acted in teh same way–that is, telling Russert he shouldn’t testify if he couldnt’ corroborate Libby’s story.
Given the absnece of real evidence behind the rest of your allegations, I’d think someone smart as you would start where teh evidence is–in another Libby attempt to coach a witness.
But I guess you don’t want to go there, do you?
Sophist @ 138
Don’t know why we would assume she means Cheney, Rove, et al. For all we know she could mean the Wilsons. After all, if Amb. Wilson hadn’t written that op ed piece, none of this would have happened, right? It wouldn’t have been necessary to discredit him and ruin his wife’s career if he’d just kept his mouth shut like he was supposed to. I’m just saying that may be a way a wife might look at it if her husband is going to jail, especially if there is also a civil lawsuit involved.
Speaking of semantic illusions, an example came to mind. Consider this sentence:
Looseheadprop supports hookers.
Only people familiar with, or who play, rugby will get the precise meaning of that sentence.
Everyone else will think they know the meaning. They would be suffering from semantic illusion.
I for one do think it is trollish to take one small and fairly tangential detail, the precise facts of which no one outside Team Libby and Fitzgerald can know, and spin it into an attempted demolition of the whole of the prosecution’s case.
Information about Dickerson and Gregory was introduced at trial. If there had been an error in discovery or in any other way, it is pretty clear that the defense would have brought it up at the time. They didn’t.
Beyond this, numerous witnesses, reporters, government employees, employees in Cheney’s own office sank Scooter. Get over it.
Why can’t Fitz be more like Ken Starr? You know, I wondered the same thing over a year and a half ago…
Get copies of Marcy’s book to every single juror stat!
At least then they’d realize what an important role they’ve played here and wouldn’t be so silly about being okay with a pardon.
Good article on the Inglesias, Wilson, Domenici affair in the LA Times. The last 4 paragraphs are a telegraph to others in the REpublican Party who might be thinking of putting ethics before party loyalty:
This is a story that needs to be kept alive. And I would think that every time the Fall Guy meme is repeated, there is going to be less and less sympathy for Libby in the WH. And so the question will be, who has more influence over Bush, Rove or Cheney.
Gnome de Plume @ 18
I just heard Ed Schultz replay a small part of a radio interview with Congressman Conyers yesterday. Asked about “going further” or the like, Mr. Conyers spoke about what a full plate he has given that the Dems have not been in control for 12 years and all that needs to be looked into. ???????
looseheadprop @ 145 — Ah ma petite choux fleur…… (Did you manage not to get any?) We always thought Downunder in Black Country that basketball was amended from our girls’ game netball, just as baseball is a game our girls play until they are twelve or so and start playing grown-ups’ games: it is called Rounders when they play it.
Seriously, they made me play basketball in the army, being tallish and I think it is the most athletic and exhausting game there is. It is indicative that so often when athletes from different disciplines compete with each other it is the boxers and basketball players who win.
I feel sorry for Mr. Emptywheel.
The poor guy don’t have a chance arguing with Marcie.
LOL!
MariaSquared @ 151
who knows with this gang, maybe they’re gonna get the jurors that convicted him.
recovering lurker @ 156
yep, that whinging ticked me off no end. let us see if he does indeed contact Ed today as he promised.
emptywheel @ 149
Sic ‘em, EW!
Wells said a lot of stuff at opening which didn’t come to pass and wouldn’t you say that hurt his case?
Walton certainly didn’t seem pleased that many decisions by the court, predicated on the defendant testifying, might have been given a different consideration.
And, ultimately, Sunday morning quarterbacking (the rugby kind) is moot to destroying Fitz’s argument; maybe Tom didn’t notice but there were convictions on 4 out of 5 counts.
recovering lurker @ 157
This morning Jim Moran (D-VA) said there would be no impeachment.
Walton called Fitzgerald “the most scrupulous prosecutor I have ever had before me”, btw. I know some people would like to ignore that but it is true.
And if you read Walton’s memorandum – you can see what he thought of the Wells. It isn’t pretty.
But hey, the wingnuts never let reality intrude do they? To them Valarie Wilson will never be classified, Joe Wilson will never be right about yellowcake or uranium, and the Iraq war is going oh so well …
Yikes! Yowieee! Ouch!
Okay, I’ll stop. But, hey, I never watch FOX news. Not in airports, or supermarkets and definitely not at home. But, you know, I’m a recent newfound swooner for FDL. So I looked. It’s much much worse than I imagined. Beyond spin, this is witch-hunting of the foulest sort.
You all know that already, but nevertheless, cry Blech. cry Agkkk. Oh, and did I say, yikes?
They don’t think FDL is worth more than a snicker. They’re wrong, of course; they’ll find out soon enough. Because what you guys did at Prettyman changed more than even we realize.
Good thing we’re all so feisty.
Woodhall Hollow @ 156
Kennedy is a schmuck. Wilson and Dominici are hate by a good portion of the population here in NM. Wilson barely won, and Pete may not make it ext time, if he runs
johnSwifty @ 162
Hey! No reality allowed, man. You are playing unfair.
angie @ 160
Perhaps Mr. Conyers needs to be reminded that there are no sacred cows. He sits at the will of the people and a concerted effort to relieve him of office will clear his plate for him nicely. What does he propose is more important at this juncture, I wonder?
Hugh @ 84
Indeed, she was paraphrasing, but not Lady Macbeth.
I don’t know how anyone else here would feel, but if I had to serve on the jury of a trial with that kind of profile, my first impulse would be to STFU so I could have some semblance of my daily routine once it was over.
I realize this is the age of “the get”, but really, show a bit of decorum. Please.
-S
Whoa. Maguire has proven that Fitz “filed false affidavits and offered phony discovery letters”?!? Shit. I guess the Gambinos, Omar Abdel Rahman, and the perpetrators of the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa should all go free. Surely Fitz played some of his shady tricks in those cases as well. I guess he is just an over-zealous prosecutor after all. He’s a menace to America! Sigh….
Maybe Maguire could follow ew’s lead and write a book? He could call it…
“The Lobotomy of De’ Fitz”
recovering lurker @ 156
we need a SPECIAL select committee (see watergate)- fully funded and staffed – to do this investigation.
conyers may be correct in that his committee staff do have their plates full. so let’s get more staff – with empty plates and deep pockets.
Elliott @ 163
Well, I can see his logic. While Bush has f*cked over the country for the last 6 years, the iron rule still holds. No blow job, no impeachment.
johnSwifty — Conyers changed the subject from investigations wrt this to voting rights and Ed kept redirecting him back saying that yep, voting rights are important but Americans want to get to the bottom of this and it is ultimately about lying us into war.
Woodhall Hollow @ 156
sounds like Paul Kennedy needs to go listen to Lewis Black explain how average people should take getting SCREWED by fuckwad’s minions ……
I played through the shout-out on the YouTube, and had to hit pause shortly thereafter for the sake of my blood pressure. Now I’ve got a freeze-frame of a smirky Fox commentator on my screen. :-( The smirks really annoy me — how can anyone believe they’re watching actual news when everyone in sight is smirking like a gossiping high-schooler?
Hey: ComPost was mine! I gave it to TRex. Heh.
UPDATE: Oops. I see TRex already had this covered up top. He-ey!
angie @ 173
You’d think a guy relegated to holding hearings in a basement broom closet would have a little more incentive to strike back. Not that it would be justification for the way he was treated, but you gotta think that’s just a normal human response (not everyone can be the stoic Fitz, type). It really stinks, to me, on both a human and a philosophical level that John Conyers isn’t chomping at the bit. I mean it REALLY stinks. Come on man, at least pretend you care!
bonkers @ 171
Dude. Clarice Feldman who posts at JOM and the American Thinker does think Fitz is guilty of prosecutorial misconduct because he threw the Blind Sheik in jail for the first World Trade Center Bombings. Why? ‘Cause she thinks those attacks were carried out by Iraqi agents – not Al Queda. Fitz and the 9/11 commission covered that fact up, doncha know.
TRex @
16
Elliott @ 163
I’m going to have to give my congressman a stern talking-to…
emptywheel at #149 responds to Tom Maguire:
“You have this remarkable habit of believing your absence of evidence is stronger than common sense.”
The right, and their accessories like Fred Hiatt, in every apology they make for the administration, whether it be in the Libby matter or some other scandal, employ this tactic. They argue like defense attorneys, as if forums like this were a court of law and their interlocutors were members of a jury. Were we members of a jury, we would be honor bound to entertain certain of the doubts a McGuire sows, but we’re not, and that standard of evidence he’s demanding is inappropriately high. Now, alas, the matter is in the political arena, and we’re asked to make sensible decisions as informed citizens as to the guilt of people like Cheney — in doing this we must look at the larger context, of which the jury was so scrupulously shielded from.
People like him, when they play by this set of rules, are arguing in bad faith.
Sometimes, Larry O’Donnell, HuffPost blogger, can be, shall we say, daft. On Countdown with an inept Alison Stewart, sub’ing for KO and who is no Keith:
He speaks so imperiously, like he really knows what he’s talking about.
johnSwifty @ 178
It may just be wishful thinking, but . . . It seemed to me that Conyers was implying that he needed to be certain that a hearing would not interfere with any legal proceedings about which we do not know. I hope. I hope.
Sorry if this is old news. Waxman has scheduled a hearing on the plame affair for March 16.
Waxman Hearing Link
If they set up a select committee to investigate, maybe they can get Lam et al to help them.
Hugh @ 173
if people all over this country start doing what the people of Vermont are doing Mr. Moran can be persuaded to change his mind. there is more than one way to skin a pole cat or a weasel, or a fat, arrogant fascist pig.
Patrick Kennedy @ 183
sweeeeeeeet! yay.
thank you very much Patrick and Henry Waxman!
I haven’t seen this noted here, and would like to give Juan Cole a shoutout for this effort on the Libbey/plame/yellowcake affair.
With pictures!
Patrick Kennedy @ 185
“In addition, the Committee today sent a letter to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald commending him for his investigation and requesting a meeting to discuss testimony by Mr. Fitzgerald before the Committee.”
HotDiggetyDog!
maunga @ 158
No, I do not have cauliflower ear. Giggling. I do have a broken nose, if it makes you feel any better
Hugh @ 173
I stand by earlier offer, as repulsive as it may be: I WILL BLOW HIM IF IT MEANS IMPEACHMENT. You have no idea how hard that is to say for a self respecting gay man
Patrick Kennedy @ 185
Yeehah! (E-mailed Waxman just yesterday and suggested a subpoena under 6(e)whatever.)
yellowsnapdragon @ 183
I hope you’re right, too. If that’s the case then Selise’s call for Special Committees needs to be taken up. Theres a whole truckload of corruption out there. Just reading Hugh’s list is daunting and I’d hate to be responsible for investigating one tenth of it — but then again, I didn’t run for public office and it isn’t my sworn responsibility.
For those who did run for office, those for whom it is their sworn responsibility, I’d like to respectfully suggest you pull your collective heads out of your asses and get busy.
The woman who answered the phone in Conyers’ Trenton office told me that “there’s no question” that he will pursue the CIA leak. I told her that’s not the message we’re getting.
The Democratic leadership needs to understand that this is a watershed moment. If the legal ramifications of the GOP’s criminal behavior are not investigated, they will rise from the dead, again – like they did in 1980 – to begin anew their Republican Reign of Terror.
If the Democrats don’t pursue the Niger forgeries, the outing of Plame, and the compromise of Brewster Jennings — there will be hordes of disaffected Democratic voters next year, and the field will be ripe for a vote-splitting third-party candidate who appeals to that disaffection, and the Republican Reign of Terror will continue.
jeffreyw @ 189
Yeah. Those are great pictures. Poor Colin Powell. And Darth looks like Darth, as usual.
Here’s Waxman’s letter to Fitzgerald
http://oversight.house.gov/Doc…..-02108.pdf
annx 179: Wow. It all makes so much sense. The son of a NYC doorman, who also worked as a doorman, then excelled through highly respected universities, and on to develop a highly successful track record as a US attorney is part of a conspiracy to destroy his hometown and America. Duh, why didn’t I see it all before?!?
And of course the son of a former CIA director and former Prez, and grandson of one of Hitler’s financiers, he’s not part of any sort of conspiracy whatsoever. In fact, he is the victim of a witchhunt by the America-hating former doorman. It’s elementary, Dear Watson!
Patrick Kennedy @ 184
WAXMAN!
Patrick Kennedy @ 185
YEAH HENRY!!! That news just made my day!!! I so proud to be in his district. – Called his office on Fitzmas demanding IMPEACHMENT and you could hear them smile.
Patrick Kennedy @
185
Yowza!!
fahrender @ 175
Rove does. I’m sure of it and willing to offer odds in a betting pool.
AMong other things. Cheney issues his edict about how the WH was not going to protect one staffer (Rove) at the expense of the guy who stuck his neck in the meat grinder (Libby) and guess what happened?
Not what Cheney wanted. What Rove wanted.
If Rayne succeds she will find Rove’s fingerprints on every dirty hiring or firing in DOJsince the start of the SHrubya admin.
Cutting the “nuts” off DOJ was part and parcel of the criminal enterprises MO. If law enforcement is corrupt and or emascualted, the criminals can run free.
It’s like something out of a western movie
Cannot wait till Waxman gets a hold of this. Oh, happy, happy day. Thank God we took back Congress.
AZ Matt @ 196
After reading that, I have two thoughts: One, I need a tissue; two, Henry needs one of TRex’s Watermans.
AZ Matt @ 197
Hell yeah! Go Henry, Go Henry!
Tom Davis though…don’t turn your back on that dude…
two beers @ 201
I’m calling Waxman’s office right now to offer support, approval and gratitude.
I encourage everyone else to do likewise.
Here’s Waxman’s DC number: (202) 225-3976
Thanks!
looseheadprop @ 201
Do not forsake me, oh my darling…
annx @ 179
Ah, Clarice. She plays too much bridge with Michael Ledeen ……
191 —- What, you boxed too? Did Jane play too? Is that how you all found serendipity? Guys just floppy and saggy as they get older, but le rugbi seems to make you ladies even more delectable; it is just rough on us to have to suffer.
To sterner things. To you Michiganers….. is Conyers like so many of our reps and responds only to Michigan people, despite the fact he has a National function as a Chairman? I had difficulty in getting an Email to Pelosi — the site was prepared to take emails and messages only from her constituents in California, and not from me as Speaker therefore representing all of us.
I have a friend who broke her nose while playing rugby. 20 years later she got rear ended while not wearing her seat belt and broke her nose again, but this time insurance paid for the nose job to remove the bump on her first break. Afterwards she regretted it, as she thought she looked more interesting with the bump!
JayAckroyd,
Wow. What a great idea. You are really providing a wonderful servoce.
Patrick Kennedy @ 185
This is GREAT NEWS! I cannot stop going to that page and just looking at it over and over. Yipee!!
Just called Waxman and spoke with a polite young man. I ended the conversation stating that I hoped the good Congressman’s hearings are the start of an impeachment movement. He said “absolutely.” Right on, young man!
Woodhall Hollow @ 210
I know it sounds shallow, but my nose job was the best surgery I’ve had so far. Had trouble breathing, but mainly cosmetic
Here is my favorite part of the letter:
“The identity of undercover CIA operatives is supposed to be one of the most closely guarded national security secrets. There are a host of adminishative requirements designed to safeguard this type of information from disclosure. Yet the trial proceedings raise questions about whether senior White House officials, including the Vice President and Senior Advisor to the President Karl Rove, complied with the requirements governing the handling of classified information. They also raise questions about whether the White House took appropriate remedial action following the leak and whether the existing requirements are sufficient to protect against future leaks. Your perspective on these matters is important.
” After the verdict was announced yesterday, one juror expressed the view that former Chief of Staff to the Vice President Lewis “Scooter” Libby was only a”fall guy.” This juror’s views encapsulated questions that many in Congress and the public have about whether the ultimate responsibility for the outing of Ms. Wilson rests with more senior officials in the White House. “
Well put, Henry!!!!
Thank God somebody gets it!!!!
MSNBC has just announced that Waxman is going to hold hearing on the leak. He plans on calling Plame.
WAXMAN !
Waxman’s efforts so far, and in the future we can assume, are such a great example of why every election is so important. Fitz would be riding off into the sunset with a Repub in charge. The ‘06 elections are allowing this to happen, and the netroots played a huge role in the result as we all know. Now let’s keep it going! Get every friend, relative or co-worker to check out FDL, Air America Radio, KO, and so on. We still have a lot of work to do.
(obviously, we still need to see if anything happens from Waxman’s meeting, but what a great first step!)
bellesouth @ 212
for those of us who didn’t follow the link (my bold):
pwrlght @ 215
Darth Cheneys bowels just spazzed in his bunker.
bellesouth @ 212
Ya, I have been doing the same.
LHP @ 202:
This, IMO, is where Harriet Grant’s “them” was directed.
Call made to Mr. Waxman’s office– the lady was very glad to pass on my choked- up message of gratitude, she said. She chuckled when I said that I have not been this happy since this past Tuesday or last November and that maybe we’ll finally get to the truth.
AZ Matt @ 197
Waxman is a true patriot. Patrick Fitgerald is a true patriot. It could be a winning combination.
Let’s get down on our knees and pray, or whatever appropriate energizing of the cosmos seems most appropriate to your sensibilities ……
Thisis the letter we wanted to see. Thank you Patrick Kennedy. BTW are you THE PAtrick Kennedy?
Woodhall Hollow 210
At least she had something to break; I have a lump of something like calcified bone and no membrane below — boxing and rugby, NOT rolled up bills!
Waxman allows me to stop obsessively sitting here and get on with pretended work.
We breathe again………… my broken record wants him to get into WHIGgery instantly because that is where my whisperers say he should be.
looseheadprop @ 225
Nope. I am just one of the many who have the same name as the famous congressman from the famous family.
looseheadprop @ 225
Teh Patrick Kennedy at Blue Climate
http://www.blueclimate.com/
Yowza! Jane, Christy, Marcy et al….you have more power than you knew!
Who knew you could force Pat Fitzgerald to “adopt” your theories about Plamegate? According to Rich Lowery, that’s exactly what you did. Okay, you and other “left wing bloggers.” Fitzgerald, according to him, had no plans to indict anyone, until he read the “liberal blogs”!
I cheered for your work as a whole on this issue, and particularly your work on the trial, but this??? Wow. Just WOW!
O/T: Looks like Tom Swan is back in action and I am glad for it. (to tell you the truth, I am a little jealous that he held Jane’s hand)
March17, Hartford Be there, or be square
http://www.CTcow.org
Julie @ 229
What? The only one who adopted anything I can see is when Wells decided to use the “scottish verdict” summation. We were coaching Wells!
angie @ 223
me too. (the choked up part). i love being able to call to say “thank you”.
Man, I hope Tom Maguire doesn’t get through to Waxman! Henry will decide to investigate Fitz instead, who is the real treasoner as Maguire has proven.
Tom, if you’re still here, whatever you do, don’t contact Waxman’s office. Please! Can’t we have some fun, Tom?
looseheadprop @ 201
That is what I am thinking, in light of the alleged wife’s threat.
fahrender @ 224
I’m down with that! On today’s menu, I’d like to suggest a huge helping of prayer to the Zoroastrian god Mithras; god of Light and Wisdom. I will pray we can all crack forth from our cosmic egg and out of the darkness of the tunnel into the light of truth by the 25th of December this year (which just happens to be Mithras’s birthday).
I think I may cry.
I was emailing with Marcy this morning and Irepeated one of my favorite mantras:
Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
All I want it to turn over the rocks and let the sun shine on what’s underneath.
This is second phase rugby. The ball is being passed to another player who will advance it further down the field.
Echinrode to Comey, Comey to Fittzgerald, Fitzgerald to Waxman, Waxman to …..
Until eventually, the ball is carried into the end zone (actually “over the try line” in rugby speak)
11/7 changed everything.
mui @ 230
will waxman’s hearing be open to the public?
i just had a grand thought…. to go to DC the morning of the 16th for waxman’s hearing and see valerie wilson testify… then stay overnight and go the anti-war protest the next day.
what do you-all think? maybe a couple of us could share a hotel room to minimize the expense?
don’t know if this is just a pipe dream… but, i’m really tempted!
Alicia @
154
I find Fitzgerald’s lack of faith … disturbing.
;>)
OT: Hey, you teach at MI. Molto Bueno.
Time to revisit the Greatest Try of all Time
Ha-ha, Lawrence O’Donnell: WRONG!
fahrender @ 224
Hells yeah, Henry! Lived in your district for many yrs. & knew you’d go for it! Praise the lord, but pass this ammunition…
selise @ 238
Sounds like an excellant plant, but I like to stay on the home turf. There’s plenty of protesting to do outside Lieberliar’s office. Heh!
looseheadprop — okay, so now my letter to Conyers-Waxman is stale, given Waxman’s letter to Fitz.
What’s next? Does the Senate need to be engaged?
Maybe Levin as Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations? Or is this overkill?
(and I’m still working on those fingerprints…)
Ah spoof . . .Sounds like an excellant plant, I mean plan. Just ordered a Thompsen and morgan catalog. Horticulture porn.
FDL @ the Waxman Hearings?
angie @ 223
Angie, I called them too, the guy that answered my call got a laugh out of my, “Patrick Fitzgerald left a trail of bread crumbs the size of baguettes between Prettyman Courthouse and the front door of Congress!”
I thanked them profusely. I am just so thrilled by this news.
-S
mui @ 243
yeh, i was planning on participating in local action for the 17th (i went to DC for the january protest). but, if i’m already in DC on the 16th….
hmmm….. thinking….
Bustednuckles @ 159
Why should you feel sorry for him? It’s obvious that if they have a disagreement who is correct!
/snark
selise and Stratergerie– it was fun talking to them, eh?
lhp– thanks for the youtube– fantastic.
marcy on sam seder now here:
http://www.620kpoj.com/main.html
retirin’ in five @ 246
Hmmm I am picturing “all the people” wearing valentine’s day t-shirts from the Libby trial.
Just called Waxman’s office to give him my (also choked up) thanks and support. The young lady was very nice, and said she’d certainly pass along the message to the Congressman.
Thank God for Henry Waxman!
Lovely going-away gift for the Wilsons from THE Waxman. How does Christy say it? Yooohooo!
Rayne @ 244
I would work more thanone angle at a time. Levin yes, but I still like the Rockefeller angle b/c he can’t be grey mailed. Rocky is allowed to see any frackin thing he asks for
mui @ 251
No, I’m serious. I’d put up another fifty to extend the lease on Plamehouse.
Rayne @ 244
Don’t know if it is stale or can be tweaked. T’would be good if Waxman asked Fitz to make amotion to open up the GJ material. So, that it does nt fall on PJF to suggest it.
Not unlike the slaughtered USAs getting the courtesy of being subpeonaed , so they were obligated to talk.
You know “pull” instead of “push”
retirin’ in five @ 255
Actually sounds like good idea. But what about logistics. Supposing everyone is too tired.
i have a call in to my congressmember’s office about getting a couple of passes for the hearing… does anyone know about this – what is the correct procedure for members of the public to get passes?
i’d love to take my young nephew – i’ve been telling him about all about this case, and promising to bring him to DC to see the capitol.
The hearing is in a week. This is huge.
The press is letting Libby off easy – is it because they don’t want to shine the light into their own complicity as well?
http://www.opednews.com/articl…..a_deni.htm
looseheadprop @ 254
In any case, we need to do Intell–if for no other reason than to look at the discrepancies between the SSCI and what we saw come out in the trial.
Strategerie @ 247
(my bold)
eggsactly
LHP Absolutely, the best example of rugby to show anyone! (And I bat for the other lot, too.) What a pity it is that we now have all the bloody silly rules which make Union more or less identical to League….. Cliff Morgan’s commentary is the perfect voice….. and I saw him play in 1950, when Peter Jackson scored a pretty memorable try too.
In honor of Mr. Waxman’s move today:
Let the Sun Shine In, baby!
we can call C-SPAN now ( (202) 737-3220 ) – to make sure waxman’s hearing is on TV… so it can be watched real-time in our own homes.
woo-hoo…. i’m a happy camper now.
emptywheel @ 261
Marcy,
Perhaps Waxman and few others could benefit from copies of your book. Just a thought.
Alright youse firepups, break it up down here… the new thread’s been up for half an hour now!
Swopa @ 267
And there’s cookies!
Eggjelly…… isn’t Waxman a better Committee, because he can cover any inch of ground he likes?
Good gravy, I can’t keep up. By the time I get back here after picking at the fingerprints and come back here, you guys have already gone on ahead of me. ;-)
spoke to cspan – they wont know their programming for march 16th until march 15 – they asked we please stop calling them until then – or ck their website on the 15th
Strategerie @ 247
http://www.gabbly.com/firedoglake.com
Wil @ 191
Wil, you are a true Patriot!
Okay, I get it. It was all Jane and Christy’s fault! You left wing tyrants you!
; – )
perris @
134
According to Jason Leopold over at TruthOut, Congress may be Prepared to Act in Plame Affair after all.
Bob in HI
My Left nutmeg. Lieberman, Sam Fox v. John Kerry footage. It’s *unreal.*
thanks patrick kennedy and az matt!!!!!!!!!!
been waiting since the verdict, holding my breath…………waiting waiting waiting. knew it would take a few days for them to write their letters and such……dot their ‘i’s and cross their ‘t’s……..oh myyyyyyy.
((((WAXMAN))))
NOW i’m going to celebrate!!!!!!!!!
I could not watch that video after that shrill, intrusive, dense-as-a-brick woman and that horrible, stupid little man started talking (where does Fox find these people??). But it was a good reminder for me to continue avoiding Fox. Keeps the blood pressure down.
I will be contacting Waxman and Conyers and anyone else who can start the ball rolling to get all of the Prosecutor’s records and documents from the Libby trial and keep this mess front and center. The perjury and the obstruction were committed to cover-up the treasonous actions of the Bush admin., imho, and these actions need to be exposed. We can’t stop.
Froomkin now has some interesting speculation that Libby’s lawyers made a deal with the Whitehouse.
Did Libby Make a Deal?
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, March 8, 2007; 1:20 PM
“But then on Feb. 13, after barely two days of defense testimony, Libby’s team abruptly announced that neither Cheney nor Libby would take the stand. (See my Feb. 14 column, The Libby-Cheney Bummer.)
What happened in between? Why did Team Libby suddenly decide not to call such essential witnesses?”
“A possible hint comes today in the 14th paragraph of Peter Baker’s and Carol D. Leonnig’s Washington Post story about the fevered speculation regarding the prospect of Libby pardon:
“Despite the defense’s trial argument that Libby was made a scapegoat by the White House, aides and advisers said there is no anger toward him in the West Wing. Libby’s defense team reached out to an intermediary after its opening statement to reassure the White House about its strategy, according to a source close to the situation.”
Wow!
In what form did this reaching out take place? Was it two-way? Was Team Libby’s threat to attack Rove, call Cheney to the stand and potentially spill plenty of White House secrets just a bargaining chip in some sort of negotiation? Was their decision to rest their case in any way related to any promises from the White House?”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00879.html
Just a quick comment to remind bloggers that the use of the phrase “Got it?” is rarely persuasive. For instance, in the last paragraph of “Should I Worry,” to say to the jurors “Got it?” is not only flippant, but downright condescending. I would not engage in conversation with someone who flips me off with the phrase “Got it?” And I am a true blue life-long liberal.
Hey cool! According to the NRO smirkbot, Fitzgerald got the whole theory behind his prosecution from “leftist blogs!” Because, you know, he’s not really sharp enough to figure out a theory on his own. I bet Jane and Christy had no Idea how much power and influence they commanded!
Hugh Hewitt tried to earn his living today by mentioning JH, and calling her essentially, a nutbag. As if. Did anyone catch that.
From Ms. Wheeler at 150:
You have this remarkable habit of believing your absence of evidence is stronger than common sense.
I am declaring a Self Awareness Moment before I read any further.
I’m just suggesting there are very SIMPLE explanations that you like to overlook in the face of your overwhelming lack of evidence.
Sorry, one last Self Awareness Moment and I will press on. As the conversation unfolds, I suspect we will see that I am not alone in leaping from small hills of fact across great chasms of, well, emptiness.
Meanwhile, if you can stray back to the actual point for a moment – I don’t see any attempt by you to explain why Fitzgerald thought it was worth flagging Dickerson but not Gregory in his discovery letter to the defense. Your earlier guess, as I understood it, was that the prosecution investigated Gregory’s story (but not Dickerson’s) in a way that produced no paper trail or discoverable info. Hard to see how they could do that and stay within the rules.
My guess was that Fitzgerald chose to leave it out to protect Gregory and Russert. Which idea is simpler?
The main point is, the defense chose not to call Andrea Mitchell, even though they were sure she got a leak.
You should check the live-blogging – the opportunity to call her was quite restricted (unless the reporting is wrong.)
And that relates to Fitzgerald’s dubious affidavits and discovery how?
Well, Ari’s leaks couldn’t qualify him for IIPA, since Libby was so sloppy in the way he informed him of the matter.
Again, I exhort you to follow the trial on the fabulous FDL liveblog – Ari also learned about Ms. Plame from Dan Bartlett while paging through a classified CIA memo describing the Wislon trip.
Since the CIA memo in question is an attachment to the INR memo (also marked Top Secret), one might surmise that Ari saw the INR memo as well, but who can tell – either way, he was surrounded by classified info when he learned it from Bartlett – worth investigating?
On the other hand, Libby COULD have been found guilty of IIPA, depending on what he said to Judy. You keep whining about underlying crime. Ari couldn’t have been guilty of IIPA, LIbby could have. SImple difference.
Having been reminded of the Ari’s Bartlett chat, do you want to stand by that?
You keep babblng on and on about how suspicious Russert’s fight against testifying is, which is the basis (I might call it “evidence” if I were more generous) for your allegation that Fitz filed a false affadavit.
Whining, babbling – folks can judge for themselves who is doing what, I suppose; for myself, I figure that ad homninems are a sign of a collapsing argument.
Anyway, since my point may have not been made sufficiently clear, my allegation is that *RUSSERT* filed a false affidavit, with Fitzgerald as a complicit bystander. The specific phrase I question is in paragraph six, where Russert tells the judge that he cannot even confirm to the government that he has spoken to the government official in question – that seems like a lie of omission, since he had already confirmed that to the FBI.
SO, do you think that statement of Russert’s was true, or false? Ethical or not?
And Fitzgerald said nothing. Fitzgerald also made a point of *not* mentioning Russert’s FBI testimony in his own filing. Why? Should an officer of the court countenance a false filing with a judge?
My theory – he was coddling Russert, his star witness. Seems simple. Your view?
Libby contacted Russert in the same manner as he did Judy, at an equivalent time. It is not unreasonable to assume he acted in teh same way–that is, telling Russert he shouldn’t testify if he couldnt’ corroborate Libby’s story.
I refer to your opening comment about absence of evidence not being a bar to speculation. Did Libby send Russert a poem about Aspens, too?
Well. Your delightful flight of fancy notwithstanding, is it your argument that, since Libby called Russert, it is OK for Russert to lie to a judge while Fitzgerald plays along?
Given the absnece of real evidence behind the rest of your allegations, I’d think someone smart as you would start where teh evidence is–in another Libby attempt to coach a witness.
But I guess you don’t want to go there, do you?
I’m sorry – the absence of evidence that Russert’s affidavit has a lie in it? Have you read the affidavit?
Or the absence of evidence that Fitzgerald disclosed Dickerson but not Gregory, despite Ari’s court testimony that he leaked to both? Have you read that letter, or the trial reports?
Those are facts – everything you have offered in defense of that is speculation, much of it (Libby was coaching Russert, a near-perfect stranger?) irrelevant.
Just trying to clarify the difference here.
Sorry to chew up bandwidth, but this is from Libby’s GJ testimony:
A question – what do we suppose Russert said when asked about this vile attempt at witness-tampering?
Or dare we infer by the absence of any charges or discussion that Russert did not see it as tampering?
FWIW – you know I am going to check the liveblog to see if Russert was asked about this in court. Forewarned…
Morning, all. I hope we are not done here.
To clarify – Ann, the juror on Hardball, is NOT the lawyer. The lawyer on the panel worked for a federal agency. Ann is a hotel sales manager.