On October 26, 2006 the FBI investigation into Joe Lieberman’s charges that his website was "hacked" was concluded and found that Lieberman brought down his own website. Yet on October 29, when Connecticut Attorney General (and Lieberman supporter) Richard Blumenthal was interviewed by Connecticut Bob, why did he say that no conclusion had been reached?
BLUMENTHAL: In this instance, as yet we’ve reached no conclusions. We’re working with the federal government, the fbi, the doj in our ongoing investigation and we’ve reached no conclusions. I’m hopeful that very shortly we will complete the investigation possibly within days, a week or so.
CTBOB: Do you think you’ll have some sort of initial finding before the November 7 election? I think that’s sort of a critical deadline to get something done.
BLUMENTHAL: I can’t say whether we will or won’t, because the investigation is not only my responsibility, we’re working with the federal government, the FBI and we want to operate in cooperation with them without reaching conclusions on our own.
Blumenthal was a big Lieberman supporter (CTBlogger, Spazeboy, Ed Anderson and I were at a picnic for Joe that Blumenthal attended). The charge that Lamont and/or his dirty blogger followers had hacked his website and brought it down allowed Lieberman to cast the Lamont race as a bunch of lawless, insurgent hippies (with the help of a compliant media who had the damn thing on the cable crawl all day). Given the screeching rage with which Lieberman dominated the media, and the investigation he had forced everyone to pursue at taxpayer expense, getting an answer before the election was a moral obligation and should have been a priority. And now we know there was one. If Blumenthal didn’t know about the report at the time, he needs to explain how it escaped his attention.
And if he did know, he needs to explain why he didn’t make it public when it could have made a difference.
You can ask Attorney General Blumenthal here, or call him at (860) 808-5318.
While we’re at it…what about the investigation into the $387,000 street cash Lieberman was handing out in the days before the election? That’s actually, you know, legit.
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So!
Go, Jane!
Reading Blumenthal’s responses – essentially four repeats of the same: “I dunno because it’s not my job, really, it’s on the feds, not me…”
I would say it’s a classic example of, uh, prevarication.
If I were summing up such testimony for a jury, I would sure point it out as easily recognizable as not being truthful. “You know in your own life, when your kid says something like this to you, he’s lying, and you don’t let him get away with it.
something like that…
Disgraceful.
I shied away from quoting Darth on FDL (So?) because the context in which it was used was so disgusting.
On the other hand, So! is reminiscent of El Gato Negro who used to show up here now and again weeth heez broken Ingles and peethy comentario.
So!
Are you suggesting that the CT AG can investigate violations of 11 C.F.R. §102.11?
Please try to keep the two issues separate. There’s the website and there’s the cash. They are independent.
And didn’t the DoJ or FBI wait to release this information pursuant to the Stamford Advocate’s FOI suit until just days after the then-USAttorney for Connecticut was confirmed in his cushy new Mukasey-enabling position?
Harry Reid — stop confirming Bush appointees! Right now! Pay attention, man! They are committed to stealing the silverware right up to 1/20/09. The only way to stop them is to keep them in Acting status.
We DFHs can see this, why can’t you, Harry? No more Bush confirmations. Period
As usual, CTBOB has more savvy in the bill of his hat than the networks & newspapers that covered the campaign.
sláinte,
cl
Heinously off topic, but firedoglake beats the pants off of Eschaton on the blog cuss-o-meter.
On the other hand, So! is reminiscent of El Gato Negro who used to show up here now and again weeth heez broken Ingles and peethy comentario.
So!
So si puedes.
Hmm, I wonder if that’s influenced by the fact that FDL has WordPress comments on the main page, and Eschaton has Haloscan.
These people are all collecting handouts of money, in the form of paychecks, from taxpayer funds. The way it’s supposed to work is, they answer to us, not they answer to our Representatives who are lying to us. I would say, between this incident and the $387K in petty cash, someone, actually many someones probably should get sanctioned for these misrepresentations. So whose fault is it? Is it the other elected representatives who are not sanctioning their pal? Is it the forces in the federal government who are covering up for the “accuser” by not divulging the results of their investigation (especially in time for the election!) Is it the Atty General of CT? Is it all of the above? Were there any laws broken at all? Is this a morality problem, but not a legal one. Is it election stealing? Or are we just very consistent in electing the wrong people? Why are so many of our elected officials so corruptible?
Quit making excuses for Duncan. That Dirty Fucking Hippy doesn’t cuss enough.
My goodness what a breath of fresh air will waft through Washington on Jan 21st 2009. But until then it is business as usual lie, lie, lie again for the glorious reich!
Meanwhile it is more depressing every day.
Jane, thanks for staying on this.
Every liberal candidate needs a CTBob.
It certainly helps RGJoe that the Senate Ethics Committee is chaired by his dear friend and primary booster Barbara Boxer. I doubt we’ll see the slush fund taken up in her committee anytime.
Has Blumenthal’s office issued a reply about his lie to CTBob? Saying there was no conclusion yet was clearly a lie, wasn’t it? We know now that there was a conclusion at the time he said there wasn’t.
Isn’t that a lie?
I’d say that the title on this post is a rhtorical question.
Come January, Harry Reid should no longer be Majority Leader, since, at the least, he’s forgotten which party he’s supposed to be leading. JoeL can be chairman of the Committee to Appoint Federal Mousecatchers, with Boehner and Cornyn and Inhofe and Graham as Ranking Members. No money for them, just applause – with one finger on each hand.
Well yes but is it an operative lie?
i hate these people(Jo’s minions)………….,and speaking of Joemos REAL main focus
Ehud Olmert, 10 Apr 2008
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised to strike so hard against Hamas in Gaza that the Islamic militant group will no longer be able to target Israeli civilians.
Mr. Olmert addressed a meeting of his Kadima Party late Thursday after Israel cut off the flow of fuel to the Gaza Strip. It is unclear how long the fuel stoppage will last.
The fuel cutoff was in response to a Palestinian militant raid Wednesday on a border terminal that resulted in the deaths of two Israeli civilians.
You had me right up to “The only way to stop them is to keep them in Acting status.” There are many, many ways to stop them. Impeachment, close those purse strings, sanctions, censures, public shaming (although it’s hard to say that’s effective anymore!). I agree that no further appointees should be confirmed by the democratic congress, but they should be at least keeping this fuckers so busy dodging investigations, etc. and trying to avoid prosecutions that they don’t have time to do any further damage. As far as I’m concerned, any further damage is on the Democrats for not taking aggressive corrective actions a lot sooner.
Harry’s goal seems to be to become the new Minority Leader in January 2009.
Sorry to rain on your paride
afternoon firedogs, OT/ Christy’s coming up on Sam Seder’s show this hour.
Is this a real crime with time?
What prosecutions? One of the major problems is the corrupted DoJ that seems quite willing to block prosecutions of Rs, no matter outrageous the acts taken.
Can’t we force Joe to pay for this waste of tax payers dollars in a civil suit? I don’t think a criminal anything will happen until after Bush is gone.
But what I really want is discovery of any coordination between Joe and the Prosecutor.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but other than new Asses on the old chairs, it’s going to be business as usual at the pig trough. I’ve seen no indication form any camp to pursue investigations of any body over any thing. Maybe they’re being circumspect, but I doubt it.
Underlying crime?
OT, but you need to check out today’s Altercation with an essay by Lt Col Bob Bateman.
It’s bad enough that we’re surrounded by so many rethuglican crooks, to have to deal with dem. crooks is just too much. But then again I guess we have to expect it from anyone who considers themselves a friend of Traitor Joe. ( I saw someone use that moniker yesterday or the day before and loved it).
Turdblossom Rove and his whoremonger buddy.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
-G
The best time to do that would be in coordination with an attack on Iran as the Arab world would be distracted and divided.
If Israel attacks the Iranian backed terrorists again without our attacking Iran then Iran will look like a hero while the Arab countries racked by food shortages (riots in Egypt I wonder if there are others not reported yet looks weak).
Iran has to be made to appear weak or else Sunni will wonder why their US puppet governments are doing nothing for the Palestinians. America has to attack Iran for Israel to attack Hezbollah.
Or maybe Israel is going to test the latest bunker buster bombs to see how American tech handles Iranian designed bunkers in preparation for an American strike on Iran.
Fraud, Liable, if Joe and the Prosecutor worked together on this RICO? Just a guess off the top of my head.
You are correct. Nothing will be done but it is nice to dream. Once Edwards was dropped the corporations were home and dry no mater which of the remaining three are made pres. we are fucked.
You could always vote for Nader. /snark
If there was any justice the jails would be full, come the end of 2009, with the chaff from the bushco administration with the prospect of an overflow in early 2010 from the wheat. Not friggin hope as there is no farkin justice
Blumenthal nods his head allot like he can’t wait for the interview to be over and blinks very rapidly he seems to have some easy tells about when he’s lying!
You know I worked very hard today. I trimmed hedgerows, turned ground, dug a footing and nothing, nothing I did should warrant such a comment. *g*
Any bets Boxer stays in Congress for a long time? My point being, we may be looking for a big breath of fresh air when the new government gets inaugurated, but a lot of the same people will be back to continue the obfuscation and obstruction.
(to the tune of “If I were a rich man”)
{Joe Lie}
“Dear God, you made me so very very superior
I realize of course that it’s no shame be inferior
But I know I’m smarter then the rest
So would it be so terrible for John to make me his VP?
Because I am a lieberman
da da dee dee dee dum
all day long
I’m pretty pretty dumb
but pretend I am a caring man
Go out with my friend John
yada dee dee deedle dee dee dum
Get my cash brought in by the truckload
And pretend I am a caring man
————
Feel free to add your own verses. LIEberman makes me puke. And to think I once lived in CT and voted for the arsehole (well, decades ago).
Ah, Rick Rescorla is one of my favorites. The book about him “Heart of a Soldier” is a must read. Here is a film of him predicting 9/11. Did you notice the thing with McCain and the right wing vets outfit where the dude make a shitty racist remark about Tiger? I think General Moore was right behind McCain. . .big dissapointment.
Charge the GOP under RICO with an ongoing criminal enterprise. War crimes,War Profiteering, Stealing from the Government, Looking the other way as Enron ripped off California power consumers in a sense creating a problem and then using that problem to finance a special election so they could benefit, I’m pretty sure regulating power over the national power grid is Federal responsibility which means any fraud like Enron committed claiming power shortages in other states where none existed is a federal crime.
By not prosecuting the GOP set the stage to actively benefit not passively by forcing the recall election on Gov Grey Davis.
I’m sure Hugh’s list has enough example’s possible RICO crimes.
I saw some news reports on the Tiger thing but no pictures. Have to say though that it’s not a real big surprise when folks like Moore back someone like McCain.
Precisely why I think the very first and maybe the only impeachment investigation and proceedings should be against Mukasey for not fulfilling his oath of office to uphold the Constitution, for Obstructing Justice and encouraging Contempt of Congress by not enforcing subpoenas properly. That should very much get their attention. The more they try to curl up in a nice tight ball, the harder you yank on their chains. In my estimation, it’s the best and maybe the only way!
Axe and ye shall receive. From KO. I think Moore is in the cowboy hat.
Uh, no (I’ve been at EW’s place)–I was just commenting on the quoted interview, which was all about the web crash. On the date of the interview, since Blumenthal’s office was working with the fibbies, as he says, he should have known the answer to the question. Nothing to do with his jurisdiction, just what he knew at the time.
The Bush administration is remarkably adept at launching prosecutions against Democrats, never Republicans, marvelously close to elections. It’s somewhat less adept at publishing exonerations of those Democrats (a two year delay in announcing an investigation’s conclusion?) close to an election. Certainly not when they threaten to unseat Republicans, including those in an “independent’s” clothing.
The GOP paid for Mr. Lieberman’s win and its followers voted for him en masse, which was abundantly their right to do. But what they seem to have won for themselves in exchange was to denude the Democrat’s taking back control in the Senate of a victory. Mr. Lieberman has dutifully kept all investigations away from Homeland Security’s [sic] occasionally competent fulfilling of its brief to keep us safe.
Democrats should again be reminded that KKKarl and the party he serves so well do not take prisoners, rarely mean what they say in public, and play for keeps. A priest may walk among the wicked, but if he does it every day, a little martial arts would be a useful supplement to the cross.
Dude, that can not be said often or loud enough!
I think that may be the reason there is so much disgust with the endless Dem primary season. All we are doing is allowing that bullshit “maverick” crap to fester while the media parses Rev Wright and the HRC’s sniper sojourn.
Criticism
On January 24, 2007, the Competitive Enterprise Institute released their report on the The Nation’s Top Ten Worst State Attorneys General. Blumenthal was listed at number 1, beating out Bill Lockyer of California and Eliot Spitzer of New York. CEI is a pro-business group skeptical of the use of litigation to promote policy change.
Blumenthal has attracted national attention for his hyperkinetic approach to seeking publicity for himself and his legal initiatives, leading one prominent online journal to remark “The most dangerous place in Connecticut is between Dick Blumenthal and a TV camera.” [28]
In a landmark Connecticut Supreme Court decision, Blumenthal v. Barnes a unanimous court determined that Blumenthal sued the owner of a charter school while lacking authority to bring the suit. Justice Peter T. Zarella concluded in this 2002 opinion that the office – of the attorney general is “a creature of statute that – is governed by statute and, thus, has no common-law – authority.” [29][30]
Connecticut Republicans have criticised Blumenthal for campaigning for Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez while Perez was being investigated for alleged ethical improprieties. [31]
[edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Blumenthal
I’m guessing Blumenthal like Joe does not know much about the Net if he lets Wikipedia show this about him. How do we get the current scandals on his Wikipedia?
We have a winner! Peterr has a new post about Footnotes Come to Life!
Egggsacktly.
A-yep. Time to put that crap to bed. That’s why I’m glad that Media Matters is on the case to take down McCain.
Wish we would take a page out of their book and start with a hearing to show cause as to why the Congress should not find Mukasey derelict in his duty by not properly enforcing Congressional subpoenas. Why not? If Nancy could give a comprehensive answer to that that would not be able to be easily shot down by any one of us, she should have her way. Otherwise, the hell with Nancy, these people should realize that they will be fighting the image of themselves that she created when she took Impeachment off the table! They need to eat a lot of shit before they wake up to the unpleasant truth; that they’ve been extremely ineffective representatives.
Somewhere a FDLer known as Rosalind wrote something like
The Stamford Advocate article doesn’t make clear who were recipients of the FBI email. Perhaps Blumenthal didn’t receive the email or a briefing, on Lieberman’s sysadmin/server being the source of Lieberman’s problems, before the interview by CTBob.
If there was intent to mislead while knowing the facts were otherwise, then I’m sure there’s an underlying crime of some sort. Public mischief, if nothing else.
There would have been more comments on this thread, but everybody ended up playing with the blog cuss-o-meter.
Foul-mouthed fembloggers!
BTW Huffington post ranked in the Miss Prissy end of the scale oin this measure. But firedoglake is nowhere near something like http://www.southpark.com
“Around 100% of the pages on your website contain cussing.
This is 1011% MORE than other websites who took this test.”
The US Attorney at that time was recently appointed to be number 3 in Bush’s DOJ http://www.courant.com/news/cu…..506.story. He was temporarily appointed this gig earlier to help “clean up” Abu’s mess.
I think Mukasey also contributed to Joe.
Good thing Bush would never politicize the DOJ.
wow, I just got home and saw this!
Thanks Jane, and all you great folks who said such nice things!
The AG has a future at the NY Times