John Dean: If Watergate had gone to the Grand Jury...

[grasswire]

...instead of a Congressional investigation, the facts would have been buttoned up. It was considered -- investigating Watergate through the DoJ was considered -- just for that purpose; to keep the facts from public view.

Yikes.

Is that why the WH has kept its hands off Fitzgerald's investigation? Because it was a strategic move? Because if Libby plea-bargains and no one else is charged, the facts will be buried?

[TomClash]

1. Interesting point isn't it? nt

[grasswire]

2. and further....

...did Libby lie on purpose in order to hide more sinister crimes?

Fitzgerald said that he could not get at the underlying crimes because Libby "kicked sand in his eyes" by lying about the facts.

And so the underlying crimes are unaddressed.

Was that deliberate on Libby's part? Lie about the details so the darker crimes cannot be proven?

[Zen Democrat]

3. But congressional hearings is what saved North and Poindexter.

The convictions were overturned on appeal because of the public hearings that preceded that prosecutions in court.

A Republican congress would give everyone immunity to testify, and the congressional immunity would shield them from prosecution.

[Mme. Defarge]

4. But what choice do we have here?

Obviously, with our current congress, we're not going to get a congressional investigation.

[Pryderi]

5. "Assault on the Presidency"

June 13 issue - From a distance, Watergate seems like a partisan affair. But that's because we tend to look at it nowadays through red- and blue-tinted glasses. In truth, President Nixon was forced to resign in 1974 by Republicans in Congress like Barry Goldwater, who realized from the so-called smoking-gun tape that he was a crook. This was after the Supreme Court—led by a Nixon appointee—unanimously ruled against him in the tapes case.

But imagine if Nixon were president in this era. After he completed his successful second term, I'd have to write a retrospective column like this:

President Nixon left office in 2005 having proved me and the other "nattering nabobs of negativism" wrong. We thought that his administration was sleazy but we were never able to nail him. Those of us who hoped it would end differently knew we were in trouble when former Nixon media adviser Roger Ailes banned the word "Watergate" from Fox News's coverage and went with the logo "Assault on the Presidency" instead. By that time, the American people figured both sides were just spinning, and a tie always goes to the incumbent.

The big reason Nixon didn't have to resign: the rise of Conservative Media, which features Fox, talk radio and a bunch of noisy partisans on the Internet and best-sellers list who almost never admit their side does anything wrong. (Liberals, by contrast, are always eating their own.) This solidarity came in handy when Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post began snooping around after the break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. Once they scored a few scoops with the help of anonymous sources, Sean Hannity et al. went on a rampage. When the young reporters printed an article about grand jury testimony that turned out to be wrong, Drudge and the bloggers had a field day, even though none of them had lifted a finger to try to advance the story. After that, the Silent Majority wouldn't shut up.

http://tabacco.myblogsite.com/blog/_archives/2005/6/10/922319.html

[grasswire]

6. thanks for that info

Very interesting. I didn't know Hannity was that old.

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. ***Links to VIDEOS of O'Donnell and John Dean on Countdown***

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5214707&mesg_id=5214707
thread title: ***OLBERMANN/COUNTDOWN VIDEOS: John Dean and Lawrence O'Donnell***

I'll also be posting a link to the show transcript in this thread when it becomes available, probably Monday afternoon/evening.