The Battlefield (Plame Thread #13)

[H2O Man]

"As late as December 5, 2003, ‘a senior White House official’ was quoted in the Financial Times gloating, ‘We have rolled the earthmovers in over this one’." – The Politics of Truth; Joseph Wilson; page 360.

"Truth crushed to earth will rise again." – The Battlefield; William Cullen Bryant

As we enter another week in the trial of I. Liar Libby, it seems fair to say that there are two very different points of view regarding the Plame scandal. The first is that of the rabid right wing which, like the "anonymous" White House senior official that we can safely code name "Karl," endorses the concept of a cover-up as being good for the country. The other side is invested in a search for the truth. And, like Martin Luther King, Jr., they have faith that Bryant was correct when he said that truth crushed to earth will rise again.

The "cover-up" side has generally buried its collective head in the sand. The attempt to spin the case by using talking points that are fully discredited. They claim Valerie Plame was not covert, despite the fact that "special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald found that Plame had indeed done ‘covert work overseas’ on counterproliferation matters in the past five years, and the CIA ‘was making specific efforts to conceal’ her identity, according to newly released portions of a judge’s opinion." (Newsweek; The CIA Leak: Plame Was Still Covert; Michael Isikoff; 2-13-06)

They also cling to the notion that the only leak that Mr. Fitzgerald was supposed to investigate involved Robert Novak. They ignore what Deputy Attorney General James Comey told the press on 12-30-03: "Patrick J. Fitzgerald will serve as special counsel in charge of this matter. I chose Mr. Fitzgerald, my friend and former colleague, based on his sterling reputation for integrity and impartiality. He is an absolutely apolitical career prosecutor. He is a man with extensive experience in national security and intelligence matters, extensive experience conducting sensitive investigations, and in particular, experience in conducting investigations of alleged government misconduct.

"I have today delegated to Mr. Fitzgerald all the approval authorities that will be necessary to ensure that he has the tools to conduct a completely independent investigation; that is, that he has the power and authority to make whatever prosecution judgements he believes are appropriate …."

Unable to accept that an honest prosecutor will not participate in the cover-up, Mona Charen writes, "The man on trial did not do the leaking. …. Accordingly, there was no crime. And yet, a prosecutor presents evidence, a jury lobs questions, and ‘Scooter’ Libby may go to jail for 30 years. This charade competes with the Duke ‘rape’ case for prosecutorial misconduct, brazen defiance of common sense, and unbelievable jeopardy to the innocent. …. Where, I wonder. Are all the folks who worry about attracting good people to government service? Libby gave up a lucrative private practice to serve his country and now may lose everything including his liberty for the trouble. This trial is a farce and an outrage." (National Review; A Farce and an Outrage; 2-2-07)

And it’s not just Mr. Fitzgerald who is the target for the rabid-rights diseased secretions. Last week, FBI Investigator Deborah Bond testified against Libby. Ms. Bond would seem the type of investigator that "law & order" types would admire and respect. Yet John Podhoretz writes, "It would be impossible in fewer than a thousand words to explain how Libby’s lawyers made FBI interviewer Deborah Bond look bad, but they did. …. Maybe that’s because the case against Scooter Libby is so astonishingly petty that arguing over it is like arguing over scraps." (New York Post; The Libby Farce; 2-2-07)

At least Podhoretz admits, "Now, Scooter Libby is an old friend of mine, and I think he is a great public servant and a patriot, and I would dearly love to see him acquitted. But I’m entirely agnostic on the specific charges brought by Fitzgerald – I don’t know whether Libby told the truth to the grand jury." Others, like Tucker Carlson, claim to know that Libby is guilty of nothing but politics, while refusing to disclose their personal connections to Libby.

Today’s Editor & Publisher contains quotes from perhaps the sickest of all Libbyites, Ann Coulter. "People who attack conservatives never have to worry about their own dirty laundry coming out. All they have to worry about is whether People magazine will use a good picture of them in its ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ issue. Find out about Patrick Fitzgerald what we’d know if he were Ken Starr. If you won’t defend your own champions, conservatives, then don’t sit back and wonder why so few people want to be your champions." (Ann Coulter: Mad at Conservatives For Not Fighting Back on Libby Case; 2-4-07)

Perhaps Ms. Coulter has not noticed that Mr. Libby is about to become a convicted felon precisely because he did attempt to smear someone who was exposing the lies of his "champion," Dick Cheney. But then again, under the circumstances, her appeal to irrational emotions may be all that she has left.

The Court will decide a couple of important issues this week. The first is whether to allow the media to have copies of the "Scooter grand jury tapes." Mr. Fitzgerald wants to make the tapes, like the other court exhibits, public. The defense attorneys are taking the position that making the tapes public would risk Libby’s getting a fair trial. This seems a curious stance, considering that the jury will hear the tapes. It may be that Judge Walton will keep the actual tapes under wraps, at least until after the jury convicts Libby.

A more significant issue in the context of the trial itself is the debate about Mr. Fitzgerald’s attempt to enter two newspaper articles into evidence. "The day of his interview with the FBI, I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby hand-marked copies of two Washington Post articles about the breadth of a criminal-leak investigation, and underlined were two key passages suggesting that any official who had told reporters about a CIA officer could be in legal jeopardy …. The October 2003 articles show Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff at the time, had a motive to lie about his secret conversations with reporters and knew he was in potential trouble." (The Washington Post; Carol Leonnig; Prosecutor: Libby kept articles on leak risks; 2-4-07)

Perhaps these two issues are what has the right-wing cheerleaders like Charen and Coulter so upset. If the trial moves in the direction that Mr. Fitzgerald advocates, the jury – and the American public – will be exposed to explosive evidence of the extent that the Office of the Vice President was willing to go to destroy Joseph and Valerie Wilson. The two underlined articles indicate that Libby was aware the investigation wasn’t focused on the Novak leak alone. And the Libby tapes may take their place along side another infamous set of White House scandal tapes that damaged another republican administration.

The Bush administration, and in particular the OVP, went to great lengths to cover-up their roles in the Plame scandal. They brought in earthmovers. But the FBI investigators and Mr. Fitzgerald’s office have begun to expose the truth, to an extent that threatens more than Scooter Libby. It is beginning to seem less likely that Libby, and especially Cheney, are going to want to be cross-examined by Patrick Fitzgerald on the battlefield.

[JNelson6563]

1. This just gets better and better

Worse than Watergate. :toast:

Julie

[H2O Man]

4. Better and better!

Last night I read the old "Waterman Paper" on the case. There are a couple little things that I'd change on it, but it still holds up pretty good. Participants on DU's original "Plame Threads" really knew what the deal was, long before many in the corporate media were willing to take a serious look at the scandal. When I look through some of the discussions on those threads, I'm impressed with the power of American citizens putting their heads together, and uncovering the truth in a case as complicated as this one has been. And it is certainly getting better and better -- because the general public is being exposed to the truth we saw three years ago.

[Me.]

2. Previous Plame

Research Forum & Threads 1,2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x192

H20’s Impeach Dick Cheney Threads: Listed Under 'Richard Cheney'

www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x4640


Rosesaylavee has done a fantastic job of posting the Plame & Cheney threads in the Research Forum.


Government Documents Relating To The Plame Case:

http://wid.ap.org/documents/libbytrial/index.html

[rosesaylavee]

10. Added Plame 13

And I am happy to post these threads there as I can find them again easily. Figured others would like that too. And data on reasons to impeach Cheney is also being collected there now under Richard Cheney.

leveymg says Part 2 of his excellent Cheney thread OUTING THE CIA is coming later today for those interested.

[maine_raptor]

3. Another excellent article, H20 Man,

I wonder if, since Cheney, Libby, and et al, were doing all this conniving on our dime, this isn't something Congress should be looking at when the trial is over. I'm not a lawyer, but I think I'm on safe ground saying that using tax payer money to deceive the taxpayer and, at the same time, destroy a National Security Asset is probably illegal.

As to the last paragraph;

That's the $64,000 question: Will Patrick Fitzgerald get a chance to do a cross on Cheney?

(Or will Congress?)

[H2O Man]

5. Cheney on the witness

stand .... that would be a heck of a lot like if Richard Nixon had ever been in that position. I think that Cheney is, like Nixon, too much a coward to allow himself to be put in that position. But if Mr. Fitzgerald is allowed to present all of the evidence that he has, I think the public will demand that he be tried, either in the context of a criminal trial, or that he be impeached.

[maine_raptor]

8. Hope you're right, but

Cheney's gotta be made to answer, live (on the tube preferably), under oath, a boat load of pointed questions.

In the words of Ricky Arnez:

"He's got some 'spailin' to do!"

But when?

I fear that if the defense doesn't call him, and Congress decides that it has "other priorities", we'll never see it.

[Me.]

17. How Would Fitzgerald Know?

"The only people who could participate in any deal at this point would be the prosecution and defense. Of course, Judge Walton would play a role. But Cheney can't put pressure on Libby. (It would not escape the prosecutor's notice, and would result in fireworks.)"

[H2O Man]

18. Those things

do not go unnoticed.

[Patsy Stone]

29. Sorta like Frank Pentangeli

changing his testimony after his brother mysteriously shows up sitting next to Michael Corleone.

SENATOR KANE

Were you a member of the Corleone Family? Were you under the Caporegime Peter Clemenza, under Vito Corleone, known as the Godfather?

PENTANGELI

I never knew no Godfather. I got my own family.

SENATOR KANE

We have your confession that you murdered on the orders of Michael Corleone. Do you deny that confession and do you know what denying that confession will mean to you?

PENTANGELI

The FBI guys promised me a deal. So I made up a lot of stuff about Michael Corleone. Because then, that's what they wanted. But it was all lies. Everything. They said Michael Corleone did this, Michael Corleone did that. So I said, "Yeah, sure."

[Manifestor_of_Light]

69. Can't Cheney be held in contempt of court?

I thought if subpoenaed people didn't show up, it was off to jail until they agreed to testify.
Or is there some executive privilege in play here?

Would somebody who knows more about Federal Rules of Procedure than I do please answer that one?

[H2O Man]

70. That's an important question.

If the prosecution had called him, it was possible that Cheney would have resisted, not entirely unlike Miller and Cooper in the grand jury context. It might have dragged out. But, after the "memory expert" was rejected, the defense made the decision to call the VP. And Cheney agreed to participate in the trial. Were he to try to block that now, he would potentially create a serious problem for himself.

[Frustratedlady]

13. Since Bush said he would "handle" or get rid of anyone in his...

administration if they were guilty, couldn't we fine him and the guilty person (Cheney?) for say...the profits they made off the Iraq war? What was Cheney's projected profit from Haliburton for last year....$8M?

Thanks, H2Oman. You are doing us all a great service with your reports.

[Me.]

6. Rose Colored Glasses & Blacked Out Windows

These conservatives can't/won't/don't want to see or hear the truth. It is inconvenient. To their agendas and memories. Else they'd remember that they thought lying was such an important enough offense that they had to impeach a president for lying about sex with a consenting adult. No lives were destroyed with that act. blood didn't flow in the streets of Bagdad because of it and no service people died.

[rosesaylavee]

7. Happy to give rec 5

Could Team Libby be concerned about the tapes revealing some interesting news to those yet to take the stand? Maybe they don't want Rove to hear what Libby thinks of him.

[Alamom]

9. Another super post. Thank you for putting it all together, making comments and

answering questions.

Not to diminish Watergate or the poster upthread, but Watergate was small potatoes compared to this.




Thanks again, H2O Man

[malaise]

11. Thanks H2O Man

I heard a Newsweek man on IMus this morning (Thomas somebody)saying he cannot talk about the case because he may have to testify. What is this about?

[H2O Man]

12. I think it would be

Evan Thomas. He is one of the people that Team Libby has considered calling for two closely related reasons: first, to testify that some journalists were aware of Plame before Novak's column was published; and second, to testify that he did not speak to Scooter about Plame, but others -- either other journalists or a couple other WHIG-connected sources.

[malaise]

15. That's the man

Thanks.

[H2O Man]

14. A worthy cause .....

Joseph & Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust
P.O. Box 40918
Washington, DC 20016-0918


http://wilsonsupport.org/

[spanone]

16. K & R Thanks H20 Man....

Please promise you will shoot me if Charen & Coulter EVER come to my defense. A twenty-two shot right behind the ear will do.

[Annces]

19. Fitz!

[myrna minx]

20. I look forward to another breathless week.

Thank you H20 man, for another wonderful essay. :hi:

[H2O Man]

47. Thank you.

It should be a fascinating week.

[mod mom]

21. Thanks h2oman. Your posts are so informative.

This woman is the live blogger at FDL today. Check out her blog (very witty-I especially love this comment:

And on the conflicting accounts of what WH spokesliar Ari Fleischer told Time's John Dickerson in Uganda in July 2003:
Unless Fitzgerald comes up with contemporaneous notes or emails from Fleischer confirming his description of the conversations, you really have to go with Dickerson, who does have notes, on this one. Aside from that, in any contest between a White House press secretary and an organically grown human, you simply have to side with your own species.

http://www.needlenose.com/plamemania

[NewJeffCT]

22. Thanks - excellent post, as usual

I think the purpose of people like Charen and Coulter is to throw so much BS out there that it will obscure any real truth that can come out of the trial. They are trying to create a "reasonable doubt" in the minds of the American public. If they scream their talking points enough times, with consistency, they can create those doubts. They certainly have the media platform to do it - Fox, CNN, talk radio, the Washington Times, NY Post, etc.

That is one of the big differences between Watergate in the early to mid 70s and the Plame outing in the early part of this decade - the is a massive RW media platform out there that is designed to create just this kind of BS.

[H2O Man]

23. Gracious.

I guess we'll be hearing the Libby Tapes.

[Me.]

26. Neat

KO has a Libby bonanza planned for this evening, wonder if he'll have the tapes by then?

[Straight Shooter]

24. "The man on trial did not do the leaking. …. Accordingly, there was no crime"

I'm sure there are many convicted felons in prison, who were merely accomplices to crimes, who will be relieved to learn of the great miscarriage of justice which landed them in prison.

It never ceases to amaze me how people such as Mona Charen, so ignorant of the basic principles of our crimimal justice system, gain a platform to spout such idiocy.

=================================

"Truth crushed to earth will rise again." – The Battlefield; William Cullen Bryant

That is a remarkable quote, H20 Man. Thank you for your relentless efforts to remove the dirt and expose the truth.

[kineneb]

25. ignorance of charges

Libby is being tried for perjury- that is lying to a jury.

Letting him off the hook would be like not trying Al Capone for tax evasion...

[Straight Shooter]

36. I think she knows the charges. I believe she is using the "don't look here, look there" tactic.

Her attempt at deflection is pathetic. No matter how she spins it, she spins Libby into a corner.

[H2O Man]

27. It was one

of Martin Luther King's favorite lines to quote. It's found at the end of his last, and most radical, SCLC speech, "Where Do we Go from Here?":

"Let us realize that William Cullen Bryant is right: 'Truth crushed to earth will rise again'."

Martin also used it in his powerful speech at the end of the Selma march, from the Edmund Pettus Bridge (March 21, 1965) to the state capital (March 25):

"I know you are asking today, 'How long will it take?' I come to say to you this afternoon however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth pressed to earth will rise again.

"How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever.
"How long? Not long, because you still reap what you sow.
"How long? Not long, because the arm of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."

[spanone]

32. Let them tell that to Martha Stewart.

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

28. That first line has always made me angry.

"As late as December 5, 2003, ‘a senior White House official’ was quoted in the Financial Times gloating, ‘We have rolled the earthmovers in over this one’." – The Politics of Truth; Joseph Wilson; page 360.

Of all the words bandied about during the last few years, the above I find the most maddeningly arrogant and dimissive of the cause of justice. Said with utter confidence that the truth would indeed be crushed to earth.

[H2O Man]

30. It came shortly

before Patrick Fitzgerald was assigned to the case. My, how things changed!

[Me.]

35. 'EarthMovers'

Hmmmmm.....who's feeling stomped now?

[Mandate My Ass]

34. While they were gloating...Murray Waas reports in VV

career Justice Department employees and senior FBI officials became even more concerned about the continuing role in the investigation of Ashcroft, because of his close relationship with Rove. Rove had earlier served as an adviser to Ashcroft during the course of three political campaigns. And Rove’s onetime political consulting firm had been paid more than $746,000 for those services.

In response to these new allegations, Representative John Conyers of Michigan, the current ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and former chairman of the committee as well, said in a statement: "There has long been the appearance of impropriety in Ashcroft's handling of this investigation. The former attorney general had well documented conflicts of interest in this matter, particularly with regard to his personal relationship with Karl Rove. Among other things, Rove was employed by Ashcroft throughout his political career, and Rove reportedly had fiercely advocated for Ashcroft's appointment as attorney general. Pursuant to standard rules of legal ethics, and explicit rules on conflict of interest, those facts alone should have dictated his immediate recusal.

"The new information, that Ashcroft had not only refused to recuse himself over a period of months, but also was insisting on being personally briefed about a matter implicating his friend, Karl Rove, represents a stunning ethical breach that cries out for an immediate investigation by the Department's Office of Professional Responsibility and Inspector General." ...

Within days of his taking office, several career Justice Department prosecutors took their own longstanding concerns to Comey, telling him that perhaps it would be best for Ashcroft to recuse himself, the same legal sources said. A smaller number also advocated the appointment of an outside prosecutor to take over the matter completely.

The combination of Ashcroft's close relationship with Rove, the omission of critical information from the FBI by Rove during his initial interview with agents, that Ashcroft had been briefed about that interview in particular, and the-then recent appointment of Comey, all allowed for a forceful case being made by career Justice Department employees be made that the attorney general should step aside and a special prosecutor be named.

[Pithy Cherub]

31. Liar Libby's suppression of the truth

is reaching critical mass. LOL, once those tapes get played over and over again, the narrative has to change. Corporate media clones are caught to as they have tried to poo poo it, feeding thin substance free gruel to the right wingnuts that it was vigilante justice.

Libby has no defense, Libby has no offense - in other words no game. The best he can do is kabuki theatre. Heal Conspirator, Darth Cheney, needs to avoid the stand at all costs. Fitzgerald is trying him in abstentia anyway, that's the part deep with irony. Cheney and Libby did all of this to prop up cracked mirrors and call it reality. Fitz just brought in a large mirror in which Lying Cheney, Liar Libby, and the lyin' press are forced to see themselves as they really are.

:popcorn:

[ljm2002]

33. "Where, I wonder..."

"...Are all the folks who worry about attracting good people to government service? Libby gave up a lucrative private practice to serve his country and now may lose everything including his liberty for the trouble. This trial is a farce and an outrage."

Did Charen not notice that Wilson and Plame are also public servants who were dragged down, kicked around and nearly destroyed by the treasonous actions of the OVP? Of course she knows that, but it doesn't count because it's okay to destroy public servants who do not agree with her and her ilk -- in fact, it is a good thing, because who wants *those* public servants anyway.

Has anyone ever tried to assess the damage to our counter-proliferation efforts due to outing Plame and her cover organization? How many agents and informants lost their lives as a direct result of Cheney's vindictive efforts? How much of the obvious escalation in nuclear weapons activities in the last few years is attributable to that?

Whatever happened to hanging people for treason? Put that on the table, why don't we. I for one would really like to see Rover -- not to mention Cheney -- put on trial with that as a possible outcome. Let 'em sweat. See how well they'd hold up under that kind of pressure. Bet it would wipe the sneers right off their faces.

[Straight Shooter]

65. Excellent point, ljm2002.

We might further instruct Charen that Libby's government service consisted of a very powerful position within the bush administration. The Wilsons worked quietly, without fanfare and with little reward, behind the scenes. Joe Wilson even put his life on the line when he stood up to Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War. We can only speculate if, and how many times, Valerie Plame's life has been endangered.

[fooj]

37. K/R

[Spazito]

38. On the issue of the two articles, it certainly looks like

Fitzgerald has won this one as well, taken from the live blogging at FDL, noting that this is NOT to be taken as verbatim transcript but, imo, almost as good:

SNIP

Walton: The next matter is Exhibits 422 and 423 (the WaPo articles on Oct. 4 and Oct. 12, 2003). Regarding Exhibit 423, how are you going to show that Libby actually read the article? (Exhibit 422, the 10/12 article, had passages underlined by Libby, so defense concedes he may have read it.)

Fitz: It was produced from his files.

W: I thought it was produced by his assistant.

F: She gave it to him, and he filed it.

W: Oh, I see. (Remember, the above three lines are just paraphrase, even if they sound like quotes.)

Walton says this article seems admissable as relevant to Libby's state of mind at the time he was questioned by the FBI (on Oct. 14th, just a few days later). But he's willing to strike passages that are unfairly prejudicial.

Jeffress: I thought the court felt Libby's GJ testimony would be sufficient to determine his state of mind, since he's asked about the topics in the article…

W: You mean unduly prejudicial. (some laughter) Everything the government presents is going to be prejudicial.

Jeffress takes this in stride, and goes on to start disputing passages. He wants to redact the specific 1×2x6 quotes:

That same week, two top White House officials disclosed Plame's identity to least six Washington journalists, an administration official told The Post for an article published Sept. 28. The source elaborated on the conversations last week, saying that officials brought up Plame as part of their broader case against Wilson.

"It was unsolicited," the source said. "They were pushing back. They used everything they had."

Fitzgerald wants it kept in, because it shows the case goes beyond Novak, so Libby had legitimate cause to worry.

Jeffress says that the passage is completely false. Fitzgerald disagrees, he says the two top White House officials is true. Walton asks Fitzgerald to explain.

LONG pause.

I'm racing to catch up here. It's 10:55.

At length, Fitz says, we've heard about Rove already, we've heard about Fleischer, and there's also Libby. Then he lists all of the reporters who were known to be leaked to (Novak, Miller, Cooper, Pincus, etc.). He's clearly improvising(!). Fortunately, the defense doesn't press him about how one source could know about all this in October 2003.

Now they're debating the Oct 4th WaPo article, about destroying the Brewster-Jennings front the CIA had used with Plame. The defense considers this hearsay evidence that Plame was covert, and the very subject of the article is unfairly prejudicial. Fitzgerald argues that it's nevertheless relevant to Libby's state of mind, and therefore fair to submit.

Jeffress says that this article was not mentioned by the government in an earlier phase when they were supposed to identify articles to be used at trial — if they had mentioned it before, Jeffress says, Libby would have been justified in engaging in graymail discovery regarding Plame's actual status.

Walton and Jeffress are starting to get a little testy — Walton is saying that the government has a right to argue motive based on articles that were in Libby's possession without implying that the information in the articles is true. Jeffress is openly dismissive of Walton saying he'll give the jury instructions not to consider the truth of the article ("We know, you're going to give an instruction," he says in a so-what voice. I didn't look up to see if he rolled his eyes.)

Walton is trying to calm things down, but he's not conceding the argument.

END of SNIP

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/02/05/assorted-legal-jousting/

[H2O Man]

39. Yep.

I think that Judge Walton has been very fair.

[Me.]

40. Maybe That's Why Wells Is Getting So Snotty

"Wells keeps hammering on, but he didn't specifically say he didn't know anything in that time period. Bond fumbles, trying to find a polite way to tell Wells that he's inventing a discrepancy that doesn't exist. Wells turns to a prosecutor and says, "Mr. Zeidenberg, you practiced her testimony, didn't you?" Gasps from the media room at that (implying that Bond should know what she's going to say)."from FDL live blog

[bobbolink]

54. That's what I want to hear, Spazito--the BrewsterJennings tie-in!

That's where it will get exciting, for me.

Could the whole truth actually be coming out? Be still my heart.... :)

[robertpaulsen]

41. Hello there!

Not sure if you've already read this, but it sure spells out how good thing are!

Why Dick Cheney Cracked Up
by Frank Rich
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0204-22.htm

:hi:

[H2O Man]

42. It's a great article.

It sums the situation up very well.

[eppur_se_muova]

43. "Code Name Karl" ... OK, do we have to use that as his nickname from now on?

:rofl:
Another great read on the Cheney/Libby trial. Thanks for all you do, H2O Man!

[Catherine Vincent]

44. Ann coulter said:

"People who attack conservatives never have to worry about their own dirty laundry coming out. All they have to worry about is whether People magazine will use a good picture of them in its ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ issue."

She's just jealous that she will never be voted one of People's Sexy Woman Alive. Only if she change her wardrobe and speak with intelligence instead of attacks, maybe she would get their attention.

[H2O Man]

45. I can say for sure

that Ann Coulter was not the person that Mr. Fitzgerald stood up on New Year's Eve, 2003.

[Spazito]

46. LOL! Of that I have NO doubt! n/t

[H2O Man]

48. Correction ....

In paragraph 10, I should have noted that the attorneys for some media sources were pressing for the Libby tapes to be made public. Judge Walton has been making court exhibits public. Mr. Fitzgerald went on record as not taking a position on the tapes.

[porphyrian]

49. I'll kick that. - n/t

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

50. Audio files should be released soon...

Please someone post when the audio is online - I heard it should be done after testimony today... Not Sure.

[Me.]

51. Not Just Audio

If you go to the government exhibit site linked in this thread, you'll see they have put up flash video of McClellan. I'm assuming they'll do the same with the GJ testimony. This means we'll be able to both hear it and see it.

[H2O Man]

52. There are several

pages of court exhibits up now, that the prosecution is using to show Scooter's schedule.

[Me.]

53. Shouldn't That Be Scootie Libbert

as pronounced on KO by Alison Stewart? Works for me.

[H2O Man]

55. It works.

That was funny.

[Patsy Stone]

57. O/T, but please, do not miss this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x132812

"I'm still big! It's the PICTURES that got small!"

:rofl:

[Me.]

58. The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Right behind Scootie and the gang.

[Patsy Stone]

59. Skeeter Looby?

:rofl:

[Me.]

61. Good One

Seems Skeeter is definetly re-thinking tesifying, bet the dick is too.

"Walton has noted that Wells never followed up with any line of questioning the Karl Rove red herring he tossed out in opening statements, and he has also expressed irritation that Libby might not testify after all the song and dance he put everyone through during discovery" FDL

[Patsy Stone]

62. Someone suggested

the defense should just rest at the end of the prosecution's case. That's probably not a bad idea. Just give it up and move on to the appeal.

I just watched today's video. I wonder what gave Fitz eight or nine seconds pause? It's almost like he stopped himself from saying something. Verrrry interesting.

Eight hours of testimony? That's a lot of stuff to dissect. Watch for plenty of crazy delicious bloggin' in the future.

[DemReadingDU]

63. something about the 1x2x6 article?

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3782

[Patsy Stone]

64. It was

But I want to know what it was. :hi:

[bleever]

56. LOL.

Yes.

[Catherine Vincent]

60. LOL! I heard that.

It cracked me up. I really wish they would quit calling him "Scooter" though. Louis works better...and it's bad enough they have to repeat "Libby".

[Oilwellian]

66. "Patrick Fitzgerald on the battlefield" reminds me of...

that famous scene in Patton where he stands on a battlefield where the Carthaginians fought the Romans and says he was there.

"Through the travail of ages
Midst the pomp and toils of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon a star.
As if through a glass, and darkly,
The age-old strife I see,
For I fought in many guises, many names,
But always me."
- Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.

:kick:

[bonito]

67. K&R

[autorank]

68. The counter attack is looking a bit desperate.

Podhoretz, that epitome of neoconservative mendacity, evaluates the case as though anybody cares. This crew thought that they could walk away from Bush and avoid the taint of the policies they sold him and he, in turn, inflicted on the American people. Sorry. Like some sort of reformed disruptor, Potoretz now wants us to believe that he cares about the truth. Coming from a movement whose founder, Leo Strauss, loved Gun Smoke, not as entertainment but as a political/moral model, how can anything the neoconservatives say be taken seriously. When Bush goes, it will be time to revisit who cooked up this insanity. As for the other "big gun," Coulter, it's not even worth mentioning. If she's in the front line, their next draft will be an elite corps of zombies.

What happens when Libby goes down? Who will be next? I can't wait but I'll find out here about the real story of one of the greatest betrayals of this nation ever (internal or external). Disrupting a WMD intel operation is just unforgivable. Maybe that's why Cheney was so sure we'd eventually suffer that type of attack. He knew that they were destroying the critical CIA program operating to prevent it. Shame shame shame...