Post: Cheney's office is focus

Just as Josh Marshall predicted, the Washington Post has a major story tonight that puts Vice President Cheney's office at the center of the Fitzgerald investigation:

As the investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's name hurtles to an apparent conclusion, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has zeroed in on the role of Vice President Cheney's office, according to lawyers familiar with the case and government officials. The prosecutor has assembled evidence that shows Cheney's long-running feud with the CIA contributed to the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame.

In grand jury sessions, including with New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Fitzgerald has pressed witnesses on what Cheney may have known about the effort to push back against ex-diplomat and Iraq war critic Joseph C. Wilson IV, including the leak of his wife's position at the CIA, Miller and others said. But Fitzgerald has focused more on the role of Cheney's top aides, including Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, lawyers involved in the case said.

Read the rest of this post...

The American Conservative Union doesn't ♥ Bush

This is REALLY bad. Yet hysterically funny at the same time.

From David Keane, chairman of the American Conservative Union

What is most troubling about this whole affair, however, is the way the administration has gone about trying to demonize conservatives who have raised questions about Ms. Miers. It began from day one to attack personally the motives, loyalty and judgment of anyone who questioned the wisdom of the nomination. Since then, the ad hominem attacks on Miers’s conservative critics have been unconscionably heavy-handed and will haunt the president regardless of how the nomination fight turns out.

Most conservatives have stood with Bush from the beginning. Those of us who know him like him. We’ve swallowed policies we might otherwise have objected to because we’ve believed that he and those around him are themselves conservatives trying to do the right thing against sometimes terrible odds. We’ve been there for him because we’ve considered ourselves part of his team.

No more.

From now on, this administration will find it difficult to muster support on the right without explaining why it should be forthcoming. The days of the blank check have ended because no thinking conservative really wants to be part of a team that requires marching in lock step without question or thought, even if it is headed by the president of the United States.

I'm sorry, but you guys put an idiot in office, you knew he was an idiot, and now that idiot is making idiotic decisions and you don't like it. In fact, that idiot has been making a mess of things for five years and you just finally clued in. Well, too bad. You voted for it, you buy it. Read the rest of this post...

Things are really heating up

Raw Story says NY Daily News has info. that a "senior White House official" has flipped.

Talking Points Memo says watch out for a Post article soon involving "the Veep's Office."

Reuters says indictments could come "as early as Wednesday"

Now, how I am ever going to sleep tonight... Read the rest of this post...

A smackdown of one of the right wing ubiquitous press hounds

Victoria Toensing is one of the most annoying right wing pundits. Because she is a lawyer, she milks that as a patina of credibility. The lazy DC press corps is always quoting Toensing or her annoying husband, Joseph DiGenova. Last week, Toensing was quoted in Reverend Moon's paper downplaying the treasonous act of outing a spy:

"There is not one fact that I have seen that there could be a violation of the agent identity act," said Victoria Toensing, a lawyer who helped draft the 1982 act.

Today, over at TPM Cafe, former CIA agent Larry Johnson really lets her have it:

Ms. Toensing is wrong. Let us pray that Ms. Toensing is not practicing law these days because, if her comments in this article reflect her abilities as an attorney, clients could be in serious trouble. Valerie Plame was a "covert agent" as defined by the law. In her cover position as a consultant to Brewster-Jennings, Ms. Plame served overseas on clandestine missions. Just because she did not live overseas full time does not mean she did not work overseas using her status as a non-official cover officer.

Thanks, Larry, not that it will help. Toensing and her right wing pals should heed this from Johnson, too:

The important point is not that a law was broken, but that our country is in the hands of a President who is willing to tolerate people in his Administration who are admitted liars and who played a direct role in compromising our nation's security. President Bush is sending a clear message--it is more important to protect cronies than protect this country.

Read the rest of this post...

More Judy Backlash

Ms. Miller didn't make herself any friends this weekend with her big story:

Media critics said her explanation was hard to fathom and they slammed Times' editors for failing to provide oversight. The article also failed to explain why Miller tried to avoid testifying and why she never wrote a story about the events, the said.

"It's quite possible that of all the scandals and disturbances that the Times has gone through, this is the worst," said Michael Wolff, a media critic who writes for Vanity Fair.

While the account was unusually revealing, said Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, "Judith Miller's future is really in question. Her attempt to defend herself leaves a deep, self-inflicted wound."

She made matters worse, said Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism at New York University.

"She subtracted from public knowledge by introducing this unknown source whose name she couldn't remember," Rosen said. "It's almost like the gaps in the Nixon tapes."

Key portions of the late President Richard Nixon's office recordings were mysteriously erased when he talked about the Watergate scandal, a high-water mark in journalism.

Read the rest of this post...

Scottie says Rove is doing his duties

That's the problem, Scottie:

"Karl is here at the White House doing his duties, as he always does," McClellan said.

Because, apparently, treason is one of those duties. Read the rest of this post...

Froomkin has a theory

Which seems to capture the situation:

If in fact Rove and Libby are indicted, it could turn out to be because the kind of hairsplitting, enigmatic answers that have worked so well as staving off the White House press corps over the years served them very poorly once a resolute federal prosecutor entered the picture.

The Rove/Libby modus operandi worked well for them on the White House press corps...but not so well with Patrick Fitzgerald:

Common sense sometimes has no better ally than a determined federal prosecutor -- especially one with the liberty to expand the investigation to include allegations of conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice.

And special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald has some significant advantages over the White House press corps when it comes to getting answers. He's not trying to curry favor with anyone. He has an intense professional aversion to being lied to. And perhaps most devastatingly, he can ask as many follow up questions as he wants.

And he's not on super double secret background. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Will this be "GOP Mug shots and fingerprints" week? Read the rest of this post...

Vote Fraud in Iraq?

Chris at MyDD has the info, including reference to possible vote fraud in the January elections as well.

What, did the Ohio election board end up in Iraq? We really are exporting the best of America to the Middle East, aren't we? Read the rest of this post...

Book 'em Dano

Mug shots and fingerprinting for DeLay later this week:

Rep. Tom DeLay will likely be booked in a Texas county jail this week despite attempts by his attorneys to bypass the fingerprinting and mug shot process.

The former House majority leader was forced to step down from the post last month when he was indicted by a Texas grand jury. DeLay initially was charged with conspiracy to violate the election code and days later was indicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money in an alleged illegal scheme to funnel corporate money to Republican Texas legislative candidates.

DeLay's arraignment is set for Friday before state district Judge Bob Perkins in Travis County, Texas.

"Perkins believes that if God was charged with a felony, he would have to go through the booking process, too," said D'Ann Underwood, court coordinator for the judge.

Before Friday, DeLay, a Republican from Sugar Land, Texas, will likely spend about an hour being fingerprinted and photographed, she said. He'll also be required to state his attorneys for the record.

Read the rest of this post...

Pentagon yanks liberal radio show debut on Armed Forces Radio Network - apparently, only conservatives are allowed

I guess Herr Goebbels wasn't happy that the troops were about to get balanced radio broadcasts rather than just hearing from Rush Limbaugh. Simply amazing. Now they're using federal taxpayer money to broadcast Republican propaganda to the troops. Then again, if the troops found out that the GOP was supporting treason, they might not be too happy with their commander in chief. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Thread openly. Read the rest of this post...

The Normalization of Treason, the Republicans' gift to America

UPDATE: I originally posted this yesterday, Sunday, but didn't realize the reaction (good reaction) it would generate. So, I'm bumping the post up today so that the non-weekend crowd doesn't miss it. Thanks to all those who have commented so far. And don't miss Hunter at DKos opinions on the same subject.

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If a senior White House staffer had intentionally outed an American spy during World War II, he'd have been shot.

We're at war, George Bush keeps reminding us. We cannot continue with business as usual. A pre-9/11 mentality is deadly. Putting the lives of our troops at risk is treason.

Then why is the White House and the Republican party engaged in a concerted campaign to make treason acceptable during a time of war? That's exactly what they're doing. On numerous news shows today, Republican surrogates, their talking points ready, issued variations of the following concerning White House chief of staff Karl Rove's outing of a covert CIA agent as part of a political vendetta:

- It's the criminalization of politics
- Is this 'minor' leak really worth all this?
- Political payback is common and should not be criminalized
- Mis-speaking or mis-remembering is not a crime

Yes, the Republicans are now making light of an intentional effort to expose an undercover CIA agent, working on weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, no less, while we are at war in the Middle East on that very issue.

The GOP has become the party of treason.

It would be one thing for a senior adviser to the president to put the nation's security at risk during a time of war. That could be explained as an aberration - a quite serious one, no doubt - but a fluke nonetheless. But when the president himself refuses to keep his own word about firing that aberration, and when the entire Republican party rallies around that fluke and tries to minimize what is usually a capital offense during wartime, something is seriously wrong with that party and its leadership.

America is ignoring the Geneva Conventions because our president feels that winning this war is so paramount. Our Congress has watered down our civil rights laws. We have jailed American citizens with no access to legal counsel. And our President even believes it is worth lying to the American people in order to wage this so-important battle. All this because we are a nation at war and nothing will be permitted to stand in the way of this life-and-death struggle.

But when a senior aide to the President of the United States endangers the life of an undercover CIA agent, her colleagues and contacts around the world - when he chooses to put at risk our entire effort to uncover weapons of mass destruction before they are used to kill millions in an American city - what response do we get from the Bush White House and the Republican Party? A defensive (offensive) shrug.

The Republican party's gift to the American people, and the Bush administration's legacy, will be the normalization of treason. They are trying to convince Americans that betraying our country during wartime for personal gain is no more serious than running a stop sign or going 60 in a 55 zone.

If a senior aide to the president had intentionally outed an American undercover agent during World War II, an agent whose work was central to our mission of defeating the Germans, that aide would very likely be put to death. While no one is yet arguing that Karl Rove be executed, it is the height of hypocrisy and hubris for the Republican party to attempt to minimize a crime that not only puts our troops at risk, but risks the lives of every American man, woman and child.

It is truly a sad day when the Republican party minimizes treason in a selfish attempt to defend a traitor. President Bush has yet to give a clear explanation as to why 2,000 Americans have given their lives in Iraq. But one thing is for sure. It wasn't to defend our right to treason. Read the rest of this post...

The entire religious right is about to be subpoenaed

God, stop it! You're KILLING me here. :-) Read the rest of this post...

Good Morning, Maine

Today is actually a beautiful day here. It's supposed to be pouring. In fact it's sunny. Perhaps God is happy that Karl is getting indicted. Or perhaps he's really happy that Cheney is getting indicted.

Today at 6:30am, more or less, a reflection of me and the Atlantic behind me.



And a really bad picture of me and the governor of Maine yesterday - Governor Baldacci was kind enough to attend our fundraiser to fight the anti-gay bigots trying to overturn Maine's civil rights law.



You can donate online to the Maine Won't Discriminate campaign here. Read the rest of this post...

NY Times Willing To Lie For White House

The NYT published a huge front page story about its involvement in RoveGate (the White House's intentional smearing of former ambassador Joe Wilson). But only a few others have singled out the truly remarkable comment of reporter Judith Miller in her account of talking to Vice President Dick Cheney's right hand man Scooter Libby. Miller writes that during one interview she remembers:

Mr. Libby wanted to modify our prior understanding that I would attribute information from him to a "senior administration official." When the subject turned to Mr. Wilson, Mr. Libby requested that he be identified only as a "former Hill staffer." I agreed to the new ground rules because I knew that Mr. Libby had once worked on Capitol Hill.

Think about that. The White House was using patsies in the media to attack someone who spoke the truth about its "evidence" for invading Iraq (never forget that one day after Joe Wilson went public with his criticism of Bush's State of the Union address, the White House recanted). It's bad enough the MSM lets them do it anonymously. (They did so again during Hurricane Katrina, even when White House officials attacked the governor of Louisiana with lies that were demonstrably false but repeated anyway by the gullible Washington Post and Newsweek.) But now it's far, far worse.

A star reporter for the New York Times was willing to let the VP's chief of staff attack a critic of the White House, she was ready to let him do it anonymously AND SHE WAS WILLING TO DISGUISE HIS IDENTITY SO THOROUGHLY THAT NO ONE WOULD EVEN KNOW THE ATTACKS CAME FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.

So what is the NYT policy on anonymous sources? Right now, it seems to be: the Whtie House can attack people anonymously and we'll even lie about their identity so no one knows the White House is the one doing the mud-slinging. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Let's get this week started....could be very fun. Read the rest of this post...

Bloomberg: Fitz taking hard look at Cheney

Every morning, first thing I do is search the latest stories on Plamegate. Today's don't disappoint. Especially, this one. Wow:

A special counsel is focusing on whether Vice President Dick Cheney played a role in leaking a covert CIA agent's name, according to people familiar with the probe that already threatens top White House aides Karl Rove and Lewis Libby.

The special counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald, has questioned current and former officials of President George W. Bush's administration about whether Cheney was involved in an effort to discredit the agent's husband, Iraq war critic and former U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson, according to the people.

Fitzgerald has questioned Cheney's communications adviser Catherine Martin and former spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise and ex-White House aide Jim Wilkinson about the vice president's knowledge of the anti-Wilson campaign and his dealings on it with Libby, his chief of staff, the people said. The information came from multiple sources, who requested anonymity because of the secrecy and political sensitivity of the investigation.

And, fear not,looks like Fitzgerald is still going after Rove and Libby:

While there have been virtually no leaks out of Fitzgerald's office, and even the subjects of his investigation are unsure about his intentions, White House officials and Bush supporters are fearful that recent developments spell legal jeopardy for Rove, the central strategist behind Bush's political campaigns and much of his presidency, and Libby, a key architect of the Iraq war strategy.

Again, the reason White House officials and Bush supporters are so fearful is because they KNOW exactly what Rove and Libby did. They just figured those two would never get caught. But, they've been busted.

This week could get very interesting, to say the least. Read the rest of this post...

Blair to upgrade nuclear weapons

Forget about all of his no-nukes talk when it comes to Iran, Blair is preparing to jam through £10B ($18B) to upgrade the Trident weapons in the current UK arsenal. Why in the world does he need a new nuclear weapons program? Forget about the tight budgets for the UK military who also sent troops into battle under-supplied, Blair wants to act like a tough guy on the world stage. Let's hope that the Labour Party calls him on this. Read the rest of this post...

Iraq's not-really-a-constitution to pass

Oh the drama, the "constitution" that is lacking any substance seems to have passed, only to put the real fight off for another few months when the details are actually put in to the document. Expect the normal hype out of the WH, just like we did after the first vote but don't expect any results. Somehow, despite all of the chatter about progress, Iraq seems to have less battle-ready units today then they had a year ago. It's high time we set some dates for moving out and stop being part of the problem in Iraq. Read the rest of this post...