Plamegate countdown for the final week...

I think most Americans are more interested in fictional TV versions of the White House.. they can wrap up a story in a hour, after all. And it stars whats-her-name.

For the record, there were two articles of impeachment against Clinton: One for perjury, one for obstruction of justice. No other charges. Hutchison, like most Senate Republicans voted "guilty" on both of them. And in a statement , she explained her vote this way: "If only the President had followed the simple, high moral principle handed to us by our Nation's first leader as a child and had said early in this episode 'I cannot tell a lie,' we would not be here today."

God loves Texas. Wasn't the Clinton impeachment viewed by some as retribution for the attempted impeachment of Nixon? So does this mean that if someone gets indicted here that the Republicans will be plotting revenge for the next 20 years?

Martin Sheen.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn10222005.html

"What [Times' editor] Bill Keller Keller actually wrote was the following:

'if I had known the details of Judy's entanglement with Libby, I'd have been more careful in how the paper articulated its defense and perhaps more willing than I had been to support efforts aimed at exploring compromises.'

'Entanglement' is a curiously suggestive word, given the notoriously rich and varied texture of Judy Miller's sexual resumé whose imagined contours have been the sport of newsrooms and hotel bars around the world. Certainly Miller took it that way, writing in response, 'As for your reference to my 'entanglement' with Mr. Libby, I had no personal, social, or other relationship with him except as a source.' Welcome to The Times as Pay-Per-View Reality TV....

Miller's game was the Times' game. They were witting co-conspirators. When Miller co-wrote (with Stephen Engelberg and William Broad) Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War, the Times was happy to print her stories in the paper designed to push the book up into Bestseller status, in a staggering conflict of interest that earned the paper plenty of money. This, remember, was when Miller was sent that mysterious envelope of white powder that turned out not to be anthrax spores, which gave the book yet another boost.

It's way too late in the game for Times editors to start whining that Judy misled them. They printed her rubbish because they were disposed to believe it, and for Keller to turn on her now in an 'internal' memo designed for public consumption is cowardly and despicable. The gentlemanly thing for Keller to do would to keep a stiff upper lip, let Dowd and the reporters toss Miller on their horns and, if circumstances warrant, fall upon his sword, accompanied in this act by the publisher, unless the Times' shareholders shoot him first for presiding over the 53 per cent drop in profits this year.

I never cared much for the whole Plame scandal, mostly on the aesthetic grounds that outing Plame as a CIA agent seemed such a moronic way for the White House to try to discredit Joe Wilson, also because outing CIA agents is an act for which--for radicals at least--applause should be the default setting. But in that odd way that scandals acquire critical mass by dint of larger social and political discontent, the Plame scandal is severely wounding the Bush regime and the New York Times and we certainly applaud that.

And with the Times now publicly dismembering itself the scandal has at last become fun. Not as much fun as the Lewinsky scandal of course, but what scandal will ever match those magic years?"

I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.

Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby’s testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.

The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson’s husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration’s handling of intelligence about Iraq’s nuclear program to justify the war.

Lawyers said the notes show that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003.

Meanwhile, the bar certainly has slipped considerably for Alexander Cockburn in top form. Does he wish to comment on Maureen Dowd, or to emulate her? Were it not for the continued great work of Jeff St. Clair, that newsletter should long ago have been rechristened CounterPinch.

QUESTION: Back in 2003, the Vice President said publicly that he didn't know who sent Joe Wilson on the Niger mission, back in June of 2003 -- or July of 2003 -- when the person who sent him's name first became public. There now seems to be contradictory evidence that, in fact, he did know. Do you know, did he know, did he not know?

SCOTT McCLELLAN: This is a question relating to an ongoing investigation, and we're not having any further comment on the investigation while it's ongoing. That is on all questions relating to the investigation.

QUESTION: But that isn't really a question about the investigation.

SCOTT McCLELLAN: It relates to the whole issue that the special prosecutor is investigating, or looking into.

QUESTION: Well, it relates to the truthfulness of the Vice President with the American public, too, doesn't it?

SCOTT McCLELLAN: Terry, I think you're prejudging things and speculating. And we're not going to prejudge or speculate about things.

QUESTION: Does the President have confidence in the Vice President?

QUESTION: Does the President have confidence in the Vice President?

SCOTT McCLELLAN: The Vice President is doing a great job as a member of this administration and the President appreciates all that he is doing.

Talking Points is also hyping up a new Italian news story -- worth reviewing at least.

Since saying how much he "appreciates" someone or something is Bush's primary signal of disdain (note he always greets what passes these days for tough questions from reporters with, "I appreciate the question"), I would say Cheney is basically finished.

Indictment letters going out already?

The indictment lists the crimes the defendant allegedly committed and describes the facts the government believes support those allegations. It is a roadmap to what the prosecution intends to prove at trial. Grand jury indictments are returned to the district court – usually to a magistrate judge – in a sealed court hearing. Indictments generally are unsealed after a defendant is arrested.

Indictments generally are unsealed after a defendant is arrested.

perp walk! PERP WALK!

I am a lawyer and can tell you that "sealed" indictments can mean a number of things - especially in this case.

Often times the indictments are, in fact, "un-sealed" , i.e, made public, upon the arrest and arraignment of the person named in the indictment. But they don't have to be.

Remember that this grand jury expires this friday. So unless Fitzgerald wants to empanel a new grand jury he needs to hand down indictments by then. If there are sealed indictments handed down by the grand jury in this case I would wager one of two things (that have already been reported by others, by the way): Either some of those that are to be indicted are working on plea/cooperation deals with Fitzgerald currently and by sealing the indictments he is allowing them to negotiate some sort of deal and then will dismiss the indictments against them. This may mean that the public never hears the extent of such person's complicity.

In the alternative, Fitzgerald may be planning on empaneling another grand jury to buy him time to further investigate matters and is only handing down the indictments he knows he can get from this grand jury at this time. This would allow him to empanel another grand jury without publically releasing the details of the indictments handed down by the expiring grand jury.

Of course the most-likely scenario is that the prosecutor perhaps did not want to deliver the so-called "target letters" (he is not required to do so) because of the over-whelming amount of leask that have been occuring recently and is just sealing the indictments in order to give himself time to give those named in the indictments notice thereof. Given the magnitude of the case and the press coverage related to it I wouldn't be at all surprised if this last scenario is the one that plays out. Fitzgerald seems like the type of guy who would be diplomatic and courteous in delivering the news to those indicted in order to possibly allow them to avoid the press frenzy that would ensue if he filed unsealed indictments.

But never fear........ if sealed indictments are handed down the leaks will come even more fast and furious.

I think the phrase you're looking for is "frog march"

Look out
Look out
Pink Elephants on parade...

its funny cuz ROVE IS GAY

Man, the press/appointee/diplomatic corps needs to get out more. Or does she just photograph extraordinarily poorly?

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/rids/20051026/i/r4038924512.jpg?x=380&y=286&sig=5MzvqdOxvvY250nn535lyA-- http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/rids/20051026/i/r1285281954.jpg?x=380&y=241&sig=ki3KLYzjybVwR6uFpdycUQ--

hey you semiotics folks. You wanna do a BAGnewsnotes-style deconstruction of Our Teeny-Tiny Dear Leader there?

-- Josh in Chicago (Vitesse9...) (webmail), October 25th, 2005. (Josh in Chicago)

OTM.

judging from rove's physique, i'm not sure the swat team would be necessary, but he may just have it in him to get past a cop who was too busy with his donut to notice.

http://redstateson.blogspot.com/2005/10/systemic.html

From Watergate to Iran/contra to Plamegate and the lies that led to the present war, we are supposed to believe, as adults, that all this criminality is an aberration; that if we take away these lapses of governing judgment, the American corporate state would operate at a higher moral level, most likely under the aegis of the Democratic Party. As the insufferable Randi Rhodes put it on TV recently, if you value the truth, then you must be a Dem. In other words, the Dems are humanity's Final Stop. Little wonder that the likes of Rhodes and (Ed) Schultz refrain from serious analysis. They like this system just fine. They simply want those they agree with to run it instead.

This helps to explain all those libs online jumping and leaping about, gleefully anticipating a slew of indictments... That the Bush gang couldn't have gotten away with so much without the help of various Dems seems beside the point. Like the Rove clones they so despise, mainstream libs stick to a political line of their own, and will not - cannot -- entertain, much less seriously consider, any deviation, especially now.

Their big problem is not enough major media in their hip pocket to command as Rove does his media minions. That edge is so huge in the Republicans favor it has been the difference between holding power and marginalization.

Bush even made light of the issue of reporter-source relationships that has been at the center of the investigation into who in his administration was responsible for leaking the name of a covert CIA operative to the media. The investigation led to Friday's perjury and obstruction of charges against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

When an Argentine reporter said sources told him that Kirchner planned to ask Bush for help reaching a new financial agreement on its debts with the International Monetary Fund, Bush expressed mock surprise that government officials can act as secret-leaking sources.

"I'm not going to ask you who they are, of course," Bush said, drawing laughter from the U.S. contingent in the room. "Inside joke here, for my team."

Fuckface.

it's been a year since Dubya got re-elected

let's review:
2004
November 3: Bush Pledges To Reach Out the Whole Nation In Second Term. Bush: “So today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent: To make this nation stronger and better I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust. A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation.” [Link]

November 8: Federal Judge Rules Bush Overstepped Constitutional Grounds In Brushing Aside Geneva Conventions In Treatment of Detainees. [Link]

November 9: Presidential Election Revealed Major Voting System Failures. [Link]

November 17: House GOP Changes Rule Requiring Leaders To Step Down If Indicted. [Link]

November 30: Red Cross Investigation Uncovers Widespread Detainee Abuse in Guantanamo. [Link]

[......etc]

I wouldn't be surprised if Bush never has another full-on press conference.

one of the lefty blogs out there has quotations for all the other fucked up sex-scenes in rightwing books. Lynn Cheney's, Bill Oriellys, etc.

Anyhoo, Cheney told Libby to do it

Libby also indicated what he will offer as a broad defense during his upcoming criminal trial: that Vice President Cheney and other senior Bush administration officials had earlier encouraged and authorized him to share classified information with journalists to build public support for going to war. Later, after the war began in 2003, Cheney authorized Libby to release additional classified information, including details of the NIE, to defend the administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case for war.

I'm waiting for him to testify under oath that that's the case, see.

(please don't photoshop my balls onto that pic)

Charlie Rose — fresh off last night's return to the air and surprise party filled with Gang-o'-500 guests galore — interviewing Richard Armitage, the man who tout le Washington believes was Bob Woodward's source on Plame (and probably Novak's too). That exclusive interview occurs this very day. And you won't believe how foxy and healthy Charlie looks.

i suppose this is a good place as any to Note (sorry) that the dude looked vaguely Clooneyesque last night

http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2004_Ocean