The Washington Times Chimes In...
Trial in ErrorIf You're Going to Charge Scooter, Then What About These Guys?
By Victoria Toensing
Could someone please explain to me why Scooter Libby is the only person on trial in the Valerie Plame leak investigation?
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES PATRICK J. FITZERALD with ignoring the fact that there was no basis for a criminal investigation from the day he was appointed, with handling some witnesses with kid gloves and banging on others with a mallet, with engaging in past contretemps with certain individuals that might have influenced his pursuit of their liberty, and with misleading the public in a news conference because . . . well, just because. To wit:
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES THE CIA for making a boilerplate criminal referral to cover its derrière.
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES JOSEPH C. WILSON IV with misleading the public about how he was sent to Niger, about the thrust of his March 2003 oral report of that trip, and about his wife's CIA status, perhaps for the purpose of getting book and movie contracts.
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES THE MEDIA with hypocrisy in asserting that criminal law was applicable to this "leak" and with misreporting facts to wage a political attack on an increasingly unpopular White House. To wit:
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES ARI FLEISCHER because his testimony about conversations differs from reporters' testimony, just as Libby's does. To wit:
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES RICHARD L. ARMITAGE with intentionally keeping silent about being the first person to reveal Plame's identity to reporters and with falsely telling the public that he did so at Fitzgerald's request because he did not want to be publicly embarrassed. To wit:
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES THE U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT with abdicating its legal and professional responsibility by passing the investigation off to a special counsel out of personal pique and reasons of ambition. <more>
By Victoria Toensing
Could someone please explain to me why Scooter Libby is the only person on trial in the Valerie Plame leak investigation?
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES PATRICK J. FITZERALD with ignoring the fact that there was no basis for a criminal investigation from the day he was appointed, with handling some witnesses with kid gloves and banging on others with a mallet, with engaging in past contretemps with certain individuals that might have influenced his pursuit of their liberty, and with misleading the public in a news conference because . . . well, just because. To wit:
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES THE CIA for making a boilerplate criminal referral to cover its derrière.
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES JOSEPH C. WILSON IV with misleading the public about how he was sent to Niger, about the thrust of his March 2003 oral report of that trip, and about his wife's CIA status, perhaps for the purpose of getting book and movie contracts.
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES THE MEDIA with hypocrisy in asserting that criminal law was applicable to this "leak" and with misreporting facts to wage a political attack on an increasingly unpopular White House. To wit:
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES ARI FLEISCHER because his testimony about conversations differs from reporters' testimony, just as Libby's does. To wit:
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES RICHARD L. ARMITAGE with intentionally keeping silent about being the first person to reveal Plame's identity to reporters and with falsely telling the public that he did so at Fitzgerald's request because he did not want to be publicly embarrassed. To wit:
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES THE U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT with abdicating its legal and professional responsibility by passing the investigation off to a special counsel out of personal pique and reasons of ambition. <more>
posted by Patrick J. Fitzgerald at 2/17/2007
58 Comments:
Now the gals over at the PJFFClub are discussing "inviting" Fitzgerald's 42-year old male cousin to their group. Mind you, this is a group that obsesses about the imagined details of his Fitz's sex life and who use lotsa "blushy" icons. Are they crazy? And, even if they are (and it seems likely at this point), no self-respecting adult male is going to want to be a part of it.
Do they know no real men?
Ah, Victoria. At least you are consistent.
Now, go get a worthwhile hobby.
Hey now, you know I'm not a member...but let them have their fun- who is it hurting?
I'm sure, after corresponding with a PJFFC member, they mean no harm or disrespect.
At 46, a guy like Fitz should be flattered they still think he's cute...(I'm over 40, so I can say that)
Perhaps they don't want to know a "real man" -I can think of some good reasons for that, HA
Anyway, wow I thought Victoria wrote an interesting article...for a crazy lady
Hey, Prissy (and I love your name):
The PJFFC is NOT harmless. Embarrassing other people is offensive. And if they think a 46-year old Harvard-trained lawyer would think that a bunch of strange women (who shoot messages back and forth about personal topics) are doing something desirable, then that explains a lot. And to even think of inviting his cousin into this delirium and to think that even vaguely a good thing just proves how 1) diconnected from reality they are - and - 2) how desperate they are to have some sort of personal connection.
And they call other people stalkers. Come on. This isn't complicated.
But, Victoria, honey, Fitz is working his way up the ladder. Just because you missed those law school classes about strategy doesn't mean Fitzgerald did.
Good Morning and Happy Saturday to you! :)
Victoria asks in her article, "Could someone please explain to me why Scooter Libby is the only person on trial in the Valerie Plame leak investigation?"
-----------------------
Victoria:
It's simple...Scooter committed obstruction of justice in this investigation by lying! Therefore, he is charged with obstruction of justice, lying to investigators and perjury. He isn't charged with leaking Valerie Plame's name!
I guess Judy's not the only one who needs the money. To bad this lady is so high she didn't realize the Grand Jury indicted Libby not Fitz. No wonder the media is having problems with viewers. When the reader is smarter then the reporter well it back to the internet.
Because Scooter is the shittiest liar, that is why he wears the diapers.
Just another Reagan Admin Clarice type wasting ink.
Anon @ 11:48:
ROFLMAO!! Small diapers at that!
anon,
Thanks for complimenting my name:-D
Has the PJFFC approached the real Fitzgerald and harrassed him?
It was my understanding site was for members only and they were trading back and forth silly comments. Is he that easily embarrassed by middle aged women talking about his "hot bod". At least they aren't calling him the 'pink man' like we do Rover...
If it bothers him that much maybe he should just ignore it or have it shut down. After all, this a faux site about him too-are you telling me a top US attorney is helpless to stop it? Awww, come now, I'm scoffing at that!
Right on S-Q, she and Clarice must have cooked up the article over their lonely wine-filled dinner last night heehee Fitz maybe they'd be nicer if you flirted with them;-)
I don't think Comey is a dishonorable man but I don't think he has the best judgment, either. Frankly, he always struck me as someone who is led around by his wife ("We have five children to put through college, Jimmy. Time to get a high-paying job.").
That said, I think Comey didn't think through what he was doing to his friend by tossing him this horrible case. The fact that Fitzgerald had the gumption to turn it into an investigation of the Bush cabal (it should be labelled the "USA v Libby and Friends") is a testament to how smart and brave Fitz really is. Of course, Victoria is neither smart nor brave so this all goes about her head.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/
nationworld/chi-0702170181feb17,1,
1200274.story?coll=chi-
newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=
true
(buzzflash, lefthand column)
The president's pit bull
When the campaigning president has required attack tactics, Cheney has stepped to the plate. When the wartime president has required someone to confront his critics, Cheney has stood ready with bruising words for the "defeatism" of Democrats he says are willing to retreat in the face of terrorism.
Asked in a recent interview with Newsweek magazine if he takes personally the criticism that some have leveled at him, Cheney said, "Well, I'm vice president, and they're not."
In the midst of casual speculation around Washington that Cheney, 66, might not serve out his term, Bush made a point of laying that to rest during an address to the American Enterprise Institute last week.
They are still in love, and Darth is still the president.
Ah, Prissy, you don't understand real men.
Prissy:
Did you see Victoria's photo on this thread? Ack! LOL
I wonder how many other shadow presidencies we've had.
Dear Anon re: the PJFFC:
I went over there and read some of their posts. It's like high school, except really sad.
You have to hope that Fitzgerald doesn't know they exist because it's just completely embarrassing.
Toensing's article is in the Washington Post, not the Washington Times.
Methinks your title could use some work.
Just another Neocon waste of skin and space. This bitch is putrid.
Is it really called the PJFFC? Can you get on it via Google? I always thought it was code name for FDL so I guess I don't realize how bad it is. Cyber-stalking?
The only thing that bothers me about Comey is that he now works for Lockheed-Martin in a very high position. People at FDL are always saying what an unsung hero he is, but as a progressive myself, I find it hard to fathom how a left blog like FDL goes gaga over someone who works for a corporation which is making more money out the Iraq war than Halliburton.
For anyone who is interested in minutiae of jury instructions, Jeralyn has a couple of new posts up:
What is it about those Neocon hags that makes them look so manly?
I'll bet they spend millions on electrolysis....
Manly yes, but I like it too!
"We now know from the so-called “Downing Street Memo,” that it appeared to senior members of the British Government who had conferred with senior Administration officials, that “Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
"Special Counsel Fitzgerald has done a great service to the nation thus far by investigating the CIA leak, but real questions remain. Was the CIA leak incident an effort to enforce discipline as part of a much broader criminal conspiracy by members of the Bush Administration to deceive Congress about a matter of war and peace? Who was involved? Were any of their actions criminal?"
http://www.dcmessageboards.com/
lofiversion/index.php/t4516.html
Much more interesting than hag Victoria's ramblings.
Just curious, why is every thing that I write in blue and linking to talkleft?
Now Anon, Oh but I do understand real men...only too well--but you are correct that I don't know Patrick Fitzgerald as a real man, although I met him once. (I don't make contacts the same way Judith Miller does;-)
He must be some kind of Saint Paddy? Maybe I missed that observation, he is an outstanding lawyer-I did notice that;-D
Like I said, if he hates it, shut it down or don't read it. I have not read it and I don't think most people are even aware of it. faux fitz posts their stuff here on occassion. I thought their Letter to Clarice was quite funny, though I too, am offended by comments regarding anyone's private sex life! Enough already
Nice post Teak!!
Have a great day JB's
12:16 you thinks at face value.
I know what you're talking about. That Fitz fan club is really sad. It reminds me of a message board for the TV show "Frasier" that was running a few years ago. Someone there "outed" David Hyde Pierce (although DHP was already out to anyone with a brain) and the "ladies" went crazy. LOL.
Meanwhile PPatriot, ("Like I said, if he hates it, shut it down or don't read it.") how exactly would FItzgerald shut it down, as per you suggestion? ANd, if you had read it, you would see what's wrong.
Nasch, I know what you mean about Comey and Lockheed, especially given Lynne Cheney and her son-in-law's connection to Lockheed. It does seem a little sketchy.
The gals over at FDL are very inconsistent. "We hate the NYTimes" followed by "WooHoo, we're in the NYTimes" - or - their fundamental misunderstanding of Fitz's politics ... and, registered or not, he has a political persuasion. Oh well. Those girls can dream.
There are many bits and pieces that makes you wonder about Comey and Fitzgerald but I think they are good men. Either way, after this trial is over we will know more of the truth about Patrick Fitzgerald. Truth revealer or truth burier.
anonymous, I've wondered about Fitzgerald's friendship with Andrew C. McCarthy too. I don't if it is still a close friendship or not, but I look over the list of McCarthy's articles in his archive on NRO, and he seems to have a real Islamo-fascist bee in his bonnet. When I typed in Patrick Fitzgerald and the Patriot Act in Google, too, I got an eye-opener. You are right about this trial's outcome showing whether Fitzgerald is a truth revealer or truth burier though, and I am in a wait and see mode right now. Whatever his role, he has served to keep the story in the limelight until a Democratic congress was returned.
Mr. Libby stands accused of incompetence.
Mr. Fitzgerald has elicited the acknowledgement that the identification of Ms. Plame came out of the State Department originally. Apparently, the first time her name was dropped into a conversation with a journalist was in June 2003, when Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, slipped it into a conversation with the famously deliberate Bob Woodward. But that was hardly a leak - Mr. Woodward writes books, and a book due out in the spring of next year is no vehicle for slamming a guy who's bothering you right now.
So, according to this narrative, when Mr. Libby got hold of the information about Ms. Plame - and not, as he told the grand jury, from Tim Russert of NBC - he decided in July to leak it to Judith Miller of The New York Times. Ms. Miller had been dogged in relaying the administration's case that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction posed a clear and present danger; she was both reliable and well-placed, writing for one of the country's most powerful news organizations. (This trial also tells a story about the Washington press corps in action, and it's not a pretty one.)
What Mr. Libby seems not to have taken into account, though, is that Ms. Miller had spent most of May embedded with a special unit in Iraq that was detailed to find the WMD, and - despite what she wrote in more than one story - that search team came up empty-handed. When Ms. Miller returned to Washington, she was no longer in favor with her editors, and, one way or another, nothing about Ms. Plame appeared in her paper.
What to do? Mr. Libby told Ari Fleischer, the White House press chief, who told Walter Pincus of The Washington Post (according to Mr. Pincus), but he was well known as a skeptic on the justifications for the war and did nothing with the information. Mr. Libby and Karl Rove told Matt Cooper, then of Time, but he was limited by its weekly deadline.
Eventually the news got to Bob Novak, the columnist, by way of Mr. Armitage and Mr. Rove. Mr. Novak did write about it, though he first vetted his column with Richard Hohlt, a Republican lobbyist who passed it on to the White House before Mr. Novak submitted it to his syndicate. And, after all this, the outing of Ms. Plame did nothing to deflect questions about the conspicuously absent WMD.
What a mess! Anyone in Washington who has that much trouble smearing someone else, and then gets so little out of it, ought to look for a new line of work.
Baltimore Sun
THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES S-Q fer giving me an' Geezer woodees evrah tyme we come inter here.
Hello thank you for blogging about Niger here is a link about the unknown country NIGER
http://www.niger1.com/aboutniger.html
Hey Sling Blade I would wear a sweater but it's like 81 degrees here today.. :)
Close yer eyes darlin'! And, no peeking! LOLMAO
I am just ticked off at those dang Republicans for blocking the Iraq vote!
Republican Senators: Are you with the President or with the American People?
And, shhhhhh... you'll wake up Geezer! LOL
Teak:
Was that you that made all the pretty blue words on this blog today and sent us all to Talk Left? LOL
McCain was to busy to vote he had to go to a ice cream fund raiser. Now don't forget to vote for him as he works only for the people ya think. Rudy collects 100K to speak at Tsunami event. Now the Tsunami victims didn't get much help after that. To think Clinton gave 100 per cent yet Rudy has to be paid big. Mitt thinks if Bush can pay his way to the White House so can he. At lease both had their Daddy's get them out of serving in the military just send others to die. As the Senate stops any action set by Bush more soldiers die any not one of them cares. To hear the Republicans tell it Hillary Clinton was responsible for the invasion and Bush had nothing to do with it nor did any Republicans it was all Hillary's fault. It was all about her vote no one elses. Just how stupid does the Republicans really think Americans are. Now that the cat is out of the bad about the lies that were spread their still trying the same old tricks. I just wish Americans would put the lives of our troops first because as of Nov. 7th we didn't have to lose anymore soldiers.
Hey Jackie:
There is an effort in place to recall John McCain in Arizona.
The papers have been filed by an Iraq war veteran in Phoenix. His name is Leonard Clark.
He is not just messing around, but deadly serious about getting "his comrades" safely out of a war that is "John McCain's attempt to fight Vietnam over again."
P.S.
Leonard Clark has a column at UnreportedNews.Net
Leonard Clark
BTW, Fitz, congratulations on your scoop with this article because I tried to print it out for a friend who doesn't blog and found out that it's not going to appear in the WaPo until Tuesday.
Thanks SQ I made my commit on the site. It is sad to watch a good man go down so low. The Senate held it's hearings as McCain was a no show. That tells what kind of President he would be. As an ex PWO one would think he would care but he doesn't. Since Nov. 7th we have lost soldiers that didn't have to die and everyday the Republican stall this we lose more lives. I hope Conn. is watching Lieberman too.
happy Saturday, justice bloggers. Enjoy your weekend. I'm bloggin' on my laptop in the desert. Limited power.Still catchin' up on the trial.
Later days. Peace and love to all.
not a goofball at 11:10 a.m. and anonymous in many other places:
We are purposely silly over at the pjffc, and have all commented on the hilarity of having pictures of a middle aged guy in a suit walking around with a briefcase. It is almost a parody fan site.
You seem to be obsessed with pointing us out. We have a variety of opinions and styles, but you take the one post you are most inflamed by, rush over here, and then attribute it to all of the ladies.
It seems reasonable to me that PJF is too busy to concern himself with either this blog, or that board (which is not SO easy to find, but I guess once you find it you're addicted, eh?). If you are sincerely interested in preventing Fitzgerald's being embarrassed by our site, then why would you try to promote it to a wider audience?
And why are you so protective of adult men you yourself don't know? You are becoming rather interesting. I don't think Fitz needs you to protect his virtue as much as you believe he does.
I'm not the anonymous the PFBE is addressing but s/he is wrong. I checked and that fan site is the first thing that comes up if someone searches Fitzgerald on MSN, which is my search engine. And the content is really pathetic.
I'm also unclear what the fan poster means by "virtue" in the context s/he uses it. And who knows if the poster knows Fitzgerald or not.
Poor, deluded ladies.
Jackie:
Yes, anyone and everyone can sign that petition. Lieberman and McCain both need to be recalled.
I DO assume that anyone posting here doesn't know the man.
Anyone who believes that anyone with strong ties to Fitz would ever post here or at the PJFFC is deluded.
Ok, I'm done with you. Thanks.
Well, since I think the woman above is addressing me, although she doesn't seem to realize there are more than two posters on this board, I would suggest she go back to her own board and re-evaluate her life (she must think the world exists of 1) Fitz, 2) her, and 3) the competition). There actually are people who post on boards who know the "target" of the board and hope to get "the crazies" on track. Clearly, "Ms. Done" fits that bill.
Natsh et al, I know what you mean about McCarthy and those former SDNY prosecutors. But I think, if you spend years interviewing al Qeuda (spelling?) members, it gives you a different take on the Middle East.
S.Q. I think it was, but not with mischief. Teak is trying to find a "for dummies" way to make the click-able links. So I've been trying out firefox extensions. I don't think that was it. I seen that and I thought, "oh, crap". My kid had a ball tourney today so I've been at that, since I got home I've been trying to back track and "uninstall". Sorry everyone, I am a ditz.
I know about the tiny url thing, but doesn't seem to work when I try to check and make sure it works and still without the click part. Sigh..
the Washington Post "wh*res" need a make-over.....
Fortunately, Carol Leonnig is a good writer, although she has been calling Fitz out for his emphasis on "leaking." But, for the most part, WaPo is a waste of dead trees.
E:
Would it be okay if I publish your husband's poem on my blog? The poem "Trail of Tears"?
We need to come up with a word for the headline that rhymes with "Post." Toast? Roast?
New thread!
Who is this Victoria broad? Man, the nimrods are certainly polluting this weekend.
I say to the Victoria chick that the Justice Bloggers hearby charge Victoria of being an idiot..
calamityjane said...
Peace and love to all.
Calamity, it's so nice to see that every time you write it.
(People, don't underestimate the power of lovely words or lovely thoughts!)
...and don't underestimate doing whatever it takes to bring about justice, even if it is unpopular. That is Fitz's motto.
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