That Talking Point Won't Fly

During Friday’s press conference, when Patrick Fitzgerald announced the 5 indictments against I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, responding to a reporter’s question about the right-wing talking point that charges like perjury, making false statements and obstruction were just “technicalities”, Fitzgerald replied bluntly, “That talking point won’t fly”. No doubt.

Regardless, the right-wing spin machine is so desperate to Save Scooter(tm) that they continue to use that one and more. The truth hurts – especially when you find out that one of your heroes allegedly lied. So, what do you do when your bubble is burst? You just lie some more!

Note: there is so much crap flying around out there right now that I just couldn’t bring myself to deal with a lot of it without feeling overwhelmingly nauseous, so I’ve just posted some highlights or lowlights, as it were.

Here are more right-wing talking points that just won’t fly:

From the WSJ’s Opinion Journal:

“Libby is charged with lying about a crime that wasn’t committed.”

Valerie Plame’s cover was blown. Libby is charged with lying about his role in that sordid affair.

FITZGERALD: He was at the beginning of the chain of phone calls, the first official to disclose this information outside the government to a reporter. And then he lied about it afterwards, under oath and repeatedly.

“To the extent that the facts alleged in the indictment can be relied upon…”

When you don’t have any other logical defense, attack the facts. That’s kind of ironic actually since Libby lied about his “facts” and was the only one charged with doing so. If someone else perjured themselves, they would have been charged too.

“But he [Fitzgerald] has thrust himself into what was, at bottom, a policy dispute between an elected Administration and critics of the President’s approach to the war on terror, who included parts of the permanent bureaucracy of the State Department and CIA.”

FITZGERALD: … It was known that a CIA officer’s identity was blown, it was known that there was a leak. We needed to figure out how that happened, who did it, why, whether a crime was committed, whether we could prove it, whether we should prove it.

[…]
That brings us to the fall of 2003. When it was clear that Valerie Wilson’s cover had been blown, investigation began.”

“Unless Mr. Fitzgerald can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Libby was lying, and doing so for some nefarious purpose, this indictment looks like a case of criminalizing politics.”

For some “nefarious” purpose? Lying is lying is lying and when you lie to a grand jury, whether you have “nefarious purposes” or not, you get charged. Apparently, Libby is now going to use the infamous “I can’t recall because I’m such a busy man” defense. That begs the question: why didn’t he (who is a lawyer) and his lawyer just use that defense in the first place? I’ll tell you why: because it’s a crock.

much more on the flip including unbelievable crap in WaPo and the NYT….

Ace of Spades blog:

“And so here we are. No crime was committed BEFORE the investigation, so he indicts someone on five charges (?) for statements made in the course of the investigation.

See above.

This post is actually full of lies including:
“You don’t need to empanel a grand jury to decide if Valerie Plame was a covert agent, or if any of the various national security laws were broken.

Right. Obviously they should have just hired that blogger. Actually, Bush should probably nominate him to the Supreme Court!

and…“This question could have been, and should have been, answered in the first month of legal investigation, using no greater investigative resources than a law library.”

Alrighty then! Who needs courts? Dissolve them all, I say.

Wanker.

“And during those two years he’s had people in jail for contempt and questioned many witnesses before the grand jury.”

“People”? Judith Miller is “people”?

Daily Pundit:

“Joesph [sic] Wilson and his wife should be investigated for “how a CIA employee manipulated the system into sending her obviously unqualified husband on a junket at taxpayer’s expense with the apparent goal of attacking the President in whose administration she ostensibly worked.”

Obviously. Why hasn’t anyone thought of that one before??

The NYT:

“Headline: Novel Strategy Pits Journalists Against Source”

Wrong. Libby gave those reporters permission to testify about their conversations with him.

“Mr. Fitzgerald has gathered documents and other evidence showing that Mr. Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, learned of the identity of a C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, weeks before he talked with the three reporters. But, according to the indictment, Mr. Libby told the grand jury that the information came from Mr. Russert.”

That headline should actually read “Libby’s Lying Strategy Pitted Reporters Against Himself”.

WaPo:

Plame was not a covert agent and this is all Fitzgerald’s fault.

“It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 — and probably much earlier — Fitzgerald knew this law had not been violated. Plame was not a “covert” agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters.

Yes, that’s in WaPo, folks.

FITZGERALD:“Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer. In July 2003, the fact that Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer was classified.” And “You need to know at the time that he transmitted the information, he appreciated that it was classified information, that he knew it or acted, in certain statutes, with recklessness.”