Author: catnip

During the past three days, the US lost 8 more soldiers in the Iraq war. Expect the Bush administration to caution that, now that the campaign has begun for the planned December parliamentary elections, the insurgency will once again escalate. The problem is that it doesn’t seem to have slowed down now for a very long time, regardless of how much Bush would like to convince people otherwise by putting a happy face sticker in the “progress” column. That reality is now being voiced by more and more soldiers.

The old lie that “if you don’t support the war, you don’t support the troops” must be put to rest – for good.

Via AP:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — More than half of North Carolina military members surveyed in the latest Elon University poll disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq and his overall job performance.

Nearly 53 percent of military members said they strongly disapproved or disapproved of Bush’s handling of his job. And just more than 56 percent of that same group strongly disapproved or disapproved of how he has dealt with the Iraq war.

This is Bush’s war that those soldiers are fighting for him and they have lost confidence in their Commander-in-Chief. Surely, they can’t all be liberal peace freaks as the delusional warmongers would have you believe.

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If Fox News Had Been Around Throughout History…

Don’t forget: Daylight Savings Time ends tonite…

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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….

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From the indictment:

21. On or about July 10 or July 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke to a senior official in the White House (“Official A”) who advised LIBBY of a conversation Official A had earlier that week with columnist Robert Novak in which Wilson’s wife was discussed as a CIA employee involved in Wilson’s trip. LIBBY was advised by Official A that Novak would be writing a story about Wilson’s wife.

CNN’s Larry King has just announced that sources have revealed that Official A is Karl Rove.

Fitzgerald had been asked about Official A during his press conference today and said he wasn’t sure if he could reveal Official A’s identity – that he would have to check with his colleagues. Apparently, they have decided to make that revelation tonite.

So, it looks like Rove was Novak’s source. I think Rove is in big trouble.

Update [2005-10-28 22:12:9 by catnip]:: John Solomon of AP has more about all of today’s indictment news, including the fact that Official A is Karl Rove.

Crooks and Liars has the video of Fitzgerald’s press conference.

WaPo has the transcript.

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Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s press conference on today’s indictments in the Valerie Plame affair will begin at approximately 2:15pm ET.

You can watch or listen live at C-SPAN or CBS News.

Lewis “Scooter” Libby has been indicted on 5 counts:

1 count of obstruction of justice
2 counts of perjury
2 counts of making false statements

Read the official indictments here. (.pdf file)

Mr Libby has resigned.

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