Scooter....

[Pherr the Dorf]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12187153/

Vice President Dick Cheney’s former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

Before his indictment, I. Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorized the disclosure, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

Shit... meet fan

[cadalano]

libby is proper fucked anyway. I dont see his defense going anywhere save for people coming forward or a significant bit of proof coming out of nowhere. the administration owns all of the evidence against itself and even though the judge is reviewing the classified material I just dont see them ever handing over anything to even suggest that they did something wrong.





I was just a little intrigued at the similarities between this and watergate so far though.

[Thess]

Libby is screwing himself, now Bush will never pardon him.

[Marbus]

Hah, I sent the news to a big Republican buddy of mine and this was his response...

Expect that there has not ever been proven that any law was broken. Valerie Plame was not covert (did not meeting the criteria). The Fitzgerald case against Libby is falling apart. All it does is detract from the fact that Joe Wilson lied and was proven to lie by the Senate.

I thought it was funny since for some Bush supporters it wouldn't matter if he sacraficed a baby to Satan on National TV they would just say the "liberal media" altered the tape or something...

Did you see that one of the guys that took the fall with Nixon (it wasn't G.Gordon) said Bush's wire tapping, this topic and others all far outweight what Nixon was impeached about and that he couldn't understand why Bush was still the President? and of course since he worked for Nixon he is a big Republican...

While I hope something good comes from this it's difficult to determine what Scooters motives are. Is he spilling his guts because he is scared and doesn't want some conjugal visits from some big guy in jail? or is he trying to do a service to the country by exposing the BS that is the current administration? Regardless of that I have to say that while I don't agree with a lot of his political statements, it takes a real man to stand up for his President and take the fall like G. Gordon Libby did... Scooter Libby just seems like a wuss weasel comepared to him anyway though I guess.

Marb

[Kaldaur]

Your friend is a idiot, both in terms of English usage and facts.

[Arborealus]

Bush hates leaks! 'Cept his own apparently.

[Boogahz]

I wonder how he will take care of himself if he is shown to actually be the one who authorized this...or would he not count as a member of his own administration in his mind....

[Arborealus]

I wonder how he will take care of himself if he is shown to actually be the one who authorized this...or would he not count as a member of his own administration in his mind....

Well pragmatically, he isn't really a significant member...

[Pherr the Dorf]

I wonder how he will take care of himself if he is shown to actually be the one who authorized this...or would he not count as a member of his own administration in his mind....

He would be obliged to fire whoever told him to place that order.... duh

[Aabidano]

From the Times:

The president has the legal power to declassify information, and Mr. Libby indicated in his testimony that the president's decision — which he said was conveyed through Mr. Cheney — gave him legal cover to pass on information contained in a National Intelligence Estimate.

I'd assume this is why, it would make what Scooter did legal. It seems kind of slimey, but not illegal if permission did actually come from Bush. That saves Rove's neck as well and explains his still having a security clearance.

[Kaldaur]

Right. Looking at the President's ability to classify and declassify at his discretion, what he did is not illegal. It's the administration's posturing in 2003 about firing whoever leaked information, and now the information that the president authorized the leak for political purposes that is coming back to bite them in the butt.

[Boogahz]

Right. Looking at the President's ability to classify and declassify at his discretion, what he did is not illegal. It's the administration's posturing in 2003 about firing whoever leaked information, and now the information that the president authorized the leak for political purposes that is coming back to bite them in the butt.

I believe that the actual comment was that they would be "dealt with" and the media ran with that meaning fired. That's why I asked how he would deal with himself if he was the one who authorized it.

[Crav]

Libby is charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to FBI agents investigating Plame's exposure.

The thing is Libby isn't being charged with leaking information. If he had originally said that the President had authorized the leak then more than likely he wouldn't have been charged with anything. So whether the act itself was legal or illegal is really irrelevant to the Libby case.

In any case just because the President can declassify information that doesn't mean he can do so without some very good reasons, of course that would be a matter for congress to decide. There are reasons for checks and balances.

[Fash]

She wasn't covert eh?...

thats like having a 4 month media frenzy over the leaking of the employee of the month at arbys!!

i bet dick and bush are quite pleased with this little game they're playing with the media.

[Kaldaur]

Yeah, just like Arby's.