How much more evidence does it take before the entire country sees this administration for the complete incompetent and corrupt failure that it is.

If one does require more evidence, perhaps the light that is beginning to shine on the Walter Reed Veterans Hospital scandal will be enough.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17484687/

...and will they care?

Probably not too much since sex isn't involved. However, I'm thinking at this point, nothing can save this adminstration, not even the head of one bin Laden on a plate.

I'm pretty sure the ones that got out of the Bush admin early, like the Powells and even the Ashcrofts are counting their blessings. The Rices, no doubt, are kicking their own asses.

I'd be curious to know what straight-arrow John Ashcroft thinks of the moral corruption surfacing these days at the White House.

There were some parts of the above linked piece that I found disturbing, especially the statement that the verdict in this trial "isn’t really about Scooter Libby at all" but Richard Cheney. Is the writer trying to imply that the harshness of the verdict was politically motivated? Or, was Libby set up to be a fall guy? Did Cheney or other people in the administration use Libby?

Even though I don't approve of the tactics and methods of this administration, I sincerely hope that this trial and its verdict are not an indicator of a trend towards an increased use of the courts to achieve political goals.

Yes, many people consider Scooter Libby the fall guy for the Plame leak. Libby himself has said such, I believe.

It's hard to claim a Republican prosecutor (Fitzgerald) would have political motives in indicting Libby. Fitzgerald seems to be a law-and-order kind of guy - and he was appointed by Bush, after all. Fitzgerald seems instead to care more about the law than the politics.

Republicans used the courts to go after Bill Clinton in the 1990s so its hardly anything new. Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr spent millions of dollars investigating the Whitewater affair and indicting lots of Bill Clinton's political friends and associates (even rivals), trying to get at Clinton. Ultimately, of course, nothing was ever proven in regards to Whitewater and the Clintons. Many news stories printed by reputable newspapers in the 1990s about Whitewater later turned out to be not true. Read the chilling book "The Hunting of the President" by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons for a detailed account of that dark episode in our national history.

Andrew

I don't think the verdict has anything to with political motivations by the jury. I think the comment made about it "being about Dick Cheney" is simply one more indictment against Cheney's manipulative behavior in the run up to the Iraq War. Libby simply "took one for the team".

Wonder how much of one he's gonna take?

Year in Jail? More?

Heard Fitz on the Ed Schultz show just a little while ago. It's clear he thinks the facts warrant some additional discovery. Enough has come out about Cheney to begin some serious legal motions, IMHO.

Fitz was interesting though. He said that court is court and what was said was part of a solid and warranted response to allegations brought by the defense. Every time I've heard him speak, he's been rational and very focused on both the scope of the task handed to him, and the matters of law. The implications, beyond his charge, really are not a matter for his discussion.

It's tough to ask for a better balance than that. IMHO, he's doing the right thing by leaving the rest up to congress.

Anyone up for a pardon pool?

My gut says one month after sentencing. Libby will get his pardon, or he just might start talking about more. Taking one for a losing team just might not be so appealing now as it was then.

And what about Wilson huh? He's gotta be somewhere on TV tonight.

I kind of don't care about this. I'm not sure why exactly. Part of me is because wanting real justice from this administration is often a long-shot ( Pardon pool? I'm in ) and I'm still idealisitic enough to have it effect me when justice is not served. So I'm not spending any emotional capital on it.

Also, this, to me, is the Lewinski equivalent. While it was done for different reasons and blah blah blah blah - it is something that eveyone expects from this administration. Just like nobody was very surprised that Clinton got his knob gobbled. Both examples are snapshots of their respective terms. And when looking back on how riled up I got over Lewinski, compared to the REAL outrage that is available for this administration, I don't want to get all worked up about something that, yes, bothers me, but doesn't surprise me.

It's other stuff from Bush that continues to surprise me to the point of being shocked. And that's what I have to spend what little energy I have left on.

See? I don't even have the energy to pick up my dangling participle.

I'm wondering when DICKster and DUHbya are going to feel the wrath???
Oh.... that's right! They're both ABOVE THE LAW!

Straussian philosophy saved the GOP after Watergate, made America forget and turned the party into a theocratic, loony bin. There will be no such lifeboat of extremism for them this time. It has simply gone too far.

A picture can be worth a thousand words.

Well everything I saw pretty much did indicate he tried to cover his own tracks. But what everyone was on, was a witch hunt for Carl Rove & Dick Cheney. Which Fitzgerald has pretty much determined there was no crime commited that can be taken to trial. He has said the investigation is inactive.

I really hope Bush does not pardon Libby. Because it will throw more fuel on the fire for 08. I am one that now says it can't come soon enough.