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October 29, 2005
WB: Jigsaw, Part 2
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Tangentially relevant. In a mis-directed bit of crap, other than a quote from Teddy Kennedy, Peggy Noonan admits in WSJ that Kleptocratic Elites Attitudes are Precisely what’s we’ve been saying all along – I’ve Got Mine & Fuck You.
I suspect that history, including great historical novelists of the future, will look back and see that many of our elites simply decided to enjoy their lives while they waited for the next chapter of trouble. And that they consciously, or unconsciously, took grim comfort in this thought: I got mine. Which is what the separate peace comes down to, “I got mine, you get yours.”
link
Posted by: jj | Oct 29 2005 23:27 utc | 1
Fitzgerald seemed to be saying at the press conf. that by prosecuting Libby for the obstruction, he will get to the underlying crime.
Posted by: ML | Oct 29 2005 23:44 utc | 2
Has anyone asked how long this prosecution might take. My guess is two years, maybe four. In three years exactly he gets his forget about the whole thing anyway card in all likelyhood anyway.
Will Cheney get called to the stand? Deciding that in itself could take years, national security issues and all. He’ll likey be in the a hole in Jackson Hole by then. Libby can play that game too of course, and will.
Anyway everyone will have a long long long long long time to play this game. So best to step back.
Eight or so GI’s killed since Libby’s travails become front and center Twice as many probably permanently severly disabled. Poor poor Scooter.
Alive but the war is here to stay.
Posted by: rapier | Oct 30 2005 0:00 utc | 3
All of you gloomies, read some of what is being said at http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/
@jj
One of my first favorites of the Dead.
Shipping powders back and forth
Singing black goes south and white comes north.
In a whole world full of petty wars
Singing I got mine and you got yours.
And the current fashion sets the pace,
Lose your step, fall out of grace.
And the radical, he rant and rage,
Singing someone’s got to turn the page.
And the rich man in his summer home,
Singing just leave well enough alone.
But his pants are down, his cover’s blown…
Grateful Dead, Throwing Stones Bob Weir & John Barlow.
Posted by: Juannie | Oct 30 2005 1:51 utc | 6
RE: what was Fiz doing at Sharp’s office —
isn’t this kinda interesting?
link
BY CRAIG GORDON
WASHINGTON BUREAU
October 29, 2005, 9:14 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — If President George W. Bush was worried about a new probe into whether top aides leaked a covert CIA agent’s identity, he didn’t show it that day in October 2003.
He bantered with reporters about the baseball playoffs and a state dinner the night before. When talk turned to the investigation, then just two weeks old, Bush sounded doubtful that whoever revealed Valerie Plame’s identity would ever be found. “In all due respect to your profession,” Bush told the journalists, “you do a very good job of protecting the leakers.”
He was reflecting the long-held conventional wisdom in Washington, shared by outside legal experts and embraced by a White House eager to head off a budding scandal that touched on the use of flawed intelligence to justify the Iraq war.
When I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby sat down with FBI investigators just one week after Bush’s remarks, prosecutors allege that he made up an elaborate lie to explain how he obtained Plame’s identity — but one that only the reporters he spoke to about Plame would be able to refute definitively.
Posted by: MEL | Oct 30 2005 2:57 utc | 7
Fitzgerald will turn Libby. Yes, he will. Some people say no, no. They say Libby has no real incentive to cooperate. They ask why Libby would say anything to Fitz.
Because this is only the opening indictment. Fitz has shown Libby his gun, with five cylinders loaded, and said ‘let’s talk one more time — because everything you’ve said so far is a proven lie. Say something else or I’ll show you my rifle as well.’
Crude metaphor, I know, but very real on the receiving end, as Libby knows tonight. Why, as Libby’s head hit the pillow this evening, he told himself, “Self, that SOB has me cold turkey on twice as much and twice as bad as he’s charged me with. Why O why did I ever screw that pooch? Where was Ashcroft when the shit hit the fan? He was supposed to have my back! Goddammed Bible-thumpin’ faggot. Him n’ his Crisco can go . . .”
May I also suggest:
Libby knows there is always some risk that pardon may be delayed, a great while perchance,
Libby knows he can be called to testify under oath at the Wilsons’ civil trial — more legal trouble, and no pardon will help with that,
Libby knows other persons in the White House can rat on the big boys and snatch Libby’s deal out from under him,
Libby knows exquisitely well that the political winds are blowing hurricane force against Bush and Friends, and this is far more likely to get worse not better, meaning the Senate may have to hold hearings against their will, and Bush may face riots and impeachment hearings if he issues pardons,
Libby knows he cannot stand on anything he has said to date — before he says a word he’s going to have to sit down across the table from Fitzgerald and ask straight out, “what is you actually want from me?”
He’s got nothing. He’s been knocked off his lying perch. I feel he has plenty of incentive to drop a dime on his big time buddies.
Posted by: Antifa | Oct 30 2005 3:13 utc | 8
Billmon’s early post pegged Patrick Fitzgerald’s work ethic and dedication exactly. But reading the indictment together with the news of his late-in-the-day visits to counsel for Karl Christian Rove and George Walker Bush, I feel that he is trying to soften the blow that his pursuit of the case will have on the nation’s governing institutions. I think he’s giving both Cheney and Rove a chance to step down before matters proceed any further, for the good of the country.
I doubt he’ll fold if they decide to stick it out, though; I don’t think the rules of Illinois Hold ‘Em work that way.
(Hmm. While scratching around for Karl Rove’s full name, I discovered something what half the nation probably already knows — that he is named after Christ, and was born on Christmas Day. So much for the theory of path determinance …)
Lets spell this out.
Whether or not Fitzgerald actually did stop by Bush’s attorney’s office to get pictures of dead presidents or swiss/bahamian telephone numbers I believe it would be smart to act as though he did.
For whatever reason he hasn’t delivered the goods on these lying murderers. The hoi polloi, great unwashed or how about this one; the non-elites have very few levers at their disposal to pressure Fitzgerald to get these mendacious, arrogant, and greedy slaughterers of humanity. On the other hand aforesaid low lifes have a huge range of ‘incentives’ of the carrot and the stick types to apply to Fitzgerald and help him ‘see reason’.
However one thing I have noticed about Fitzgerald is that well he may not be as corrupt as Elliot Ness he does appear to set a great deal of store on his public reputation.
It would be a mistake to take Fitz head on with too much detail about allegations of bribery because if he did have himself a auction, one of the reasons it was drawn out would have been to cover tracks, establish alibis and all that good stuff.
Therefore specific allegations of corruption which aren’t absolutely, factually, spot on; will just encourage Fitz to tell critics to put up or shut up.
On the other hand general observations about the lack of a rationale in the way the indictments panned out could have a better effect.
Fitz is probably aware that Judge Hutton of letting Bliar off the hook fame is regarded with contempt by a large section of the UK population.
Any indication that his reputation would suffer the same fate would matter to Fitz. We should be using whatever tools are available short of violence, to prevent as many more deaths as we can.
No that doesn’t mean the end justifies the means but it does mean if you can’t take the heat get f..k outta our kitchen.
Posted by: Debs is dead | Oct 30 2005 3:43 utc | 10
All great armies live on their stomachs, even ours.
– – – – – – –
Comfort Food (serves 4 with leftovers)
2#’s of cubed good-quality trimmed chuck steak (Angus)
3 dried bay leaves
whole clove of garlic, broken and shelled, but not peeled
shallot, skin on
whole lime
1 cup good-quality red drinking wine
unsalted butter
olive oil
lard or rendered fat
fresh-ground black pepper
sea salt
dried crushed red peppers
1/2 onion, quartered into 1″ x 1/2″ pieces
1/2 rutabaga, quartered into 1″ x 1/2″ pieces
can of stewed tomatoes, italian style
2 large carrots, angle-sliced in random 1/2″ chunks
3 medium yellow or red potatoes, quartered into 1″ x 1/2″ pieces
1 whole fresh red pepper, (or jar of whole pimentos)
very fresh parsley, chopped fine, for garnish
In a 9″-10″ pot, add three tablespoons lard or rendered fat, bring to smoking heat
Add cubed meat and braise thoroughly until just browned
(Note: If water exudes from meat, decant rendered liquid into a bowl to aid browning)
Squeeze lime juice onto meat, stirring thoroughly to deglaze pot until well coated
Melt 1/2 stick of butter, pour over braised meat
Add three tablespoons olive oil
Add black pepper, salt and red pepper to taste
Add unskinned garlic cloves and shallot and stir the ingredients until well coated
Add bay leaves and red wine, with any rendered liquid, and reduce to low boil
Simmer meat for 3/4 hour.
Remove garlic and shallot and set aside to cool
Add onions, rutabaga and stewed tomatoes, bring back to boil, then reduce heat
Simmer for 1/4 hour
Roast red pepper in toaster oven until skin slips off, then julienne (or use pimentos)
Squeeze shallot and garlic cloves out of skin with flat of knife, then finely chop
Add carrots, potatoes, pepper, shallot and garlic, stir, then add water to almost cover
Bring back to boil, then reduce heat
Simmer for 1/4 hour or until carrots are al dente and gravy clears
Serve with rosemary bread, sliced thick and warmed, thin-sliced real swiss cheese, and parsley garnish.
This stew has melting meat, a rich, brown-red, slightly spicey gravy, deeply rich with oily flavor for dipping.
Great with a crisp cold white zinfandel or hoppy micro-brew.
– – – – – – –
Salut!
Posted by: tante aime | Oct 30 2005 3:47 utc | 11
Anyone taking bets that Libby commits suicide? I’d put down a fiver just for sport.
Posted by: biklett | Oct 30 2005 4:19 utc | 12
@Debs is dead,
Outside of the trial court, the machinery of the law is not governed by narrative expectations; I would try not be be too far influenced by a desire for more or “better” indictments. This isn’t over yet.
Apart from which, if a political system comes to depend entirely on the force of prosecution to achieve outcomes that roughly track the public interest, it’s well beyond repair anyway. If there is to be a correction, this had better be just one small part of it.