Speaking of shields, Dionne's complaints are bizarre in light of his position on press shield laws. He's a silly person.

Wasn't it Judy Miller and the NYT who "threw sand" by insisting on the confidentiality of their sources?

Fitzerald must think everyone is stupid. He is saying that Libby's non-cooperation prevented him from proving that there was a crime of leaking classified infomation. If he thinks Libby committed that crime, doesn't he have to present evidence derived from sources other than Libby?

Don't let the Republicans distract you. Treasongate isn't just about deposed vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby, who has been charged with five felony counts and faces 30 years in prison, or even deputy presidential chief of staff Karl Rove, who may soon be charged as well. The Libby charges clearly point to the real culprit: Dick Cheney, who told Libby about Plame's covert status in the first place. Cheney abused his security clearance to find out. "Libby understood that the vice president had learned this information from the C.I.A.," reads page five of the indictment.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucru/20051101/cm_ucru/biggerthanwatergate;_ylt=A86.I2F3jWdDOikBMAf9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

Fred:

just one thought -- how can Cheney (the 2nd highest person in the executive branch) be accused of revealing Plame's identity in a conversation with another member of the executive (i.e., Libby)?

and, no, they're not going to get off the road anytime soon..

I'm all for replacing Cheney.

So, Rudy or Condi as VP and giving them 3 years of pres-in waiting?

And, Fred, who leaked the name that was well-known on the DC cocktail circuit during the late 90s?

Unless Fitzie can get the CIA to open their files as to why she was pulled in and her history, we'll never know. And why is the FBI now ?ing her neighbors????

Treasongate.

I love it when people give pet names to their favorite conspiratorial outrage.

JonofAtlanta: Fred's exposition is even more out there and irrelevant than you give him credit for. Not only was it OK for Cheney to talk to Libby about this, but by the reading of the 1982 statute it was OK for Libby to talk to the press. Valerie Plame had not served overseas for over five years, and thus wasn't covered.

The rest of Fred's talking points are equally forgettable, inasmuch as they simply re-state the canards, half-truths, and outright lies about the facts of this case that have been disproven time and again, but keep popping up like something out of a whack-a-mole game.

Case in point: Wilson did not say Iraq had not tried to buy yellowcake. In fact, he uncovered evidence of an Iraqi trade delegation in Niger, which could only have been there to explore the possibilities of a yellowcake purchase. The only lies in this case are in the way that he has chosen to mis-represent everything about his mission and findings, from beginning to end, in order to score cheap partisan political points.

Treasongate

And since when has the Left ever cared about treason, other than as one of their many tools used to further their goals? Especially the only important goal, maintaining power.

It was TREASON I tells you!! "Giving aid and comfort to the enemy" -- and that enemy is, um, The New York Times??

Kevin:

Now you're getting somewhere...

From Fred's comment:

...the New York Times, a paper known for its desire to be helpful to the Bush White House.

I couldn't continue reading once I stopped laughing.

And of course, by leaking Valerie Plame's status as a secret agent to the NYT, the Bush administration gave aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States by . . . uh, gee . . . I mean, if they knew that, they'd be able to . . . just be patient, it'll come to me!

The Dems have lost whatever credibility they might have had left by hijacking the senate Watch Bush's numbers climb now.

Guys, Fred's comment is brilliant satire and demonstrates is the best possible way why this scandal has no legs. Calling it "Treasongate" is hilarious, the idea that a "secret" White House cadre to promote the war (when the entire administration was out there promoting the war) included Judy Miller of the New York Times, well, that's just priceless. Best of all is that the whole paranoid fantasy hangs on the idea that, when some schlub surfaces saying that "I'm the guy that Dick Cheney sent to Niger and I proved that there was no sale of yellowcake to Iraq", the Vice President, who's never heard of the guy, is not only forbidden to find out who he is and who sent him to Niger, but is guilty of treason for telling his closest aide.

Fred: I've never seen satire used so effectively. However, on the off-chance that you didn't write that yourself, our house rules call for a link to another article rather than repeating large chunks of it in the comments.

Fred:

Joe Wilson gave a speech attacking the V-P, the war in Iraq, and American foreign policy in general on June 14, 2003 in D.C.

This was over 3 weeks before his editorial in the NYT.

He made a number of anti-American statements, and also claimed that Ariel Sharon wants to kill Palestinians every day. The organization where he spoke listed his wife (under her maiden name) on its website. This was a month before Novak's column.

And you call it treason? The press has let you down. I suppose Fitzgerald let you down. Perhaps the electorate has let you down. But worst of all, your own insanity has betrayed you.

It's Ted Rall:

http://www.brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/987/

Jim: And he specifically denied that he was sent by CIA, because even then he realized that that fact alone undermined his entire argument.

Fred: I truly and deeply apologize for accusing you of writing something actually written by Ted Rall.

fred, lean in...that's it. now listen close because I am only going to say this once --
it was Cheney who took the strawberries.

Patrick H. I've learned the hard way not have a beverage in my hand or food or drink in my mouth when reading comments at the Judd Hood.

A troll exposed and the truth will set us free.

Ted Rall? Shouldn't a person like, be able to draw, if they call themselves a cartoonist?

So was that masked troll really Ted Rall's obscure younger brother Fred Rall?

Damn, talk about yer brushes with greatness--oops, I mean mediocrity!

Snipping the post by Fred and replacing that long unattributed diatribe with a URL takes away a lot of the charm. First I saw the length, and then when I got to "Treasongate" I realized immediately I'd already put in more time that it deserved. But now, I'd not get that warning.

And Fred's the one with all the artistic talent in the Rall family. Ted just got the box it came in, and it was damaged in transit.