Fitz! You make me proud to be a lawyer.

Lawyers Rock

..and roll

Ahh brave Harry Taylor, say goodbye to air travel and your credit score.

Great pic Jane! Oh and I heard Harry Taylor and chimpy on NPR– the whole thing was much, much better than the condensed version in print. I hope c&l will get the video or at least the audio and that KO features it prominently tonite.

‘…Bush defended the National Security Adminsitration’s surveillance program, saying he authorized the program to protect the country.

“You said would I apologize for that?†Bush told him. “The answer is absolutely not.‒

—-

Bush does not fucking care. His has been a lifetime of evading accountability for his litany of failures. He’s not about to change his M.O. now.

“When America speaks, we ought to mean what we said,” Bush said. “I meant what we said when we embraced that resolution that said ‘Disclose. Disarm. Or face serious consequences.’ Words mean something in this world if you’re trying to protect the American people.”

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.
Through the Looking Glass

Speaking of anger, I think ‘liberal realist’ is a Dem staffer who is getting sick of all the angry emails and letters pouring in from constituents. To this staff person I would like to say, it’s all about petitioning for the redress of grievances: First Amendment.

Schumer is my favorite piñata these days.

Firedoglake=the home of the two goddesses.

Ladies, in all my frantic typing this morning, I forgot to thank you for keeping this story alive, for providing an information resource (where would I be without those links?), and for creating an atmosphere where information and analysis can be exchanged.

I was a lurker here almost from the beginning and I cannot tell you how valuable all the information has been.

Today is a really specail day in the community called Firedoglake. We understood the signifigance of what were reading from the moment we read because we had the background knowledge to grasp what was in those papers.

Most of the corporate media had to take a while to get up to speed because they are so easily distracted by other things.

Thank you, and everyone else who visits here, for keeping your eyes on the ball.

AS Mrs. Laningham on West Wing used to say “I’m proud to know you”

Why has the question,is the president guilty
of an obstruction of justice,not been asked?

a wise politician always works to maximize the impression that the constituent/voter is being listened to …

moe99,
you don’t mean to imply that the chimp is heading for a great fall, do you?

We need about 250 more Harry Taylors’….
in Congress.

Mr. Taylor,

I tip my hat to you. You are a hero.

Tiger finishes his day at even par- wasting a birdie and an eagle- but staying in the hunt.

Dramatic tournament- may be the last one he will play with his dad still alive.

I had adopted the battle cry of “Fitz - Spitz - FEINGOLD.” Now I shall add “Harry Taylor!”

And oh how proud I am that this occurred in the midst of Cornwallis’ “hornets nest” and in the state that refused to ratify a federal constitution until a bill of rights was assured!

ooh re Harry Taylor Think Progress has the full script and video up now!
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/.....ff-script/

Schumer is on TV right now hollering about Cheney/Bush leaking …

Off topic but….

the Dixie Chicks preorder link is up.

Follow the Atrios link.

http://atrios.blogspot.com/200.....0175819426

From the NYT’s:
“The disclosure prompted Democrats to demand that the White House be forthcoming about Mr. Bush’s role. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, released a statement saying: “In light of today’s shocking revelation, President Bush must fully disclose his participation in the selective leaking of classified information. The American people must know the truth.”
OT: ditto what looseheadprop said at 10.

Does anyone know where I can donate to the Harry Taylor legal defense fund?

Leading Democrats immediately seized on the disclosures today to accuse Bush of hypocrisy and demand that he explain his role in the Plame leak case.

“In light of today’s shocking revelation, President Bush must fully disclose his participation in the selective leaking of classified information,” Senate minority leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement. “The American people must know the truth.”

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said, “The fact that the president was willing to reveal classified information for political gain and put the interests of his political party ahead of America’s security shows that he can no longer be trusted to keep America safe.”

(Washington Post)

ThinkProgress has the full text of Harry Taylor’s comments:

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/.....ff-script/

*ilson46201 says:
April 6th, 2006 at 12:38 pm

cbl says:
April 6th, 2006 at 12:32 pm

this is a kid who scared us at Age 9 by saying he had a nightmare he was a prime number that couldn’t be divided

at that age, I wouldn’t have worried… at 11 or 13, the kid’s got issues!

I know this is from the last entry, but things are FLYING around here today…
I’m I the only math major who got this joke ??

very funny *ilson46201….

Does no one else know that 11 and 13 are prime numbers ???

good one..

angie says:
April 6th, 2006 at 12:55 pm

Your post wasn’t up when I was typing mine.

Stephen Parrish, CPA says:
April 6th, 2006 at 12:59 pm

Can’t get too much of that good thing ;)

shooogarp — that made me laugh out loud.

By the way: Not one, not two, but THREE DHS agents turned out to be pedophiles!

Remember DHS was supposed to be Bush’s showcase agency to demonstrate that we didn’t need the oversight provided by the Civil Service System.

fran (11) — I don’t think it’s for the lack of asking out here in the blogosphere; we know the OVP and the WH have been working diligently to snow us all, including Fitzgerald (i.e., the once-missing 250 emails). The challenge for Fitz is making an air-tight case, without tipping his hand and setting off more sand-throwing, without getting caught up in an avalanche of greymail. Look at the sand Libby’s team has thrown up in his defense, in spite of Fitz’ tightly wound case around obstruction and perjury; can you imagine what Deadeye Dick would do in the same position (will do, I should ask)? can you imagine what kind of new obsfucation Dubya would launch if/when he makes Fitz’ sights? We know the POTUS and OVP have/will obstruct justice; the question is, how do we prosecute without setting off a nuclear winter of a snowstorm?

Check this out over at DKos:

 Is Fitzgerald ’saying’ what he’s not saying
(1+ / 0-)
Recommended by:Phoenix Woman

Wingers are all apoplectic about the fact that original reports about this include the line:

There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose Valerie Plame’s CIA identity.

But is that true?  I’m looking through Fitz’ filing and this passage jumps out:

Defendant’s participation in a critical conversation with Judith Miller on July 8 (discussed further below) occurred only after the Vice President advised defendant that the President specifically had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the NIE. Defendant testified that the circumstances of his conversation with reporter Miller – getting approval from the President through the Vice President to discuss material that would be classified but for that approval – were unique in his recollection. Defendant further testified that on July 12, 2003, he was specifically directed by the Vice President to speak to the press in place of Cathie Martin (then the communications person for the Vice President) regarding the NIE and Wilson. Defendant was instructed to provide what was for him an extremely rare “on the record†statement, and to provide “background†and “deep background†statements, and to provide information contained in a document defendant understood to be the cable authored by Mr. Wilson. During the conversations that followed on July 12, defendant discussed Ms. Wilson’s employment with both Matthew Cooper (for the first time) and Judith Miller (for the third time).

Is it just me or couldn’t the “certain information” be “Ms. Wilson’s employment”?

Yeah, I’m trying out this blogging thing, too.

by MLDB on Thu Apr 06, 2006 at 12:46:19 PM PDT

emptywheel asks some questions:

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c......html#more

“very funny *ilson46201….

Does no one else know that 11 and 13 are prime numbers ??? good one..”

Oddly, *ilson46201 is a prime number.

CNN is reporting NOBODY at the WH and Cheneys Office is talking. Cheney’s office is referring questioners to Fitzy!

egregious says:
April 6th, 2006 at 12:46 pm

Speaking of anger, I think ‘liberal realist’ is a Dem staffer who is getting sick of all the angry emails and letters pouring in from constituents. To this staff person I would like to say, it’s all about petitioning for the redress of grievances: First Amendment.

Thank you.

Mojo says:
April 6th, 2006 at 12:58 pm

I got it. How soon after that nightmare did he find that the number of primes is infinite?

Angie -

ooh re Harry Taylor Think Progress has the full script and video up now!
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/.....ff-script/

Did you get a look at the woman next Harry. She is aghast! Aghast! I say!

46201 is prime? that’s useful to know! Thanks…

gonna be some fun tonight. I gotta get cable for my computer. DSL and a laptop will have to do for now.

You can bet that the ’staffer’ that let Harry Taylor inside Bush’s rose-tinted hamster ball is going to have a hard time sitting down for awhile!

It is vitally important that *leak* be the defining description of what Bush did. A leak means that you want to hide your identity and that you are attempting to sway public opinion. That a leak contained previously classified information (assuming Bush technically declassified the information before leaking it) can only be more shocking to the public. It doesn’t make sense to declassify secret information for the good of the public, and then want to hide the fact that you were trying to help the public. All that makes sense is that an evil motive was behind the leaking. The public will buy that view.

Re Jane: “Any support that people have for Bush’s ability to wiretap is largely based on the internalization of this phony notion, that Bush uses these powers to keep them safe. We all know that this is utter bullshit, and as revelations like the one today come out people start to realize the truth and those numbers begin to shift. And you wind up looking like you didn’t have the courage to act on your convictions when the time was right because you were too busy playing a cynical political game.”

You’ve harnessed the interpretive power of the prism. Thank goodness your cause is just !
.

Reid’s comment “President Bush must fully disclose his participation in the selective leaking of classified information,†was fairly tepid, considering the circumstances.

I wanted to hear “obstruction of justice,” “leaking classified information for political purposes.”

Alternatively, the Senator could adopt a comment from the last thread….”since the President promised to fire anyone involved in this leak, when can we expect his resignation?”

The Dems must show more outrage….even if this revelation is not a surprise to them.

Jane, I’ve long suspected Douglas Feith of feeding Valerie Plame’s identity to the “get Joe Wilson” crowd. I haven’t followed every detail of what’s known’ perhaps we already know who offered her up on a platter. If not, here’s a new (to me) connection to reinforce the possibile link: In her interview on C-Span’s Q&A Sunday, Karen Kwiatkowski (Feith’s Office of Special Plans) revealed that, shortly after the creation of OSP, the Iran desk was moved into the fold (Iraq had been absorbed when the OSP was created) from the Office of Near East Asia.

Now, if it’s true that Valerie worked on the issue of WMD & Iran for the CIA, Douglas Feith may have had ready access to the information. Perhaps nobody even had to look for it.

Of course, I rather suspect Joe was among the first subjects of NSA surveillance too. Perhaps the nice guys at the NSA alerted Condi when they submitted his phone number and the system immediately identified it as belonging to a CIA operative?

*ilson46201 at 34

No one is talking? That is huge. For the past few months, I think Bush and Cheney have been the proverbial frog in a pot.

Fitz is turning up the temperature so gradually that the frog will be boiled without even realizing it.

shooogarp says:
April 6th, 2006 at 1:04 pm

I love all the looks on those faces– LOL! no make that ROTFLMAO!!

“46201 is prime? that’s useful to know! Thanks…

Actually, I was bluffing…it’s not. LOL.
http://www.prime-numbers.org/

Fitzgerald and Libby should be careful not to get on any flights with Paul Wellstone.

“2300 plus who have died in Iraq”

The occasional acknowledgement that hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have died at the hands of the current and previous US governments.- Not to mention the ones who rose at the US’ government’s urging only to be stabbed in the back and left to Saddam’s tender mercies. Would give considerable force to your arguments.

Particularly as the current racist illegal and brutal occupiers of the country are doing their not inconsiderable best to drag the country into full scale civil war.

Sounds like a Rockwell painting!

if only I lived out in Irvington in Indianapolis! their zipcode is prime: 46219 ! oh well …

I gotta invite this guy to my next party!

Jane - get Harry on the Plame panel for YearlyKos!

Fran (5) — Don’t you mean “looks like a Rockwell painting”? Or is tab starting to kick in? :)

If you mean “looks” I agree - in fact the name of the painting you’re thinking of is “Freedom of Speech” from Rockwell’s Four Freedoms series.

http://www.normanrockwellvt.co.....speech.jpg

Kitsch he may have been, but much of his work is liberal kitsch.

Bob Schieffer of CBS-News on CNN says the LibbyLeaker story is fine political fodder for the Democrats!

markfromireland — you are right of course but I was referring to Bush’s mindset, which has never seemed to take these individuals into account.

I can hear Scotty now: “It’s well within the President’s executive powers to declassify documents, turn lead into gold, cure cancer, and to fly above tall buildings”

watertiger comments:

Dependable Renegade: Bush’s sentiments on the Merkin People

mfi, right. and i think perhaps that is why there is much glee (albeit sort of a horrid fascination) to see the cabal take another hit. ultimately, this is the core issue here– an illegal and grotesque war and chronic abuse of power by this bunch who leaked classified information with the goal of destroying someone(s)in order to sell this war. the wars are never far from my mind.

From the NY Times:

Mr. Libby testified that he first told Mr. Cheney that he could not have such a conversation with Ms. Miller because the intelligence estimate on Iraq was classified. Mr. Libby testified that Mr. Cheney later told him that Mr. Bush had authorized the release of “relevant portions.”

In addition, Mr. Libby told the grand jury that he also spoke with David Addington, then a lawyer for Mr. Cheney whom Mr. Libby regarded as an expert on national security law. “Mr. Addington opined that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to declassification of the document.”

Mr. Libby testified that at the meeting he did not discuss Mr. Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, the C.I.A. officer at the center of the leak inquiry, because “he had forgotten by that time that he learned about Ms. Wilson’s C.I.A. employment a month earlier from the Vice President.” [my emphasis]

Is this an attempt at an “I got a little mixed up about what I was supposed to say” defence? That the relevation of Plame’s identity was unintentional?

Roses for Harry Taylor.

from War and Piece http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003977.html

The NPR reporter covering the Senate Judiciary committee hearing today on the NSA warrantless domestic eavesdropping program just reported that Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez indicated pretty clearly that the program the president has described as the “terrorist surveillance system” is not the only program and specifically, is not the program that caused such consternation inside the Justice Department. Then he said he couldn’t tell them any more.

OT Reminder:

The FDL YearlyKos Breakfast Survey closes in half an hour. Scroll down the main page for last night’s diary with the link.

Mojo #25 - I got *ilson46201’s joke - LMAO intermittent lightening strikes are wreaking havoc with our connection

btw, who is this woman sitting in for Dan Abrams ? - she keeps asking pertinent questions - Re: Libby, Duke, McKinney

Re: declassification. Prof Foland has given the link to the current Exec Order. http://fas.org/sgp/bush/eoamend.html

It is not the best organized of orders, but as to who can declassify, a part of the info on this is hidden down at the end of the Order in the Definitions.

l) “Declassification authority” means:
(1) the official who authorized the original classification, if that official is still serving in the same position;
(2) the originators current successor in function;
(3) a supervisory official of either; or
(4) officials delegated declassification authority in writing by the agency head or the senior agency official.

This is one reason Tenet’s name keeps coming up. The NIE is, I believe, deemed a CIA generated doc (although it can have parts in it that are from other agencies as well)

So here’s the sequencing.

1. Did the President “declassify” (actually - there are different rules for sharing and dissemination than for declassifying, but those would have required Judy to have signed a confidentiality etc. so they can’t squeeze the disclosure under those dissemination very well) the NIE (the CIA info is diff IMO, even if it was included in the NIE and I don’t know if we know that).

A. Was the VP telling Libby the truth and/or did Libby tell the truth about what the VP told him?

B. Is selectively leaking bits and pieces to a hand picked reporter “declassifying”? IOW, whether or not the President had the authority to *declassify* is it correct to call what was done “declassification?” Or is it perhaps more correct to call it misuse of classified information? ;-) While I do think (imo) the President can override any agency head and declassify, I’m not sure that cherrypicking misleading bits of classified info and selectively leaking is actually declassifying, is it? fwiw So if he “did” direct the action, was it declassification?

2. If the President directed the action and it is properly classified as declassification, then does the PRes have the authority to declassify THE NIE? IMO, the President probably can declassify the NIE, in general. He is “the” supervisor.

3. Could the President declassify the CIA agent’s status (although nothing in the Prosecutor’s filing states this was done)? I don’t think so. At least under the “once upon a time” government we used to have where Presidential fiat did NOT supercede Congressional Statutes. IOW, where there is a set of laws passed by Congress on what can and can’t be made public, I think it is not necessarily clear that the Pres can declassify in contravention of that statute, absent some overwhelming exigent circumstance.

JMO, fwiw.

So I think we have Libby saying,

[His]Defendant’s participation in a critical conversation with Judith Miller on July 8 (discussed further below) occurred only after the Vice President advised defendant that the President specifically had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the NIE. Defendant testified that the circumstances of his conversation with reporter Miller – getting approval from the President through the Vice President to discuss material that would be classified but for that approval – were unique in his recollection. Defendant further testified that on July 12, 2003, he was specifically directed by the Vice President to speak to the press in place of Cathie Martin (then the communications person for the Vice President) regarding the NIE and Wilson. Defendant was instructed to provide what was for him an extremely rare “on the record†statement, and to provide “background†and “deep background†statements, and to provide information contained in a document defendant understood to be the cable authored by Mr. Wilson.

BTW - what was the cable?

We also know that when the VP first asked Libby to make the disclosures (NIE) the VP did NOT mention the Pres and IMO that is important. Only after Libby objected did Presidential authorization come up.

Defendant further testified that he at first advised the Vice President that he could not have this conversation with reporter Miller because of the classified nature of the NIE. Defendant testified that the Vice President later advised him that the President had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE.

And then we have the “go to” guy who seems central to all things illegal, unconsitutional and immoral in the WH and OVP’s decision making process give the final blessing. Or did he?

Defendant testified that he also spoke to David Addington, then Counsel to the Vice President, whom defendant considered to be an expert in national security law, and Mr. Addington opined that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document.

Is that was was authorized? In my hypertechnical mindset, I have to wonder if it more a matter of privately disclosing to a select person bits and pieces of a doc NOT being made public and if that is the “same”?
Who knows.

Fran & NickM - Absolutely amazing connection; I just looked at Rockwell’s painting and the still from ThinkProgress side-by-side. If I didn’t know better, I’d think somebody had staged a sitting for an updated painting of the same scene.

What are the chances he gets a warm welcome?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals’ Major League Baseball home opener next week, the team said Wednesday.

The Nationals’ first home game of the season is Tuesday afternoon against the New York Mets.

Wilson … WHOA! What the hell is going on with the NSA stuff.

So, if the matter is as simple as “The president has a right to desclassify anything and every thing”…

Why didn’t Bush say this from the outset to avoid a big investigation?

Hmmm..
-GSD

I cannot let #66 pass without offering, Let’s Go, Mets!

Mojo says:
April 6th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
*ilson46201 says:
April 6th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
cbl says:
April 6th, 2006 at 12:32 pm

I giggled at it myself.

And I really enjoy, on this story, the “Cheney said that Bush said it was OK” line. I know that Libby worked for Cheney, but you’d think he might want to check that information before, you know, *relying* on it, given that Shrub couldn’t even talk to the 9/11 Commission without Dick there to cue him on the answers. I’d certainly want better authorization than that before letting something as clearly secret as that loose! (Something like a piece of paper saying ‘Everything the bearer has done has been done for the good of the state’ would be nice.)

so Dick didn’t have the declassification power on his own but he simply was the errand boy for the Preznit? I thought declassification power was given to the Veep (March 2003?)

Some comments from Arianna:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....18615.html

(snip)

Expert Addington told Libby not to worry, explaining that Bush’s “authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document.” Call it Addington’s Theory of Presidential Magic: Take a classified document. Wave the president’s wand over it. Say the secret word (”WHIG-y, WHIG-y”). And, presto-chango, the super secret info is now a Judy Miller exclusive!

(snip)

Oh happy day! An FDL glee club moment. Even Schumer and Kerry are speaking up. The fact Bush is not providing any statement at all, especially a denial speaks volumes. Go Harry Taylor!

Sadly, Jane, you’re right about Chuck Schumer and the rest. We see what he’s doing now as political opportunism, and I think most people in this country will as well. If there had been more than a handful of Democrats saying this all along, then Schumer would now have cover even if he wasn’t one of them. Unfortunately, very few said what they believed all along, including many who would not have been affected by speaking out.

Harry Taylor is Batman!!

“Absolutely not.” Bush’s disrespectful body language in that clip makes him look like some kind of hyped-up highschool bully who would rather physically attack.Check out the mugging. In other words, it’s yet another disaster for the administration. That “no I’m not sorry, absolutely not” should be regarded as an open challenge by Congress Democrats. Good for you, Harry Taylor!
#61. What bastards! Gonzalez.

Mary:

1. Did the President “declassify†(actually - there are different rules for sharing and dissemination than for declassifying, but those would have required Judy to have signed a confidentiality etc. so they can’t squeeze the disclosure under those dissemination very well) the NIE (the CIA info is diff IMO, even if it was included in the NIE and I don’t know if we know that).

Remember that weirdness with Judy Miller and how she talked about having “clearance” when she was in Iraq? She brought it up in her Norma Desmond post-Fitz NYT article, and Jay Rosen was on that. I wonder if they jobbed up some rationalization based on that and tried to fob it off on Fitz.

How’s that Libby firewall working out?

*ilson46201

47 X 983 = ?

I liked the part when Harry says “tap our phones” and Bush says, “Yeah”.

GSD - well, at the time the issue was the CIA info. As I said, I don’t think that the President COULD “declassify that - or I guess to say it more clearly, whether he declassified or not under his Executive Order, the COngressional Statutes would still apply - so it would still be illegal. For example, if a Federal and State law BOTH make something illegal, and the State repeals its law, it is still “illegal” bc it is still illegal under federal law. So an okunder the Exec order (for Plame’s identity, which is what was being openly discussed) is not an ok under the Identites Act.

At the time, no one knew Libby was also passing along NIE info to Miller, so that did not come up. However, I think Jane had a piece up awhile back indicating that Durbin had wanted th NIE to be declassified prior to the Iraq auth. so there could be more discussion about the “alternative views” info, but hte Pres and committee chair refused and also refused to even make the info available to just members of Congress for purposes of making their vote evaluation. IIRC.

The moral core of American Constitutional government is one explicitly disavowing an Ends-Justify-the-Means ethos. Our Constitution in fact clearly embodies the opposite cardinal value, i.e., that good ends cannot, in the aggregate, accrue from bad means, hence the focus on assiduous due process and checks-and-balances processes for the restraint of the reckless exercise of power. Sadly (and dangerously), we are now governed by a group of men for whom They-Know-Better Ends-Justify-the-Means thinking drives their every action, men who would condescendingly pat us on our heads to keep reminding us that their Noble End of “Protecting the American People†warrants and justifies an unlimited range of authority, including authority for:

- secret warrantless spying on whomever they deem necessary (and, of course, the details simply must be kept classified for The Protection of the American People);

- torture, abuse, and indefinite detention of anyone they deem a terror suspect;
- selective leaking of the nation’s most closely held intelligence secrets when convenient, while at the same time, of course, railing angrily against (and hunting down) others who leak inconvenient secrets the Administration wants kept under wraps;

- selectively disavowing by executive fiat inconvenient provisions of signed legislation;

- selectively disavowing the necessity of adhering to inconvenient international laws, conventions, and treaties (all while lecturing other nations about their responsibility to observe the rule of law as expressed through democratic process and structure).

Nothing good can, nothing good will ever come of this self-defeating Messianic Executive Delusion. These people must be reined in and brought to account. Nothing less than the survival of our free nation is at stake. The ends do not justify these means. Neither in a moral nor in a utilitarian sense. These men have not and will not make us “safer.” What they are doing is nothing more than horribly soiling the American ideal before the eyes of the world.

Keep our Eyes on Prize, people.

oh well

If only this “Bush authorized leak” story had come out yesterday! I went to hear Joe Wilson speak last night in Salem, OR. He was great, the audience (mostly students) was very enthusiastic and informed on the story, and it was a packed house. It would have been good to hear his take on these new revelations.

He said “If you aren’t reading 10-12 blogs a day, you don’t really know what’s going on.” He listed a few blogs he reads, and of course, mentioned FDL.

Usually when he’s in the media, he has to be very direct and to the point. Last night he had plenty of time, and let me tell you, he’s snarky. And quite funny.

Yes, I took pictures, but my camera has serious problems so none are worth a damn.

libopinion #67

last thread Stephen Parrish,CPA #71

think it was televised on CSpan this morning, but no re broadcast schedule up on their website yet

gsd#68 - money

*ilson46201 says:
April 6th, 2006 at 1:23 pm

The NPR reporter covering the Senate Judiciary committee hearing today on the NSA warrantless domestic eavesdropping program just reported that Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez indicated pretty clearly that the program the president has described as the “terrorist surveillance system†is not the only program and specifically, is not the program that caused such consternation inside the Justice Department. Then he said he couldn’t tell them any more.

Didn’t he express similar comments when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee several weeks ago? When was the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that the NPR reporter was covering?

Jane 77 - I wondered a bit about that too. I think Arianna and I have the same gut reaction to terming the NIE selective leaks “declassification” except that I make it technical and belabor it, she makes it prose and brings it to life. Does “decalssify” =
And, presto-chango, the super secret info is now a Judy Miller exclusive!

Doesn’t pass the smell test - maybe Addington had a sinus problem that day?

Jane / Mary - repost from earlier:
Why the subsequent declassification after Libby had “verbally†selectively declassified?

An unclassified version of that estimate had been made public before my interviews with Mr. Libby. I told Mr. Fitzgerald that I had pressed Mr. Libby to discuss additional information that was in the more detailed, classified version of the estimate. I said I had told Mr. Libby that if The Times was going to do an article, the newspaper needed more than a recap of the administration’s weapons arguments. According to my interview notes, though, it appears that Mr. Libby said little more than that the assessments of the classified estimate were even stronger than those in the unclassified version.

(emphasis mine)
Libby’s (verbal) selective declassification wasn’t enough for Judy.

If Addington, Gonzalez, Yoo et.al. are correct in their assessment of the “magic unitarian” theory, Dubya theoretically can out one American spy per day. And it’s OKAY. For reasons of “security”, or “politics”? Doesn’t matter… it’s LEGAL.

I love the graphic because it was, I swear, my very first thought on all this: isn’t this where we threw out fucking Nixon?

“WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals’ Major League Baseball home opener next week, the team said Wednesday.”

Yeah, but it’ll probably be a wild pitch and hit a 78 year-old lawyer in the face!

I’m telling you, when very few in Texas will stand up and affirmatively defend Bush and his cronies, the worm has turned, and the Democratic “braintrust” is just too damned stupid or scared, or both, to realize it. Hardcore Republicans have gone quiet. Independents and moderates are speaking out against the administration. True lefties are ready to take up arms. When the hell are Democrats going to realize that blasting Bush and the Republicans every minute of every day is a political winner?

guys #86

this was a House committee hearing this morning - with Sensenbrenner and Conyers doubleteaming Abu

I suspect the WH will be glued to Hardball. They will be trying out several trial balloons and they want to see if any will float. Based on what they learn, they will put out whatever the spin is for tonite on the network news casts. It will be interesting to see if the networks push back.
IMO, this is also huge, because it lessens the likelihood that Bush can pre-emptively attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Heard it on NPR, to their credit, they played the entire thing. I give Bush credit for his explanation. It was honest for a change and unscripted. If Bush talked like that more often his poll numbers might not be in the toilet. The point Bush made is that its a legal arguement he thought made sense, prepared by his lawyers regarding the NSA stuff. OK, let the courts figure it out. But he also made clear that he wan’t going to sit around while that happened if he had an opportunity to tap into some of these suspect calls. I think every one here at FDL would agree that its the legality of the taps that is bothersome, not doing what is necessary to fight terrorists.

Personally, I can’t stand Bush for a single moment, obviously didn’t vote for him either, but in this case, his explanation made me feel like Bush wants to protect the country and doesn’t want to get caught with his pants down again.

And for once (gulp), I agree with him. The NSA can tap away and let the courts fight it out. In the meantime, Bush won’t be caught not using an important tool becasue he’s afraid the legal intrepretation won’t go his way. Presidents have to make that call all the time. Imagine if there was an attack and Bush didn’t use the NSA taps?

Look, there is no doubt he did the bare mimimum he had to to justify the NSA taps, notifying some members of congress, shakey legal reasonimg, etc. But after hearing him speak about it today, I believe his motives were sound.

Isn’t there a place in the Const. that says the Prez can do what he deems necessary to defend the country, then throw himself at the mercy of the public. Well, that is what Bush did today, in his cowboy way.

it looks like the planned Judy Miller story was to be a major leakage by the Administration but the NYTimes refused to let her write it. Then they had to try other ways of getting the desired info out into general circulation…

281.343.1333 tom delay’s campaign office.
call him and ask him how mr. delay looks in pin stripes and tell him you hope the presiding judge is a woman and a know it all.

After 5.5 years of GWB……Its pretty sad when a person who challenges Bush at a tax payer funded speech is the exception and not the rule…..

I will give it one day before the Right Wing hit piece will be completed on Mr Taylor…..

I hope the media will pick up on it and tie it together with the Libby revelations…but we all know they cant focus on more than one thing at time…….

Mary,

I agree. If the case were as simple as they , Bushco, it is…then early on they would have said…If the president does it, it’s not illegal.

So, it appears there was knowledge as to how questionable this whole thing was…hence the …”if someone leaked, I want to know”…bullshit cover story.

Twist in the wind some more Bushie.

-GSD

Insert finger in socket.

Repeat.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/6/164045/2189

It’s like some great movie scene:
when Harry met slappy…
The trouble with Harry…is that he should have had a bigger audience.
Harry and the Hinder-sons

Time for a shipment of Texas catheters to our incontinent preznit? Wheee….!

Unitarian’s are wonderful people, thank you very much. I think you meant “Magical Unitary Executive theory”.

OT Condoleezza Rice said that thousands of tactical mistakes were made in Iraq but that strategically it was the right thing to do. Later she backtracked saying she was speaking “figuratively”.

Donald Rumsfeld in a bid to show that he is even more divorced from reality than the Secretary of State couldn’t agree to even that.

snip

Speaking during a radio interview on WDAY in Fargo, N.D., on Tuesday, Rumsfeld said calling changes in military tactics during the war “errors” reflects a lack of understanding of warfare.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....69_pf.html

Back on NSA –

DANG! Isn’t it about time to use that old subpeona power now? If Gonzales is saying there are “other” undisclosed programs and THEY are the ones that caused trouble, while the current program “disclosed†program that has been thoroughly condemned by the ABA task force and has caused consternation by even the old FISA judges and top ex-DOJ national sec lawyer did NOT cause those troubles and was considered OK (at least by comparison) *insert VERY WIDE EYES*?!?

THEN

Isn’t it about time they found out what the heck it is? And isn’t this an admission that this portion was not “briefed to the gang of 8?†Surely even Roberts and Sensenbrenner and Specter can realize it’s time to subpoena, let the gov claim what it wants to for privilege, and then take it up?

Mary @ 1:25 pm (#64) - For the most part, I understand the declassification document the way you do. The one thing I differ on is that it appears to me that the President has the power to declassify anything for any reason. The only thing that could make this illegal is, as you suggest, that some act of Congress makes it illegal to declassify some kind of information without further consultation or whatever. So the Pres. certainly has the right to declassify an NIE, but if there’s some law about CIA NOCs, then that would complicate the declassification of Plame’s identity.

Either way, it’s scandalous that Bush would play these games. Plame’s identity and some of the information in the NIEs are among the most important secrets we have as a nation, as they involve the identities of people who provide us intelligence and demonstrate how effective we are (or aren’t) at gathering that intelligence. I’d say that even if it was all legal it’s worth looking into as grounds for impeachment.

RE : 95 I certainly am not a constitutional scholar. But the president does not have the right to go outside the law. No one is above the law.

Teak111 “Isn’t there a place in the Const. that says the Prez can do what he deems necessary to defend the country, then throw himself at the mercy of the public.”

No.

I know Jane - and this is primarily an American political site so I’m not “getting” at you. But I think it’d be helpful to draw the parallel from time to time.