
Byron York seems to be having a mini-meltdown today. First of all, Judge Walton denies nearly all of Libby's requests for evidence that could prove he is not responsible for global warming, micturating in public or other crimes he is not charged with. Says York :
The Big Case is what Fitzgerald originally set out to investigate: Who leaked Mrs. Wilson's identity, why was it done, and did it violate the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the Espionage Act, or some other law? Fitzgerald has spent untold amounts of money—unlike the old independent counsels, Fitzgerald is not required to report what his office has spent on the case—and has covered every conceivable aspect of the disclosure of Mrs. Wilson's identity.
"Not required to report what his office has spent on the case." And yet, he has:
While supervising at least four lawyers and an FBI team in the leak case, Fitzgerald jetted between his downtown Chicago office and borrowed space at 1400 New York Ave. NW, not far from the courthouse where the grand jury meets most Wednesdays and Fridays. In its first 15 months, the investigation cost $723,000, according to the Government Accountability Office.
As opposed to -- oh, I don't know, Ken Starr and the $40 million he spent investigating the non-event that was Whitewater.
He has questioned officials across the executive branch, including the president and vice president. He has learned about the Big Case as much as one man with subpoena power, no supervision, unlimited funds, and no hesitation to threaten reporters with jail can learn. He just doesn't want to talk about it.
Boy Barbara Comstock York must still be sore from getting that smackdown from Judge Walton about being a blabbermouth. I'm sure the thought of an ethical prosecutor who doesn't leak to political operatives is galling them to death. Ah, the glory days of Ken Starr.
He then goes on to accuse Glenn Greenwald's book of being artificially promoted onto the New York Times Bestseller List:
Amazon executives told me they had no good explanation for it, although they believed their ranking system had sufficient safeguards against bulk purchases or other attempts to game the system. So the success of How Would A Patriot Act? appeared to be a legitimately new phenomenon of blog-powered book sales. Now, a number of bloggers on the Left are delighted that the book will appear on the New York Times paperback bestseller list on June 11; you can see an image of the page here. The question I have is that How Would A Patriot Act? is the only book on the list about which the Times notes that "some bookstores report receiving bulk orders." I'm not suggesting that there is anything untoward going on, but does anyone know how big the bulk orders are and where they might be coming from?
I'm sure that the first conclusion York and his kind jump to is bulk sales from think tanks -- you know, the wingnut welfare without which any of their unreadable screeds would ever touch the hem of the NYT bestseller list. I feel quite confident in reassuring him that nothing of the sort happened, this is genuine public interest, just as the Amazon people assured him it was. One of the reasons we started the FDL Book Salon was to offer public grassroots support for liberal writers that could offset the unfair advantage wingnuts have for the propagation of their eliminationist rhetoric with all that big thinktank money.
It's nice to see that they are completely exasperated with the fact that it is working.
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Fitz first!
fitz second!
Got road-kill? Use the Fitz-o-Matic!!!
Ahh!!! That face always sends a sense of peace and happiness and trust through me! :)
“micturate:” I had to look that up. What a pisser.
The Hairdo has multiple entries at the Cornhole?
IT MUST BE PUTZMAS?
or
PUTZORIAL DAY,
PUTZODAMAYO?
Right Wing Robert Kennedy Jr. Talking Points
Oh, yeah, HairBoy, all those rich progressive think tanks making bulk purchases. Talk about projection! Which is, I guess, all these wingnut keyboardists are all about. Clearly, the Comstock guns are trained on the blogosphere, left version. What fun!
Back-of-the-envelope calculation (feel free to correct me- I tried it two different ways & got the same answer): if Fitzgerald continues at his reported rate of expenditure, this investigation could last nearly 69 years before costing as much as Starr’s did.
Its just the GOP hack pundits in the last throws of a dying admin. Heard Rush had a cow yesterday, and I;m sure Rove is rattling the walls of his office. Heh, what fun, if only lives were not on the line. Time to bring em home, Bush. I supported the war (reluctantly and stupidly it seems) but Iraq has a govt now, brin the boys home.
So anything of note in today’s filings other than that Libby received the good old smackdown? What did the Court have to say in particular? Are they up yet?
{Child sits down and stops pestering with questions.}
latts,
And just maybe it will.
Be nice to York in Vegas.
But if anyone has a good semblence of his hair as a wig I’ll pay top-dolla!
Byron York is just afraid of his gay feelings for Fitz. Soon, very soon, we will see him in the close embrace of his gay-curing therapist.
69 years? there you go talking dirty again! what will we tell the children?
Why is York gonna be in Vegas?
Just read the York piece in full.
jane is so right, it’s all Comstokian talking points.
I am quite cheered so see them so totally PO’d.
Not for nuthin’, but when the motions first began, I was not sure that Walton “got” it. he seemed to be willing to let them have all kinds of stuff.
But each decision, he has become more and more focused on the actual charges in the indictment. I think at this point he sees Fitz’s vision for how this case can be tried. Very small, very focused, leaving virtually no appealable issues out there.
I’m telling you, every time I think on it, the elegant simplicty of how Fitz eliminated the gray mail problem by limiting his charges, just blows me away.
So simple, yet so effective.
York, of course, as you make abundantly clear, could not be more of an ass. The complaints need have no relationship to reality whatsoever, of course: that Fitz has spent barely any money in comparison with Starr; that Fitz should be criticized because he doesn’t leak!; that he owes the media, or Byron York, or any of us an explanation of where his investigation is going; that he has any other task than prosecuting those he feels have committed a crime within the framework of the mandate he has been given …
Anyways, shorter me: what Jane said.
And shorter York: waaaaaaaaaah
Get yer direct, unfiltered Walton right here : http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/op.....2006-a.pdf
Jane - I’m glad you are all over Byron York’s incessant spin but I’m afraid you have some catching up to do. Take a look at his 1:33 PM post on the judge’s new ruling. York spins this ruling to mean that the judge thinks there is nothing to the “Big Case”. When dealing with serial liars like Mr. York, you have to go at it with a full time devotion. Then again - I’m being unfair as I just gave up on exposing the National Review’s garbage on PlameGate (after all, unwinding their babble on economics is a full time job). So keep up the good work!
lhp 11 - LOL.
Sometimes the thought that “I’ll be dead by then” is a good one. I backtracked below, although one of Lobster’s is who I had kinda wondered - also that Froomkin might be talking to them about their other case too. I’m not good with a crystal ball, so I’ll vote that I think one of you is possibly right.
Pach (#5), didn’t you see The Big Lebowski?
LEBOWSKI: Hello! Hello! So every time — I just want to understand this, sir — every time a rug is micturated upon in this fair city, I have to compensate the…
DUDE: Come on, man, I’m not trying to scam anybody here…
Well, I’m pretty smart, but a think tank? I only bought one copy, and I’m in the middle of it. It is a clarion read.
York monitors the netroots. He was at the CtG book tour kickoff events in DC when Jerome and Markos started their speaking tour. Rumor has it he’s working on some writing about us, maybe a book, who knows.
I wish I could carry Fitz’s briefcase just once….I guess that little white badge around his neck helps to keep his tie from blowing over his shoulder like it usually does……
Mary did Zeidenberg leave the investigation?
Do I have Libby’s swiss cheese memory?
(well, actually I do have a swiss chees memory. Maybe Wells should call me as an expert witness in not being able to rememer, anything?)
I’m sure that the first conclusion York and his kind jump to is buik sales from think tanks %u2014 you know, the wingnut welfare without which any of their unreadable screeds would ever touch the hem of the NYT bestseller list.
The notion that people will go out and buy political/current event books that aren’t by celebrities, pundits, or talk-radio blowhards is completely foreign to these clowns. It happens, and they immediately begin searching for evidence of a rigged rating. A left-wing political book shoots up the charts? Bulk puchases by George Soros must be the only explanation!
what was fascinating about RFK,Jrs appearance on Leslie Blitzer’s show was the Republican defense by a high-level Gooper whom I’ve seen before but can’t recall the name of. His defense of Ohio was based on lies - the facts of Kennedy’s case werent argued. The Gooper said the Democrats had tried all over the country to wreck the voting system by deliberately overloading it with phony voter registrations. He also claimed a bipartisan commission had completely exonerated the Ohio vote.
How big is a bulk order? Five copies at once? Twenty? If it’s five, a couple of people have remarked about buying that many in previous threads. If it’s significantly more, then maybe York has a question worth asking.
Big case vs. little case? As I recall, Ken Starr, with the adoring approval of the right-wing pundits and Holy Joe Lieberman, used the “little case” against Willie — lying in an unrelated deposition about the time when his little head did all the thinking for his big head. York’s denigration of the little case now is a tad inconsistent, especially when the Starr chamber spent roughly a hundred times what Fitz has spent.
Situation Roon..CNN..RFK coming up this hour Re: “Was Ohio Stolen?”
If the right want to tally something why not call Ohio and count the damn votes!
pgl 19 — that’s the wonderful thing about the comments section. If you think there is more to be said about York, get to it.
*ilson– it was Terry Holt and they are replaying it this hour.
Cujo 29 — the aspersions York casts do not mention any numbers, do they? Hmmm, how curious.
And then there’s that “One hot day …” line. Last minute just before the Fo’th, mebbe? Send us all up like rockets?
Mid-summer Champagne … NUMMEE.
mwahahahaha — oh man, I can’t wait to read this opinion and York’s piece. Excellent write-up, Jane. (Incidentally, we’re having a ton of rain and flash flooding here — luckily we live on a hill, but it took me an extra two hours to pick up the peanut from preschool and then to get back home again. Whew!)
I like the idea of June Fitzteenth!
Aaaaaaggghhh I’m having flashbacks now . . . I still cannot believe that they turned Clinton’s little faux pas into a criminal impeachment.
Boy do we have context now.
Fitzteenth!
A question for the Fitzmas tea leaf readers –
Does today’s Judicial response exhaust Team Libby’s supply of smoke, mirrors, and diversionary filings?
More importantly — does the Scooter smackdown clear the decks for hauling the Great White Whale along side the good ship Fitz, and boiling the Rove blubber down into rancid oil?
How cool would it be to have an announcment Wed. June 8. . . two days before the Plame panel at Ykos?
Jane Hamsher @ 4:03 pm (#34) - the aspersions York casts do not mention any numbers, do they? Hmmm, how curious.
Given his history, I wouldn’t be surprised if that lack of specificity was deliberate. I also can’t imagine who’d be making the huge bulk orders you’ve mentioned in regard to some wingnut books, but that could be failure of imagination on my part.
4th of July–champagne and jello flags! What could be more American? :)
Does today’s Judicial response exhaust Team Libby’s supply of smoke, mirrors, and diversionary filings?
As long as the multi-million dollar Legal Defense Fund holds out, the supply of obfuscation is never-ending . . .
Yeah! Take it to hair boy!
I just know what LobsterG mentioned - very involved in Safavian right now. But there haven’t been any withdrawals from anyone who put in a notice that I know of. They just all have other caseloads from what I understand and that one (Safavian) didn’t end up with a plea. Fond wishes, btw, for pro-Gov(even fascist gov) outcome in Safavian.
I feel sorry for him some, but let one of Abramoff’s champions keep him from drowning in the pool. BTW - does Ashcroft count as an Abramoff champion? I’ll have to go back and look at the dates on the Abramoff/Ashcroft/underlings email to figure out who the underlings were at the time.
As long as the multi-million dollar Legal Defense Fund holds out, the supply of obfuscation is never-ending . . .
Of course this is true — but have we reached the point where Fitz realizes all Scooter has is BS, so that Fitz feels comfortable turning his undivided attention to the next target?
Hi, everyone, I feel like I haven’t been here for days. By the time I’ve read all the comments, it’s time for bed. I feel like I’ve commented, because I’m commenting in my head as I read, but it turns out I haven’t actually written a thing.
My two favorite words today are “Without Merit” as Judge Walton so wisely pronounces Libby’s most recent greymail attempt. He clearly has a firm grasp on things and has no intention of allowing Libby to turn the trial into a circus. It’s a beautiful thing.
Big case/little case - from J. Walton’s order
as the indictment makes clear, one aspect of the government’s case will be an attempt to establish the defendant’s knowledge of Ms. Wilson’s affiliation with the CIA before his conversations with Miller, Russert, and Cooper
The fact that strategy means you put up the signpost for one path, doesn’t mean no one left breadcrumbs going down another. In the end, which statute, which approach, is less important than that you validly and w/i the rules make it work.
I’m still in the camp that with the NIE and Cheney notes, anyone who wants a lot more is a glutton. Not that there’s anything wrong with gluttony.
OMG, Pat Robertson’s plane was divinely slapped out of the sky!!!
Plane registered to Pat Robertson crashes
GROTON, Conn. - A Learjet registered to religious broadcaster Pat Robertson crashed in Long Island Sound while flying in heavy fog Friday, killing both pilots, authorities said. All three passengers escaped without serious injury.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....ne_crash_6
Wow! Walton is such a clear and concise writer. In eight pages he slammed it.
-sofistic
Oh, brother, It never occurred to me that folks like York would show up at YearlyKos. I have no problem if they just want to see what’s up, but it will really stink if they try to hijack sessions.
Cujo, I wondered the same thing about what Byork thought “bulk orders” meant. I considered asking him that question but then realized that The Corner don’t take no comments from the likes of RBG.
So using the principles of journalism as practiced by the NRO, feel free to quote RBG:
Does Byron York think that George Soros has 20000 copies of How Would a Patriot Act in his basement or something? I wish I owned a reality distortion ray like they use at the Corner.
Hey BYork - isn’t it time for your swan song?
Pach, I thought the Plame panel was earlier, isn’t the 10th the breakfast and then Dean? If it’s on the 10th, I’m going to freak, we have to leave at noon on the 10th.
Don’t know if this has been posted here, but Chris Bowers over at MYDD put’s up a
Punaise:
Hey BYork - isn’t it time for your swan song?
You know, there is a bird outside my window right now that makes that BYork, BYork sound. I think it is a raven…
-sofistic
Dayum Jane, you must wake up every day wondering, “ok, who’s numbnut ass am I going to be FORCED to plant my foot up today?!?”
It is a target rich environment, isn’t it?
How many elephants have you got painted on your fuselage?
RFK jr ; cnn NOW!
My link didn’t work.
Try again
Giant Mutant Figs on NPR –
http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....Id=5446137
sofistic, are you sure it’s not a “craven”
Nevermore…
Late to the Mary party: MARY! Your analyses of the law are hugely important to us. Carry on. We need you.
Amazon statistics/York: bulk orders are counted as ONE book ordered. So if somebody bought 500 on amazon it still only counts as one book. Glenn is just more popular than those guys. Boo Hoo.
diogenes 58
….
How many elephants have you got painted on your fuselage?
“10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more
the bloggy Jane Hamsher
is rollin’ up a score”
Hey, just wanted to say hello. I usually post under anon, but going to post under MaryAnn from now on (no, it’s not an homage to the other Mary - though she deserves it).
Welcome to FDL MaryAnn !
can we just call him Comstock Load - signifying his steady diet ?
Quoth the raven: “Michael Moore.”
Zen at 56 — The Plame panel is on Friday morning, and the breakfast is on Saturday morning. (And our FDL caucus is on Thursday afternoon. Can you tell I’ve been trying to make sense out of my crazy schedule today?)
I’m listening to Mona Charen try to defend the administration on NPR, it is just pathetic. She and Mary Matalin and Ol’60 better get good prizes for hanging in with this bunch, what can they be thinking? It just pisses me off to hear otherwise intelligent people spout nonsense with their mouths full of cocktail weenies.
Comments on RFK on CNN would be appreciated by us work-slash-computer bound! Thanks! :)
WHEW!!
Thanks Christy, I needed that. I am totally unable to change my flight out, I already tried, so I was ready for a panic attack. Getting really excited!!!
Mmmmmm . . . cocktail weenies . . .
(Sorry, I’m a bit peckish here!)
York just sits quietly at these things and takes notes. He won’t be the only one frm the gooper set in attendance. The fear us, so they will study us.
For those who can never get enough of good Fitzy snark, here’s some more. A defendant in one of his Chicago-based cases asked to be excused from a status hearing - so said defendant could go to a BBQ at his country club. He also complained that it would cost him too much to go all the way to Chicago from Victoria, Canada for the hearing - $3,000 by his estimate. (Mind you, this guy’s charged with helping to embezzle over $80 million.)
Fitz’s office, as you can imagine, was duly impressed with these arguments:
I love it. I just love it.
Now Charen is defending the story about Iran wanting Jews, gays etc to wear identifying clothing and the despicable welcoming of Amir Teherani (sp) to the WH.
CHS,
The FDL caucus is probably the only event I’ll be able to attend. Do you have to sign up for it or just show up?
Pach, you’ll have to point him out for me, I have no idea who he is. Creepy. I can’t wait to see what he reports about spending time in the fever swamp.
*^#@! My comment showed up fine in preview, then disappeared when I hit Submit. No moderation, no nuthin’. Have to try again.
MaryAnn 66
(anon’s habit falls by the wayside?)
welcome aboard the good ship Firedog
Fitzy snark, Part 1 - regarding a defendant in one of the tall man’s Chicago-based cases:
York sounds just like the kid who gets his fingers slammed in the cookie jar lid time and time again.
His own argument kind of sums up the reality. Fitzgerald is trying the Little Case because Irv’s lying obstructed the investigaton of the Big Case.
If he gets conviction on the Little Case, then maybe the truth will get told when he gets back to investigating the Big Case.
How could you be such a dolt?
Pach,
Them wingers better behave at YKOS. I don’t fight anymore, and I don’t fight any less neither.
zen,
http://www.4kevin.com/weblog/images/byron-york.jpg
In the last week or so, I’ve received my copy of How Would a Patriot Act, Crashing the Gate and the new Dixie Chicks CD, all from Amazon. I love the Internets!
Fitzy snark, Part 2. As you can imagine, Fitz’s office was duly impressed by these arguments:
I love it. I just love it.
More hard evidence of bulk orders of HWAPA from an Actual Amazon Review
Coz 83:
BYork, the mane man
Fitzy snark, Part 2 (my comments keep getting eaten for some reason - sorry) - Fitz’s office was duly impressed by the defendant’s arguments:
Has Byron York ever been accurate about anything involving Plamegate beyond spelling the names right? Wasn’t he peddling GOP talking points months after even the MSM had caught up and discredited them?
Everyone following the case closely knows Fitz has been extraordinarily frugal in his expenditures. Thanks for the Ken Starr figures for comparison.. I forgot how costly that got.
Micturate away, Byron. Always do what you’re good at, I say.
punaise,
LOL yup
Fitzy snark, Part 2:
Mick sure ate it
My comments keep getting eaten! Aargh.
Can anyone tell me if you have to register for the FDL caucus at YKos? I have already registered for YKos and assume the FDL caucus is included. I am really looking forward to meeting everyone and would be extremely disappointed if I was shut out due to some additional registration.
#71 Oscarsmom says
June 2nd, 2006 at 4:41 pm
Comments on RFK on CNN would be appreciated by us work-slash-computer bound! Thanks! :)
pretty short shrift really: it was RFKjr vs. leslie and the gop hairdoo. leslie (wolf) framed the whole issue as well covered by the ‘press’ and proven to tim hattery. gop hairdoo tried to blame DEMs for flooding the country ‘with phoney voter resigtrations’ . . .
RFK stated his case, added that J Kerry had read it and now agrees that OH was a crime scene . . .
all in all it is what you expect from the lapdog leslie . . . and Cabal News Network. ick!
say hi to oacar!
York’s worst nightmare is thousands of ordinary Americans studying the constitution and learning just how badly the neocons are damaging this democracy.
*giggle*
Sweet dreams, Byron. Don’t let the Ambien bite!
Leslie in CA - perhaps sofistic ate it :~)
Fitzy snark Part 2:
punaise, maybe there is a very hungry caterpillar lurking in the server. I have this wonderful snark from Fitz’s Chicago office that I keep trying to share, and the comments won’t post. Very frustrating.
fwiw, you might have heard of a mass killing of 7 people last night in Indpls — it happened 5 blocks south of me. They are catching the killers right now half a mile from me. My 4 pitbabies are good guardians…
It has to have something to do with the html code, because codeless comments are fine.
Maybe we should make the gooper spies wear bright yellow stars to better identify them?
Checking in late. Sorry I missed earlier great posts this week. Also, love ya too, Mary, all 5′2″.
Re York, not sure why he keeps making the “Big Case” vs “little case” distinction. Whom does he think he’s kidding? Apart from exposing himself to the argument that he thinks lying to a grand jury and obstructing justice are not serious crimes, is it possible that he thinks noone will notice/recall the “throwing sand in the umpire’s eyes” argument? Does he believe his own credibility has no value?
When all is said and done, the facts that the pressure of Fitz’ investigation have helped expose are: (1) the “big” offense of compromising the security of an agent and her work was committed (2) by people in the WH, some of them still there, (3) acting deliberately and at least recklessly if not in deliberate conspiracy, (4) after they were repeatedly warned by CIA about Plame’s security status, (5) for the purpose of at least punishing/discrediting a critic who, at the request of the CIA and to help answer a question the VP asked, truthfully exposed that (6)the Administration misled the country into war and (7) knew they were doing it, but (8) continued to deny it and lie about it (9) to this day. Is this not “big” enough for York?
York functions not in a court of law but in the court of public opinion, and in that forum, the overwhelming evidence has long shown that his favorite Administration is guilty of one of the biggest frauds ever perpetrated on the American public. What’s that saying? Something about noting a mote in an eye and missing the tree in another?
Coz, thanks, now I get the hair jokes, what a maroon.
Oilfield, there are a few sessions that you have to sign up for but the FDL ones are not among them. They are mostly action type caucus things. They said there should be plenty of room at all the others. Are you going to be there Sat as well?
Trying one more time:
Byron York’s worst nightmare is thousands of Americans reading books like Glenn’s and learning just how much damage the neocons have done.
Studying constitutional issues is exactly what’s needed.
So sweet dreams, York. Don’t mind us, we’re just taking back our country.
OMG, *ilson, I didn’t hear about it, that’s terrible. I’m glad you and your babies are safe.
Still not working. Grrr. Okay, see my comment number 80 for Part 1, and I’ll try posting Part 2 without any blockquotes:
Mr. Boultbee’s request, Mr. Fitzgerald said, “demonstrates a gross lack of appreciation by this defendant of the gravity of these proceedings.”
In the filing, Mr. Fitzgerald also called Mr. Boultbee’s complaints about the trip’s cost “frivolous.”
“Obviously, the government did not select the Chicago-based location of the company [Hollinger International] that defendant chose to defraud,” the filing alleges.
Mr. Fitzgerald’s office even searched on-line to find a travel package for Mr. Boultbee for $1,202, according to the filing, including a night in the four-star W Chicago City Center hotel.
Thanks ppirt!
Oscar says, “Hi Buddy!”
(He’s our parrot)
Anyone can attend the caucus. No barriers to entry. No pre-registration.
Oilfieldguy - check your ticket; you might have the package that includes entry to the Vegas petting zoo…you know what to do :~)
yeah *ilson, read that headline in the middle of the night and thought of your safety - good on your babies
yikes *ilson, lay low and stay safe
Okay, finally! Part 1 at 80, Part 2 at 100. Link here.
Perhaps young master Byron is feverishly working on his magnum opus, a grand unified theory explaining all of wingerdom apologism?
The York Peppermint Patty might shy away from enlistment in Iraq, but he can be counted upon to bravely immerse himself in the necessary anthropological field work among the seething barbarians and rabble who refuse to acknowledge the grave necessity of Bushism.
Think of it as the wingnut equivalent of Notes from the Underground.
Remember the Yorkian credo: 2 2 = 5 is a very fine thing indeed when reality is being such a peckish contrarian.
Or to quote Shakespeare:
Now is the winter of our discontent,
Made glorious summer by this our pun of York.
*ilson, glad you and your babies are all well.
OMG, *ilson, that’s got to be terrifying. I sure hope they catch the suspects soon.
RE: 115
Missing symbol in Yorkian credo: Two plus two equals five.
(I guess the “plus” sign gets lost in translation. Or it’s missing the sarcasm gene or sumpin’.)