It’s a compelling, but still largely unexplored, narrative.
It goes something like this: As President Bush’s false case for war in Iraq began to unravel, his top aides took extreme measures to discredit critics who accused the administration of intentional deceit. One of their mechanisms involved using compliant reporters to spread sometimes inaccurate information, without leaving any fingerprints. As a result, they successfully kept charges of deception from becoming a major issue in the 2004 election, allowing Bush to win a second term. And since then, they have continued to avoid any meaningful congressional oversight, while at the same time keeping most of the press off the trail.
Barring a robust and far-reaching inquiry on Capitol Hill, the trial of Scooter Libby on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, which started this morning in Washington, offers the public its best chance to determine whether that narrative is accurate.
Wallace asked: “By taking the policy you have, haven’t you, Mr. Vice President, ignored the expressed will of the American people in the November election?”
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, Chris, this President, and I don’t think any President worth his salt can afford to make decisions of this magnitude according to the polls. The polls change.
"Q This was an election, sir.
“THE VICE PRESIDENT: Polls change day by day, week by week. I think the vast majority of Americans want the right outcome in Iraq.”
Well, the good thing is that the people have the means to express their will on the wanna-be dictators in the White House. Just gotta see how that bit of it turns out now.
WASHINGTON - A potential juror in the perjury trial of former White House aide “Scooter” Libby was allowed to remain in the jury pool Wednesday after saying she would be impartial and put aside her tepid impression of Vice President Dick Cheney, an expected defense witness.
“I’m not particularly impressed with a lot of his manners of being, but I can’t speak to his credibility,” said the woman, who works for the Department of Health and Human Services, as jury selection continued for a second day.
Cheney’s credibility has emerged as a key issue, with defense lawyers looking for a panel that can trust the vice president, expected to testify on behalf of Libby, his former chief of staff. Libby is accused of lying to investigators about his conversations with journalists about an outed CIA officer.
I just want YOU all to know that I’m not particularly impressed with a lot of your manners of being. That is, the manners in which you EXIST fail to IMPRESS ME. Either that, or your basic manners – as embodied in your very BEING – are UNIMPRESSIVE.
During jury selection, the judge and defense counsel tried to ferret out whether the vice president’s unpopularity would cause those weighing the case to discount his testimony or whether the star power of the Meet the Press host might lead jurors to believe anything he said. (Prosecutors, who benefit from these preconceptions, were not so worked up about probing them.)
Given these lines of inquiry, it became pretty clear who was going to get out of jury duty. Pay attention to the world around you, and it was pretty likely you were going to get bounced. Libby’s defense team honed in on anyone who might have developed views about the case beforehand, who might not like the war in Iraq, or who have any sympathy for the media figures who will be witnesses or figures in the case.
So, for instance, when a young financial analyst admitted he watched Meet the Press, it was pretty clear he was going to make it home for lunch. When he interrupted the defense counsel to stand up for the accuracy of bloggers, he might as well have been taunting them. “Some of them are pretty good,” he said, to the cheers of bloggers who are—for the first time—formally a part of the press corps covering the case. (This will be a continuing theme of this trial, as those covering it wait to hear for their names, their book titles, or the names of their blog or news organization mentioned in court. When the fledgling Washington Examiner was mentioned by a juror who reads it on the subway commute, its correspondent gave—and got—huzzahs.)
The first shock of the case is that the know-it-alls are in the minority. Despite saturation media coverage, frantic blogging, and the personal crusade of Joe Wilson, who at times seemed to be going door–to-door to scare up sympathy for himself, there are still balanced humans roaming the streets who live their lives unscathed by news about the leak. These strange beings admitted to knowing nothing about the particulars of the case or this whole big thing about whether the Bush administration fabricated evidence about weapons of mass destruction to go to war.
“I’m a sports-section guy,” said the first potential juror, a little embarrassed.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawyers in the perjury trial of former White House official Lewis “Scooter” Libby did not finish jury selection on Thursday as many potential jurors said their disapproval of the Bush administration would prevent them from judging the case objectively.
Many of the residents of the largely Democratic city said they would have a hard time finding Libby’s former boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, a credible witness if he were called to testify as expected.
“I think he’s been instrumental in enacting some policies that have really damaged our country,” said one woman, a business consultant who helps the government manage its properties.
Libby resigned as Cheney’s chief of staff after he was charged with lying to investigators as they sought to determine who leaked the name of a CIA operative whose husband criticized the Bush administration’s use of intelligence before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Judge Reggie Walton had hoped to finish jury selection by Thursday to allow the trial to begin on Monday, but after three days he and the lawyers involved in the case had only approved 30 candidates. Jury selection is now expected to continue on Monday and the trial to begin on Tuesday.
The prosecuters will also show that it was VP Cheney who directed Scooter Libby on how to handle the media inquiries on the Wilsons, on Joe Wilson’s criticisms, that was a violation of protocal. In addition, prosecutors are alleging that VP Cheney himself wrote out for Scooter Libby what he should say to one of the cruicial reporters in the case and it was during that conversation with the reporter when Scooter Libby gave the confirmation to that reporter that Valerie Wilson was undercover at the CIA.
There was other information that was damaging to the Vice President concerning the State of the Union and the false claim that was made. The prosecutors say the evidence will make it clear that VP Cheney asked the Director of the CIA George Tenet to take complete responsiblity for the mistake and to make it clear that the VP and the president were not involved…
And:
There was a note that VP Cheney wrote to Scooter Libby about how Libby should handle this matter, that Scooter Libby, according to prosecutors, destroyed just before Scooter Libby testified to the FBI where Libby allegedly lied about his dealings with reporters. It is damaging information about this Vice President, politically, it could also be a big deal as far as this trial is concerned. [Update: Shuster now says the phrase Fitzgerald used was: Wiped out (as in from memory), not destroyed, and he reports that the note itself was found in Libby’s files]
Norah O’Donnell is asking Andy Card and Leon Panetta if the president is going to have to ask Dick Cheney to resign as a result of what’s being alleged at the Libby Trial. (They both punted.)
Well… I guess I’m surprised that such a poorly written blog managed to get its message all the way to qt3. Surely this chump isn’t the only one with the scoop. Maybe I should blame Jason. Either A) this is the only source supporting his viewpoint or B) he didn’t bother to find us a better source.
Why the fuck would Bush ask Cheney to resign over this? Bush never does anything to boot anyone unless he loses an election. And he’s lost his last election. Cheney’s in there for the duration.
Just read that Bush’s ratings are down there with Nixon’s. It’s not like this can do him much more damage, not in any way that makes any difference, no matter how bad it gets.
…Well, I guess if Fitzgerald decides to indict Cheney, it would get interesting. But if he could do that, he would’ve already.
Fitzgerald could try, but Cheney and Bush would just automatically invoke executive privilege and force it to the Supreme Court, and by the time a ruling was handed out the 2nd term would be ending.
