Circle the wagons

[yotoc]

And yet still nobody gets my point.

[Tyson]

I'm assuming you're trying to make reference to the fact that the media is "predicting" or "expecting" the announcements from the leak investigation to come any minute now, as if someone's leaking this information to the press. They're not. Remember Ken Starr's investigation? I believe roughly 19,000 bits of information were leaked. I'll dig up the source later.

No one's leaking info on this case. It's just the media watching such-and-such go to the deli and then to the - oh wait! he's stopping to use his cell phone! he's GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY!

Annnddd....

AP: Vice presidential adviser I. Lewis "Scooter' Libby Jr. was indicted Friday on charges of obstruction of justice, making a false statement and perjury in the CIA leak case. Karl Rove, President Bush's closest adviser, apparently escaped indictment Friday but remained under investigation, his legal status a looming political problem for the White House.

The indictments stem from a two-year investigation by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald into whether Rove, Libby or any other administration officials knowingly revealed the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame or lied about their involvement to investigators. The five-count indictment accuses Libby of lying about how and when he learned about CIA official Valerie Plane's identity in 2003 and then told reporters about it. The information was classified. Any trial would shine a spotlight on the secret deliberations of Bush and his team as they built the case for war against Iraq.

Libby's resigned. Rove's not out of the hot seat just yet, either.

[RottingCorpse]

And yet still nobody gets my point.

What's your point/question?

[fajwat]

After staying up nursing a hangover until 9amish watching CNN, crashing in front of the TV, and being late to work watching Fitzpatrick's brilliant briefing, I'm doing the whole overnight replay with my ESB and Maker's Mark.  Rock on, Grandpa Nacho!

good points about backlash disease.  Personally, I think it's because the dems and repubs have both become shallow monopolies which have by mutual apathy done their best to avoid the real issues in lieu of fundraising and showmanship.  Given this cynical 2 party recipe (you have to pick one of us!) we'll always be stuck in backlashes.

yotoc: what irony?  I don't see this.  Then again I've been severely irony impaired since Bush promised to bring honor and respect to the white house -- starting with forcing a controversial election result through his brother's government and then claiming God-given mandates from the people whose votes he didn't want to verify.  Please, I'm bitter but not toward you -- what was your point?  

personal feelings/predictions: I think that Fitzpatrick is very smart and dedicated, and that his impartiality and propriety will slow him compared to Ken Star.  The investigation would thus naturally drag on longer, except that without the sex and cigars it could lose steam earlier.  National security and protecting our own operatives just isn't as sexy as killing infidels/"sand niggers"/arabs/terrorists, and the public, if it notices that hypocricy or inconsistency, is already too ashamed or just plain weary to give it the due publicity bump for as long as they gawked at Monica.

And the hardcore, paralyzed with shock and loathing, liberals like myself are worn out.  No amount of political carnage can satisfy us anymore; it's all pointless; he's a lame duck; we can't possibly oust Bush fast enough and even if we could -- he's done most of his irreversible damage.  We need to focus on a non-evil candidate who doesn't suck and trip over himself.

[RottingCorpse]

Oh! Oh! Ten bucks is slowly sliding it's way into Tyson's grubby little hands!

* * *

Some conservatives question Rove's future

By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Breaking with the White House and fellow conservatives, Republican Sen. Trent Lott and the head of the Cato Institute questioned on Tuesday whether top White House adviser Karl Rove, who remains in legal jeopardy in a CIA-leak probe, should keep his policy-making job.

Rove was not indicted on Friday along with Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby. But lawyers involved in the case said Rove, President George W. Bush's top political adviser and deputy chief of staff, remains under investigation and may still be charged by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

The identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame was leaked to the media in July 2003 after her diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to justify the war in Iraq. Despite initial White House denials, Fitzgerald's investigation shows that both Rove and Libby spoke to reporters about Wilson's wife.

Lott of Mississippi and William Niskanen of the libertarian Cato Institute both echoed Democratic calls for a White House shake-up.

"He (Rove) has been very successful, very effective in the political arena. The question is, should he be the deputy chief of staff for policy under the current circumstances?" Lott told MSNBC's "Hardball."

"Most presidents in recent years have a political adviser in the White House. The question is, should they be, you know, making policy decisions. That's the question you've got to evaluate," the former Senate Republican leader added.

Lott went further than he did on Sunday, when he urged Bush to be on the lookout for "new blood, new energy, qualified staff."

Niskanen, who served as a top economic adviser to former President Ronald Reagan, said, "Bush is going to have to sacrifice people who have worked with him to regain some initiative."

Niskanen said any White House shake-up should "start" with Rove because of his association with the leak case.

"He's provided good political judgment on campaigns, but not good political judgment on getting legislation through," Niskanen told Reuters.

So far, the White House has rebuffed calls for an overhaul in response to Libby's indictment. "Karl Rove continues to do his duties," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

When asked if Bush retained confidence in Rove, McClellan said on Monday: "People who work here at the White House have the confidence of the president."

A Republican strategist with ties to the White House said any personnel changes would be gradual to avoid the appearance that the White House was panicking.

Libby is expected to plead innocent to charges of obstructing justice, perjury and lying when he is arraigned on Thursday.

Fitzgerald was expected to decide within weeks whether to bring charges against Rove. Lawyers involved in the case said Rove provided new information last week to Fitzgerald that prompted him to reconsider charging Bush's top political adviser with making false statements.