The Political Chase

Murray Waas on Cheney and Libby

Murray Waas has a piece in National Journal that is must reading. It’s all about cover up and related to information that Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame Wilson’s spouse, debunked.

Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, overruling advice from some White House political staffers and lawyers, decided to withhold crucial documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 when the panel was investigating the use of pre-war intelligence that erroneously concluded Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, according to Bush administration and congressional sources.

The Intelligence Committee at the time was trying to determine whether the CIA and other intelligence agencies provided faulty or erroneous intelligence on Iraq to President Bush and other government officials. But the committee deferred the much more politically sensitive issue as to whether the president and the vice president themselves, or other administration officials, misrepresented intelligence information to bolster the case to go to war. An Intelligence Committee spokesperson says the panel is still working on this second phase of the investigation.

I have heard some rumblings about Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), chairman of the committee, being helpful to Cheney and possibly the president, by limiting what was included in the report the committee issued in April 2004 (campaign time). I say that based on rumors only; I do not know what is reality or fiction, but I’m looking around.  I would be glad to hear from anyone that could shed some light on the rumors. I’ll be happy to link to your site.

We should be concerned about Brownie

Brownie must be doing a heck of a job. Secretary Chertoff extended Michael Brown’s contract for another month. Yesterday I asked if Brownie was still around after learning about his resignation plans, pre-Katrina.

Odd…he planned to resign just prior to Katrina, but is still here today and continues to renew his month-to-month (so we’re told) contract. Maybe the job market outlook wasn’t as bright after Katrina???

The real question is why is he still employed by the government rather than is he still here.

The level of Brown’s competence is now just a matter of record. We know how well he served the administration and the people of the United States.

Brown is a lawyer, by academic training, but he ran pony shows for several years prior to joining the Bush brigade. Why would a lawyer not pursue a more personally challenging and financially rewarding path, unless he wasn’t up to it. He was fired from running the pony shows — that’s how he got to FEMA (other than cronyism).

What the heck is the man doing that is so important and productive? I think that precise question needs to be asked. What is Brown touching that will cause problems in the future?

David Brooks - On the Merry-Go-Round Too Long

David Brooks, (sub. req.) yet again, provides ample evidence of the depth of his intellect and awareness of the environment.  Brooks miserably attempts to coincide with his colleagues, John Tierney and Nicholas Kristoff, by dismissing the severity of the Plame Wilson matter that is asphixiating the White House. As I wrote earlier, Tierney and Krisoff have allowed the cheese to slip from their cracker; Brooks dropped his and then stepped on it.

The Bush administration is not in quite the same bind the Reagan administration was in. There is no one big scandal (sorry, Plamegate is not it). But at key moments - Social Security, Katrina, Harriet Miers - the president has been uncharacteristically out of step with the American people. Second-term-itis is setting in.

Brooks should have stopped there. He didn’t. He has the answer to the problem. Brooks approach is to bring in fresh blood, which makes sense, but is desirous of more of the same.

Breaking out doesn’t mean bringing in James Baker. It means bringing in like-minded but objective people who haven’t been molded by five years in power, like, say, Vin Weber. It means restoring cabinet government so the president will be surrounded with people more akin to peers. (The White House staff is too emotionally dependent on the president to be brutally honest with him.

I can’t think of a better solution than to bring in a group of people that are fresh, rested, crooks and incompetents. Is Brooks so naive as to think Dick Cheney hasn’t been brutally honest with the president. Get real. Cheney’s been the president for five years, not Bush. That’s a great idea. What country does Brooks want to invade next?

Are Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich the only Times staffers left that are not sufferring from acute atrophy of the cerebrum?

More info on Meirs withdrawal

More information on Meirs withdrawal from the Chicago Tribune.

—–

No Plame Wilson Announcements Today

David Schuster of NBC News (tv) reports that a Fitzgerald spokesperson said there would be no announcement today.  Additionally, the grand jury is supposed to convene today.

There is speculation that Fitzgerald wants to extend the grand jury, but cannot.  The grand jury has been extended once, which is the limit.  He can impanel a new jury, but there was no indication as to whether Fitzgerald will pursue that option.

—–

Harriet Miers Withdraws Nomination

Announcement: CNN (tv) reports that Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination to the Supreme Court.
—–

The Top Nine Plamegate Falsehoods

AlterNet has a list of what is supposed to be the top nine Plamegate falsehoods.

• It is legally significant whether the leakers disclosed Plame’s name in their conversations with reporters.
• Wilson said that Cheney sent him to Niger.
• Wilson was not qualified to investigate the Niger claims.
•  Plame’s CIA employment was widely known.
• Fitzgerald must prove that Plame’s covert status was leaked.
• Fitzgerald’s investigation was originally limited to possible violation of 1982 law.
• Leak investigation is the result of partisan motivations.
• Leaks go on all the time in Washington.

The site offers an explanation/justification for each point.

—–

Fitzgerald leases more office space

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said you can’t read anything into putting up a Web site.  How about leasing additional office space? 

Late update:  This post is not accurate. The source, which is usually reliable, had to retract their release.

—–

John Kerry Speech

Sen. John Kerry’s (D-MA) speech on national security at Georgetown University today has been added to the document library.  You can also read the speech at Kerry’s Web site.

Also, albeit late, Sec. Colin Powell’s chief of staff, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, speech to the New America Foundation is available for download. Wilkerson set the Bush administration on fire in his speech.

TalkLeft: Bush: How’s He Doing?

Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft did a little research on how Bush is currently viewed internationally.

—–