Plamegate's Final Chapter, Maybe?

The outing of Valerie Plame began Cyclone’s Real Deal and I feel like I have to visit the Scooter Libby saga one more time.

George W. Boosh has finally pissed off EVERYONE with his commutation of the Libby jail sentence. The left is pissed because the revenge they seek will not be exacted by Bubba in a jail cell. The right is pissed because Libby did not receive the full pardon that he “deserves,” and people in the middle are pissed just because everyone else is. Breaking down what actually happened and the repercussions of this action is what we will do today.


Boosh the Genius or Just Dumb Luck?

By commuting Libby’s jail sentence rather than issuing a full pardon for now, Boosh is playing to both sides. I cannot imagine why, unless someone actually thought it out. Since preplanning things is not a Boosh strongsuit, and he claims he didn't discuss this with the justice department beforehand, (or even if he did) I'm not sure this is a planned result. But, he did what he did, and depending upon one’s perspective it was either a stroke of genius or dumb luck that put him, the Vamp, and Libby in the best possible position. I’m betting on the latter, dumb luck, unless Karl Rove did the actual orchestration of this debacle. Here’s what I mean.

First, Boosh claimed that Libby was still paying a “high price” for his crimes. He had to pay a $250,000 fine, and serve probation for a couple of years, and couldn't practice law anymore. Well, the quarter of a million was no big deal as Fred Thompson’s “Libby Defense Fund” had a hell of a lot more money in it than that, and it is unlikely that Libby will ever actually be on probation. For one to be on probation, they have to serve some jail time first. Since Libby was never booked into the system, it is likely illegal for him to be placed on probation. As for his law license, he won't lose that before his appeal is over and he will be pardoned before then anyway. So, maybe buying Libby's silence is cheaper than Boosh claims.

Secondly, and most importantly, (listen up you dumbassed right wingers) Libby still has an appeal pending. Because of that, which incidentally would have removed the appeal if he were given a full pardon, Libby cannot be forced to testify before Congress. He will, if called, merely claim his 5th amendment privilege in order to not answer the questions that could get us to the heart of this matter, under the guise of “protecting” his appeal. An appeal, by the way, that two Republican judges said had no chance of success in the opinion issued on his appeal of going to jail immediately. And, an appeal that will last longer than Booshco is in office. So, it’s win-win for Libby and the ignorant right who can’t recognize a gift horse when they are handed one, and lose-lose for those of us who want to see what Cheney and Boosh’s roles in all of this really were. Granted, deep in our souls we already know what their roles were, but it needs to be opened up in Congressional hearings for the average American who gets their weekly news from the Sunday paper headlines. So, once again, the truth is thwarted by Booshco, either intentionally or by total accident.

What Will Happen Next


From Day One of this investigation, I told you that the ultimate target of this whole thing was the Vampire Cheney. Nothing has changed along those lines, and if there is a way to get there Fitz will do it. He will be called to testify before Congress, and will immediately dispel the right wing talking points that there was no underlying crime and that Libby should never have been prosecuted in the first place. The White House and the conservatives want you to believe that because Richard Armitage was the initial “leaker,” and that Fitzgerald knew that long before Scooter entered the picture, that there was no underlying crime and that this was a runaway prosecution that just wanted to get “poor somebody” to justify the money and time spent on this investigation. While it is true that Armitage was the “leaker,” and that Fitz did know that prior to Libby’s involvement, it entirely misses the point, which is this.

Did the Vice President or the President order the outing of Valerie Plame as revenge for Joseph Wilson’s stating that the reasons for going to war with Iraq were bogus? That is THE QUESTION, and unfortunately, the only way to get the answer is through Scooter Libby. I think it is clear that this is exactly what happened, and no non-partisan look at the evidence can bring one to any other conclusion. The point of all of this was summed up in one line by Patrick Fitzgerald, when he said, “Libby threw sand in the face of the umpire.” You see, when Libby refused to tell the truth and chose to protect his boss and his bosses’ boss, the investigation ground to a halt. With no where else to turn, Fitzgerald did the only thing he could by prosecuting Libby for obstruction of justice and perjury. His hope was, that assuming he could get a conviction, at some point either right before or shortly after Libby heard the jail door slam shut behind him he would break and tell the truth. It was all he could do at the time, and then hope that the stars aligned and that jail would bring Libby to his senses. Of course, he also knew that a pardon or commutation was likely, so this was a long shot at best.

When Fitzgerald testifies before Congress, you will hear the Republicans blast away at him about continuing an investigation without an “underlying crime” being committed, and about continuing the investigation when he already knew who the “leaker” was. I suggest that all of you listen closely to his answers, and you will see that Libby was merely a means to an end. The truth will come out, though not in the way we all hoped (with Cheney in belly chains) but through the voice of Patrick Fitzgerald. He will tell the story we all want to hear, and that will have to satisfy us as justice.

In one of the first pieces I did at the very beginning of Cyclone’s Real Deal, I did something about Jail for Libby, who cares? I meant that then, and I still do. Whether or not Scooter Libby ever spends a day in jail, and now he won’t, didn’t matter in the least. What matters, and has always mattered, is how the Vampire Cheney and probably Boosh (if he was even consulted) chose to out the identity of a CIA agent. By doing so, they put the lives of countless CIA operatives who ever had any contact with Ms. Plame in dire jeopardy; we will never know the true fallout of this choice made simply for revenge against her husband. We will never know how many people in the Plame network have been killed, had their careers ended, or what it has done to our national security. We will never know the fallout of people from other countries thinking twice about becoming double agents and acting on our behalf for fear of being outed themselves. It takes many years to set up an operation such as the one that Plame was involved in, and it was washed away with a simple phone call to a reporter. And in the end, once justice is quashed for good, Boosh will give Libby the full pardon that the right believes he deserves.

This administration, which claims that the security of the American people is their top priority, has proven over and over that the opposite is true. They have their own secret agenda, and you and I and the rest of the typical American people are not even a passing thought in that agenda. These pathetic bastards don’t care one iota about us, never have and never will. They can’t even build a damn fence. The saddest part about it all is it is too late to matter now. It doesn't matter because,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Not Sure How I Got Here, I Just Can't Help Myself

Forget Scooter Libby, forget Valerie Plame, forget border security, forget the economy, and forget Iraq just for a second. If you recall, I told you a long time ago that aside from the 2000 election the 2004 election was the most important one of my lifetime. For the next 50 or so years, assuming we survive that long, we will live what I was talking about. You that think there is no difference in the Republicans and Democrats are for the most part correct. But where you are not correct is the one place that the most damage can be done, and the one place that people think of the least. The single most important reason that a Democrat HAD to win the 2004 election was to prevent George W. Boosh and the Republican Congress from stacking the Supreme Court with conservatives, something that they have now managed to do. Young conservatives at that. So, we will now pay the price, giving up our liberties a chunk at a time as decisions come down that allow the corporations take over what little they don’t already control. If you thought we were a corporatocracy before, just wait a little longer. You haven’t seen anything yet.

Cyclone