Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Sonofabitch.

Fitz goes soft on us:
The prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case on Monday advised Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, that he would not be charged with any wrongdoing, effectively ending the nearly three-year criminal investigation that had at times focused intensely on Mr. Rove.

The decision by the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, announced in a letter to Mr. Rove's lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, lifted a pall that had hung over Mr. Rove who testified on five occasions to a federal grand jury about his involvement in the disclosure of an intelligence officer's identity.

In a statement, Mr. Luskin said, "On June 12, 2006, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges against Karl Rove."

Based on everything I've read about Fitz, the only conceivable (and non-tinfoil) explanation is that he didn't think he could prove wrongdoing. Rove is one slippery sumbitch.

I think it's time for Jason Leopold to burn his sources (if indeed he ever had any) and go away forever.

UPDATE: The big problem with this is not just the obvious fact that Rove will have a free hand to orchestrate yet another campaign of smears, dirty tricks, and faux-patriotism/Christianity (it is my fondest hope that this is the year that the voters see through it and decisively reject it, but I won't hold my breath). The other big problem is that now, unless Bush and/or Cheney are indicted (not likely) the administration can deploy the One Bad Apple spin to dismiss Libby as just an overzealous rogue operator.

"Certainly we directed Scooter to counter Mr. Wilson's outrageous slander, but my goodness, we never expected him to resort to anything improper or illegal. That's simply not how we do things in this administration ." And yes, they really would be able to say this with a straight face.

UPDATE 2: As I think about Leopold's "Sealed Vs. Sealed" piece, I have to wonder whether Leopold was really reporting, or just covering his own sloppy ass. It certainly is convenient for Leopold if he can say he was totally right that Fitz was just about to indict Rove, but then AG^2 stepped in, and No-One Will Ever Know because it's a Secret.

Also, welcome to Daou Report readers! I'm not entirely sure what I did to merit a link, so I'm assuming it's random. But I'm still happy to have it. Um, if you're serious political wonks, please don't read the Mosquitophone or Bollywood Superhero posts. Thank you.

UPDATE 3: Arrgh. I must apologize for conflating Leopold's "Sealed Vs. Sealed" article with some of the speculation surrounding it. Leopold himself makes no claim that it has anything to do with an attempt to suppress Fitz. He just points out its existence and irregularity, although I would not be surprised if the aforementioned speculation was exactly what he was hoping for. I think he's clean on this, but he's still hopelessly discredited, fit only to work for the Republicans. Has anyone, ahem, filled Jeff Gannon's slot in the WH press corps?

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Still no explanation for who leaked the information first, and why they are still employed. Also, Mr. Novak continues to preach from the pulpit after having committed treason, and I have not yet understood why that is so.

But, I trust that Mr. Fitzgerald has run about as thorough a case as he could, and determined that there was not enough there to convince a responsible jury.

Leopold is permanently discredited.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Fatso got immunity from prosecution because he rolled over on Libby...

karmic said...

I am not surprised but I guess I am in some ways. This maladministration continues to be in office.

watertiger said...

Christy goes into the whys and wherefores in great detail over at FDL.

And Joe Wilson is now free to pursue a civil case against Rove, which may tie him up (on a spit, preferably) for November.

Anonymous said...

It's funny that someone should mention Joe Wilson suing Rove in civil court because I just read an astrological column that Rove's legal troubles aren't over by a long shot. Let's hope that the Wilson does sue and keeps Turd Blossom occupied for many months to come.

Anonymous said...

one big krovy horrorshow.

if dems can take one house...

there is hope, but i think the criminals may just get away with the whole enchilada.

of course the worst part will be listening to the gloating conservative pigs as they squeal in delight while they shit up the sty.

Eli said...

Thanks for the heads-up, tigre - I actually checked them first thing, but they didn't have anything yet. If Rove did cut a deal, he'll just ratfuck Fitz after the '06 elections are safely over. And I don't know much about civil cases, but I'm skeptical that one could get off the ground fast enough to interfere with Rove in November.

And to charley's point, it disgusts me how winning trumps all considerations of good or truth - as long as you win elections, nothing else matters, so you better win at all costs. It's not like they're gonna win any arguments.

Anonymous said...

Not to be a wet blanket but it appears the neocons have won and will continue to act with impunity and will live to do more destructive activities unimpeded. Worse, they may now be emboldened to do even more over the top things now that they have dodged the SP's bullet. Also, they have managed to discredit some major alternative news sources in the process.

Is it possible that the skills of these demons have been underestimated?

Anonymous said...

salon linked to your page because you wrote about jason leopold and the story is now about whiny bloggers losing credibility and turning on each other. Bravo idiot. Don't you think you could wait to crucify truthout who has had more integrity than any other news source outside of public television. Karl Rove would be proud. Do you have to shred Jason Leopold so that you get your blog on the map. Why do democrats tear each other apart while the republicans sit back and laugh. sad, very freaking sad.

Eli said...

Ah. This must be some new definition of the word "integrity" that I was not previously aware of.

Anonymous said...

apparantly truthout.org is held to a higher standard than cnn or the rest. i suppose you forgot about how they announced bush won the 2000 election or how they marketed the iraq war w/their superimposed pics of burning buildings and saddam. or how they haven't dared ask the president a question without it being scripted. keep riding leopold's coat tails.

spork_incident said...

Is "anonymous" actually Jason Leopold?


.

Eli said...

Firstly, did you even *read* the Leopold article?

Within the last week, Karl Rove told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials, that he will be indicted in the CIA leak case and will immediately resign his White House job when the special counsel publicly announces the charges against him, according to sources.

He didn't report it as something that was going to happen, he reported as something that had already happened. I suppose he can hide behind the plausible deniability of saying that Rove was mistaken, but that's Republican-style sophistry.

After, say, a week went by without this already-happened event being announced, his story was clearly bullshit. Even if Rove eventually did get indicted, it would be akin to me predicting that it will snow tomorrow, and claiming vindication when it finally happens six months from now. Did Leopold burn his sources then? Did Truthout burn Leopold? No. Even now that Leopold has been conclusively, decisively proved fucking wrong, they are still trying to brazen out like Dan Rather did, even though the reality is now the exact opposite of what Leopold reported.

Leopold either read some tea leaves and then made some shit up thinking he'd be proved right and have the "scoop" of a lifetime, or he got played by someone who was either making shit up, or was a Republican operative looking to discredit Truthout.

As for holding Truthout to a "higher standard", I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm holding them to the *same* standard as the MSM, if that's okay with you. I have consistently bashed the media as dishonest corporate/Republican shills, and I would love to see them as discredited as Leopold should now be. Unfortunately, I don't get to decide which reporters and media outlets people listen to, so don't blame *me* if most people still think the NYT's reporting is credible.

Eli said...

Is "anonymous" actually Jason Leopold?

I was wondering that myself. Or someone from Truthinessout, anyway.

Thers said...

Actually, I agree with Anonymous. Eli clearly wrote his post fully expecting Salon to pick it up -- it's all part of the Conspiracy. I'd reveal that Eli's code-name in the Conspiracy is Commander Punnypants, but then he'd have to kill me.

Hecate said...

Jason,

I remember you from when you were reporting on the CA energy mess. Your only hope for salvation is to burn your sources. Just sayin.

P. Drāno said...

I think someone was just getting a little creative with their reportage.

Anonymous said...

Merry Fitzmas, bitches!