Posted on 10/29/2005 6:25:49 AM PDT by Captain Culpepper
First post in a while, please forgive any posting errors.
I have repeatedly heard that Libby is the "first sitting WH official to be indicted since Grant." I then heard I believe an ABC radio report that he handed in his resignation "before the indictment was handed up".
I'm assuming that this is correct and the MSM has gotten this false story of "first sitting" official out there erroneously.
It seems that knowing an indictment was coming and hearing this "first since.." talk from the MSM coming for days the Libby resignation would have come before the indictment to deny the MSM this particular pound of flesh.
Does anyone know the actual facts? Thanks!
This would be funny if it weren't so sad. Indictments are not convictions, in or out of office. Past criminal behavior, mostly on the part of Democrats, has caused the current criminalization of politics. In this case, conservative politics. The Clinton administration was so corrupt that Democrats are grasping for a Republican doing the same thing so they can use their canard of "everyone does it." The truth is, everyone does NOT do it as Bush & Co have proven.
President Bush brought respectability back into the White House and it's driving the Democrats nuts as a comparison. Clinton's response to investigations was to claim exemptions for Executive Privilege and privacy. Bush's response to this investigation was to tell everyone in the White House to cooperate and tell the truth.
I think they're making a distinction between "White House official" and "administration official".
Cabinet member are administration officials, but they don't work in the White House. Libby would be considered a WH official because he works in the VP's office in the EOB, right next door to the WH.
Here you go:
Russert: First Indictment of a White House Official in 130 Years -- NBC's Washington bureau chief Tim Russert wanted to emphasize the event's importance, telling his MSNBC audience: "This is significant, it's the first time in 130 years a White House official has been indicted."
snip
History of indictments involving White House staff
FACT FILE: White House staff indictments -- A brief history of indictments in recent administrations:
Raymond J. Donovan, September 1984
The only sitting Cabinet member in recent history to be indicted while in office was Raymond J. Donovan, President Reagan's labor secretary. In September 1984, Donovan was indicted along with several others, accused of grand larceny in his co-ownership of a construction firm. After going on unpaid leave in October, Donovan resigned in March 1985. In 1987, a jury acquitted Donovan and his co-defendants.
David H. Safavian, October 2005
In October 2005, David H. Safavian, the top procurement official for President Bush, resigned. Three days later, he was arrested and indicted on five felony counts connected to criminal investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. At the time the indictment covered, from May 2002 to January 2004, Safavian had been serving as the chief of staff at the General Services Administration. Case pending.
Henry G. Cisneros, November 1996
In November 1996, Henry G. Cisneros resigned from his position as President Clinton's housing secretary. In December 1997, he was indicted on 18 counts of conspiracy, obstruction and lying to the FBI. Cisneros pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in 1999 and was fined $10,000.
Mike Espy, December 1994
In December 1994, Mike Espy resigned from his position as Clinton's agriculture secretary. In August 1997, Espy was indicted on 39 corruption counts in allegations that he had received financial gifts from Tyson Foods Inc., one of the companies his department regulated. In December 1998 Espy was acquitted on all counts.
Billy R. Dale, May 1993
In May 1993, White House travel office chief Billy R. Dale and his entire staff were fired by the Clinton administration. Dale was indicted in December 1994 on two counts of embezzlement and conversion after a grand jury said he pocketed up to $68,000 from media organizations traveling with the president. Dale was acquitted of all charges in November 1995.
John M. Poindexter, November 1986
In November 1986, John M. Poindexter resigned from his post as national security adviser to President Reagan. In March 1988, Poindexter and three others were indicted in relation to the Iran-Contra affair. Poindexter was charged with two additional counts of obstructing Congress and two counts of making false statements. He was convicted in 1990, but the charges were overturned the following year.
Thomas C. Reed, August 1984
In 1983, Thomas C. Reed resigned from the Reagan administration after working as a presidential assistant under National Security Adviser William P. Clark. In August 1984, he was indicted on four counts related to alleged illegal stock trading. He was acquitted in 1985.
H.R. Haldeman, March 1974
In April 1973, President Nixon forced White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman, domestic affairs counsel John Ehrlichman and five other staff members to resign. In March 1974, they were indicted in connection with the Watergate cover-up. Along with several others found guilty, both Haldeman and Ehrlichman were convicted in 1975 and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
You remind me of the story of the guy who was called into his bosses office and the boss says "your fired." The guy says, you can't fire me. I quit. I would consider Libby "sitting." Also, weren't they given a letter the day before. I think it's picking the nit to say he was out of office when indicted.
To clarify Tim Russert's claim, this is the first sitting White House official to be indicted in the last 130 years who had once attended a conference inside a library that was struck by lightning three times in one evening during a leap year.
If that's the case ABC should join the Cirque du Soleil the way they are jumping through hoops to put a spin on this.
ACtually impeachment = conviction. Clinton was found guilty, but, the senate chose not to punish him.
Clinton Legacy:
40 government officials were indicted or convicted in the wake of Watergate. 47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes with 33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself. There were in addition 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges. 14 persons were imprisoned.
I think this is the least of their worries.
The media has no interest in the truth, absolutely none.
Exactly!
The usual American Idiot will simply remember the First sitting White House Official... ... in the last 130 years..." and tune out everything else.
That is, in fact, Tim Russert the Fool's intention.
Perhaps they think he's the 1st since they conveniently 'forgot' to cover some of Bubba's:
http://newsbusters.org/node/2548
Networks Go Live For Libby, But Went to Sleep Over Clinton Cabinet Indictments
Posted by Tim Graham on October 28, 2005 - 12:54.
As ABC, CBS, and NBC all dived into live coverage today to report the indictment of Vice President Cheney's top aide Scooter Libby, this is not at all the way the networks covered indictments of cabinet officers in the Clinton years.
In September 1997, we reported in Media Watch that when former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was indicted on 39 counts, the networks aired a single evening news story. Three of the four networks -- ABC, CNN, and NBC -- underlined that the Smaltz inquiry had so far cost $9 million. None of them noted civil penalties originating from targets of Smaltz's inquiry amounted to more than $3.5 million. The next morning, CBS's morning show, called CBS This Morning, didn't even mention Espy's indictment. Months later, I noted in a Media Reality Check that on December 11, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros was indicted on 18 counts for misleading the FBI about payoffs to a mistress, Linda Medlar. NBC Nightly News filed one story; ABC's World News Tonight gave it 18 seconds. CBS Evening News didn't arrive on the story until the next night, and gave it nine seconds, a fraction of the two minutes Dan Rather gave the nightly El Nino update, about the weather "giving a gentle lift to the monarch butterfly." The morning shows were worse: NBC's Today passed on two anchor briefs, and ABC's Good Morning America and CBS This Morning ignored it.
Worse yet was the comparison with slighter stories: Since it began in July, the Bill Cosby-Autumn Jackson paternity-blackmail trial drew nine evening news stories on ABC, CBS, and NBC. The morning shows were much more devoted to the story, with 12 full news stories, 45 anchor briefs, and 11 interviews (nine of them on NBC's Today).
The news magazines weren't any better in their December 22 editions: the Cisneros indictment drew 29 words in Time, two paragraphs in U.S. News & World Report, and a hero-brought-low story on page 70 in Newsweek headlined "A Star's Fall from Grace." Remember that both Time and Newsweek had Rove-in-trouble cover stories this summer.
To close, two Notable Quotables on these scandals. NPR's Nina Totenberg dismissed the Espy indictment as "slightly chicken-turdish." More precious was Bryant Gumbel's predictable angle on NBC before the indictments, in a question to Ted Kennedy in 1995. The scandals had a racial animus:
"Janet Reno has asked for an independent counsel to investigate charges against HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown is being investigated. Questions have been raised about Transportation Secretary Federico Pena. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy resigned under pressure, as did Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders. The Clinton White House seems to be having a hard time retaining high-profile minorities particularly. Do you think, Senator, they are being held to a higher standard in Washington than their white predecessors?"
Yup, you're both right. Note for the record that I never said I agreed with the distinction. I only pointed it out.
The MSM learned a lot from The Impeached One. We have to parse news reports as closely as TIO's statements.
Say, didn't Clinton plead nolo contendere just before leaving office and surrender his attorney's license, etc? Did everyone forget that? And virtually EVERYONE on Nixon's staff was indicted at some point. Dean, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Krogh, Liddy, Magruder, etc etc. What a crock. And Agnew doesn't count.
Or how about Walter Jenkins in the Johnson administration? Bobby Baker?
Nonsense.
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