The Sad Case of Scooter Libby

CREATORS SYNDICATE ^ | March 7, 2007 | Susan Estrich

[visitor]

The real crime here is the way the Bush administration manipulates the press and the press lets itself be manipulated, but there's no law against that. And no one is going to get punished for it. Poor Scooter. He just didn't understand that there really was no reason to lie. Sad is right.

[visitor]

"He just didn't understand that there really was no reason to lie."

So why did he lie? Personally I do not think he intentionally lied if he lied at all...rto

[caver]

You forgot the BARF alert.

[ClearCase_guy]

The real crime here is the way the Bush administration manipulates the press and the press lets itself be manipulated, but there's no law against that.

The real crime is calling things a crime just before pointing out that there's no law against it.

[JWinNC]

Could Susan Estrich really be this stupid?

jw

[sine_nomine]

Bad memory was made a hate crime with Reagan's Cap Weinberger, an excellent executive.

Starting with Watergate, Democrats have been going after GOP leaders using the dirtiest tricks possible because they cannot win with their agenda. Unfortunately, Bush has helped their agenda more than they could have dreamed.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Lewis Carroll has taken over the office of special prosecutor.

[Cincinatus]

No, she's not stupid. She's just being the partisan hack that she always was.

[jrooney]

Blame GW for what democrats do? Makes sense to me. sarcasm off/ People need to grow up and quit blaming GW for what others do.

[KingKenrod]

Well, she is right about there being no reason to lie. The Bush administration should have confronted Joe Wilson head-on from the beginning. And they should have fired Plame and her boss for nepotism the second they found out she was involved.

[EagleUSA]

Could Susan Estrich really be this stupid?
-----
No, she is just another lying liberal hack, that is using the lap-dog support of the complicit MSM to add flowers to her lapel. She, a teacher of law, knows full well what a lie she is fomenting for her own liberal purposes. Standard, modus operandi when you have the frothing leftist press begging for more lies and spin to print...

[colorado tanker]

So why did he lie? Personally I do not think he intentionally lied if he lied at all...rto

Sadly, I think he did. Too much time and too many conversations between when he was told within the administration to his conversation with Russert. And I don't believe Russert was lying. I'm a partisan, but I work in the courts and I have learned I just have to accept facts that are established in the courtroom, even when they're bad for my side.

Why? I have to accept the straight ahead, Occam's Razor, explanation. At the time no one knew whether Plame was covert or not, although many inferred she was because why would CIA make a referral if she wasn't? So, Scooter thought he was protecting himself and his sources. Like Clinton's lie, it turns out to have utterly unnecessary - pretty dumb in hindsight.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Estrich rambling again....

[avital2]

isn't lie too strong a word? there was evidence that Russert had a "recall" problem on whether he knew about bringing a lawyer into a grand jury (he testified to one thing -- but 3 separate Tv appearances show him saying something different). so i guess i have a problem giving him credit for a perfect memory.

[colorado tanker]

so i guess i have a problem giving him credit for a perfect memory

I don't. But I do think he would remember hearing something that could have turned into one of the biggest stories of the year.

[Steve_Seattle]

"The real crime here is the way the Bush administration manipulates the press and the press lets itself be manipulated . . . "

If that were even remotely true, Fitz would never have been empowered and Libby never would have been charged. Estrich is living in an alternate universe.

[the Real fifi]

He didn't lie. The liar is this Dem hack, Estrich.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Well, she is right about there being no reason to lie. The Bush administration should have confronted Joe Wilson head-on from the beginning."

Exactly. They should have held a press conference and laid out Wilson's lies, one by one. Instead, they employed this half-assed whispering campaign with reporters, lost control of the story line, and got one of their men convicted of perjury. Dumb and dumber. Maybe Bush's critics were right.

[MNJohnnie]

Excuse me. By what pathetic stretch of an imagination does any "NEWS" outlet give a member of the DNC a column? That is NOT commentary, that is an illegal political campaign contribution in kind.

[Steve_Seattle]

"But I do think he would remember hearing something that could have turned into one of the biggest stories of the year."

It became a big story later on, when Wilson et al came up with the "outing" theory. Keep in mind, Novak thought the info about Plame was mildly interesting, but not a blockbuster revelation, much less a crime. Remember, Fleischer testified that reporters seemed totally uninterested in the info about Plame. It was really beside the point; what interested reporters was whether Bush had lied about the Iraq/Niger intelligence, not who it was who recruited Wilson for the Niger trip.

[highball]

Exactly. They should have held a press conference and laid out Wilson's lies, one by one. Instead, they employed this half-assed whispering campaign with reporters, lost control of the story line, and got one of their men convicted of perjury. Dumb and dumber. Maybe Bush's critics were right.

Well put. The Administration blew it.

OTOH, Scooter's lawyers didn't exactly do a bang-up job, changing strategies halfway through. Couldn't have really impressed the jury with that one....