By the looks of it, Rove was counting on Cooper keeping his mouth shut, in a jail cell for however many months or years. The following exerpt is from the new issue of Newsweek. Luskin, Rove’s lawyer, finds out that his client hasn’t provided him all of the facts. I my many years as a defense attourney this happened once or twice, but of course my clients were heavily sedated throughout our encounters. Rove may in fact be a dope fiend, but if that’s the case, he’d better start showing Fitzgerald track marks soon…otherwise, he’s probably going to jail:
Luskin told the prosecutor that sometime between October 2003 and January 2004 he’d had a drink with Time reporter Viveca Novak. An old friend of Luskin’s, Novak (who is no relation to the columnist of the same last name) surprised Luskin by telling him that Rove might have been Cooper’s source. Last week, in an interview with NEWSWEEK, Novak described the conversation. Luskin, Novak recalls, said that Rove “didn’t have a Cooper problem,” meaning that Rove had not been Cooper’s source. “That’s not what I hear,” Novak recalls responding. At that point, Luskin’s demeanor changed, says Novak. “He got very serious from what I told him. He reacted as though he were learning it for the first time.” (Novak had heard about Cooper’s source from chatter inside the Washington bureau of Time; she recently took a buyout from the magazine.)
Luskin alerted Rove to the conversation, but his client still didn’t remember it, according to a source close to Rove who declined to be named discussing sensitive legal matters. Luskin seemed to be signaling to Fitzgerald that Rove was truthful when he said he didn’t remember the Cooper phone call; otherwise, why would he testify as such when he knew that others, including Cooper, could contradict him? (One possible explanation: Rove may have assumed Cooper would protect him as a confidential source.) Luskin did make a renewed search of Rove’s files, the source says. That’s what turned up the e-mail to Hadley. Fitzgerald was sufficiently slowed up by Luskin’s story to hold off on indicting Rove, according to the source.
Ahh! The best thing that could happen for Rove would be for him to be convicted of a felony in the service of the president. Look what it did for Oliver North. You’re guaranteed at least one book deal, and perhaps a very satisfying television career.
Clinton still holds the record for officials indicted and successfully prosecuted, what happened to all of them? Not out yet, I guess. Liddy and North are cool, they have personality. Liberals have Al Bore and Al Franken, that’s the problem. Find people who actually have something to say and the ability to say it….I’m drawing a blank.
Well, this batch of government employees, elected or otherwise, going to jail…they’re responsible for a lot of dead, crippled and brain damaged people who didn’t have to end up like that. They broke a lot of rules in this widespread robbery, and Republicans don’t even act ashamed about it. Delay, Cunningham, Libby, Rove(?), however many end up going down on Abramoff, however many pedofiles croneys they’ve got tucked away in the new ‘Homeland Security’ building, the military generals having to plead the fifth and deny their soldiers the truth at their trial…maybe worst of all though, hushing up scientists, eliminating data to make special interests happy.
EVERYTHING WAS AND STILL IS FOR SALE! RIGHT!!! It’s been a firesale since day one. They’re going to grab and stash as much as they possibly can, and now that the cat’s out of the bag for most of it…every man for himself.
No stretch of American politics in the past 100 years will compare with the facts to be uncovered over the next couple years – and for whoever’s comparing based on the number of names on an arbitrary list, there will be plenty to list. Stay tuned.
Right:
I will give you conservatives sound better. The main reason that they sound so good is that they can promise anything, because they have no intention of delivering. Saying “mission accomplished” is easy. Actually accomplishing something is harder and requires a dose of realism. This group just wants power and the ability to dole out favors for Abramhoff and his friends.
Why the irrational hatred of Clinton, did you guys have a lovers quarrell? You should let it go, he may have been a bit of a cad but I am sure you two had fun.
The main reason that they sound so good is that they can promise anything, because they have no intention of delivering.
I think this has been the DNC platform for the last 50 years. Where do you think the idea for Social Security came from? That’s the biggest promise that will never come true in the world.
Wellfare is the the next biggest unfulfilled promise, the promise of assistance until you get on your feet. It’s the liberals replacement for the institution of slavery that the Republicans took away. Millions of lives rot under the poison cloud of wellfare.
Social Security has worked for deacades, and it pisses Republicans off. They’d like to just get rid of it altogether, but the POPULATION, the VOTERS, they know that Republicans are full of shit when it comes to ‘saving’ any social program from itself.
Plus, the only meaningful welfare reform came under Clinton. I know it was a republican idea and he stole it, but that is the difference, when Clinton stole someones idea he made it work. When Bush trys to do it he screws it up, see no child left behindand the Afgan war. Governing takes two things vision and competence, Bush may have vision but lacks competence.
BTW I think Bush has some good ideas regarding immigration reform, to bad his part wont let him implement them.
You seem to have a beef with welfare RT. I’m curious to know how much is spent on welfare by the federal government. Just a rhetorical question, as I’ve already got a very good idea.
And while you’re digging up that info, maybe you can help to clarify exactly what you mean by welfare? Are you talking about all of these:
Social Security
Medicaid
Medicare
Public assistance
If so, you should start giving anti-“welfare” speeches at senior centers across the United States. Seniors are the largest beneficiary group (followed closely by individuals with disabilities) of the “welfare” system that Republicans love to crucify. For seniors it’s usually not a matter of lifestyle, these systems can mean the difference between life and death. And please don’t preach about retirement planning and personal responsibility. I’m familiar with the concept, but the reality is that MOST Americans are not anywhere near prepared for the actual costs of retirement (let alone the unexpected death of a bread winner, divorce, chronic disease/illness, etc.).
Are you proposing that we simply let the elderly die in the street? Oh no, never mind I forget that Republicans like to push for making it a crime to be homeless and living on the streets (the homeless are so unsightly). Perhaps we could just ship them to a remote island to let them die. Oh no, wait a minute, that would require that we actually spend some money on transporation systems to move these folks. Hmmm, I’m stumped.
What is it exactly that you are proposing we do with these elderly and disabled Americans? I understand you want to cut these services, but what do you intend to replace them with? Nothing?
And while you’re pondering all of this, why don’t you take a look at how Senator Frist’s family company HCA (click me) benefits directly from Medicaid/Medicare. It’s a scam.
From wikipedia
Before you start taking away life saving services from the elderly that have paid their dues in life, why don’t you clean out your own house of the scumbags that are ruining an otherwise functional and necessary system of health care. Disgusting.
CM:
We should let the elderly live on the streets and completely neglect any of their health issues, until such time as they are in a vegatative state, then every effort should be made to maintain their brain dead existence.
You may be on to something there karl. You might have inadvertantly established the 2006 Republican platform.
Wouldn’t it be too ironic to bear if Frist became president? His family company HCA being the subject of the largest corporate fraud settlement in U.S. history. And not only was it fraud, but it was fraud against a government system that is constantly under attack by conservatives for being too wasteful. I’m guessing Frist would never actually vote to decrease Medicaid or Medicare spending because he knows it would come directly off of the HCA bottom line.
I like this statement by Frist…
This statement is a complete lie. He receives an account statement for this “blind” trust just like he does for any other investment account. He just doesn’t control investment decisions. The only way he would NOT know what was in the account was if he purposely threw away the account statement unopened as soon as it arrived in the mail.
And not to pick on any one Republican. Look into McCain’s dealings with Charles Keating back in the 1980s. Yep, McCain was one of the Keating Five (click me). And no, they didn’t sing “ABC”.
Frist…the stock and his bullshit during the Shiavo fiasco should ensure he’s meat by the time voters hit the booths in primaries.
The dems had a “chicken in every pot” the repubs can have a “vegitard in every medicare supported bed” Especially if that bed is in a HCA facility.
FRIST IN 2008
Porter Goss we hardly knew ya. On one hand you sort of have to admire a 60 something like Mr Goss who is still a party animal, but at the same time the whole thing is a little gross.
more on Goss:
Ken Silverstein reports at Harper’s blog on the spreading Cunningham-Wade-Wilkes prostitute scandal. He says more lawmakers, past and present, are being investigated. Sounds like he thinks House Intel Chair-turned-CIA Director Porter Goss is one of them
Now that would be a story! I wonder whether the firing of what’s her name was timed just right, so Goss could get er done, get out, pick up his medal and move on by the time there are lawyers around asking questions.
Reading an editorial today by a conservative writer…he wrote about how Stephen Colbert wasn’t funny, just very MEAN…and that’s wrong, being a “bully”.
I have trouble understanding how ANYONE could be called a bully in dealing with Dubya! The guy busts balls like no other, but that doesn’t call for some karma-play? Didn’t he have it coming?
Regarding Colbert being mean to Bush. I have noticed that the right wing seems to relate to people either as the hero(we are going to save you from the big bad Iraq) or the victim(look how mean that comedian is being to little Bush)
I devoloped this theory while Washington was posting here, but it seems to hold true for most right wing types. And most really annoying people as well.
RE: Colbert
Laura Ingraham was making fun of him this morning on her talk show. They said he wasn’t funny. I thought he was very funny. The truth hurts I guess.
I like the right wing view that Bush’s routine was funnier. I guess it shows that Bush should be doing comedy and maybe Colbert should be running the country. He couldn’t be any worse than Bush.
It’s kinda like a fat mamma joke. Not so funny when it’s your mamma.
Come on now, this is simply an example of compassionate conservatives reaching out to help the lower classes. Really, he was just trying to help these young woman.
Hillarious!
It hurt their feelings. And the best they can come up with is O’Reiley or whichever one of the talking clones you want to pick – and it’s always ‘SERIOUS TALK’, the adults are talking, this is IMPORTANT, pipe down…you see, there’s not a lot of laughter breaking out in THAT car beside you on the highway.
On the other hand…comedy can again be enjoyed, as it’s surely become one with our federal government. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Bush should feel lucky it didn’t happen after he traded nuclear secrets for mangos in India…or when he broke off vacation to what(?), to WHAT(???), oh yea…to get involved in the effort to SAVE TERRI, because of what?
There are innocent human beings out there currently missing their fingernails, being pissed on by rats, forced to endure “She Drives Me Crazy” by FYC (Fine Young Canibals) at deafening decibles, 23 hours a day, over and over and over…
And this schmuck curtailed vacation for a few hours, the ONLY TIME he’d ever done it…to shill for a group of people he doesn’t give a damn about. How’s that for brilliant?
INSTEAD, what a great LEADER would have done, was keep the religious right on a leash, let them get mad and say that crazy shit they’re bound to say, wash your hands of them…he could have done this after the past election and in the process have played both those who deserted him because of his shilling for Christ AND the bible thumping carnivale talkers themselves, who after sticking their foot in their mouth enough would eventually settle for whatever they could get, and survive.
NOOOOoooooo…this guy has to either PROVE or ACT like he’s behind Terri’s parents (rather than the doctors), and validate the circus surrounding the poor woman’s location. Yes…this was the last thing they needed, and all of a sudden she’s playing cribbage with this doctor on FoxNews – the judges are out of control, denying the will of GOD, w/ Colburn from Texas saying he could understand why people just lose it and go on shooting sprees all over the area’s courts and golf courses…it was these DEMENTED judges!!!
Fuck all this shit – – – AMATEURS – all these guys…Dubya, Cheney, Rumsfeld and all the rest – – – they were in over their heads from day one, and it’s becoming less of a joke and more of a nightmare with each passing day. Cheney’s going to talk shit to Russia now? The jerk was SLEEPING during China’s visit, caught on camera.
Hu spent more time with Bill Gates. They had more to talk about…
Bush and co sort of remind of the managers in office space and if they were just destroying a business it would almost be funny. Unfortunately, they are taking the US on a one way trip to the third world. Somewhere I was reading about the immigration debate and that the only place that seems to want to load all the undocumented workers on a bus and send them back(after a year in jail of course) is the southern states. The article then pointed out that trying to manage the southern base is difficult at best. It is to bad that Bush is not willing to look at the yokel wing of the republican party and say, you guys gotta get realistic. Terri Schiavo would have been the perfect opportunity to do something like that. Instead our “great leader” played into their fantasies about this women coming back from the dead, and exploited the incident for what he thought was going to be a political gain. In the end I think he offended his few supporters that actually have a brain, but I doubt that was his intent.
I guess we are just being factinistas.
BTW:
I was trying to think of a funny conservative, can you think of any? I know Dennis Miller is supposed to be funny but given his long resume of cancelled shows I don’t think that many people find him amusing.
For the most part comedy central seems to lean left, but their must be some conservative that is intentionally funny.
I’m sure there are, but conservatives don’t like comedy. Take my dad for instance…big George Carlin fan while I was growing up, then all of a sudden it wasn’t funny anymore.
You were raised by conservatives?
Oh yea! Big time!
And you still turned out OK. I wonder if kids are always going to be the opposite of their parents. I hope rights girl grows up to be a hippie.
HA! I think it depends on whether you hear what they say and disagree more often than you agree. In my case, I disagreed most of the time.
It’s conservative talk radio – – – the favored host in our house would call the shots, and when statements like “cars kill more people each year than cigarettes” (mantra of the late 80s early 90s) were made, I’d challenge the statement with things I’d read (pre-internet time) and it’d make no difference.
There are things like this that millions of Republicans are told to believe in for a long time, and do, until science and the justice system finally sets things straight. Even then, “the jury’s out – lawyers just figured out how to make money off of it”.
Now I’m sure he’d concede the point, but it doesn’t really matter, because now the “jury’s still out” on global warming, Iraq, whether or not the press should investigate the government and report what they find (the liberal media is anti-American mantra) – – – – it never ends. There’s always a way to talk around whatever’s obvious.
What I notice more than anything else though is how this one particular talker many people in my family love…when bad news for Republicans comes out, he’ll do a show on people using stolen handicaped parking tags, or a show on some scandal involving the Kennedys from way back (now they’ve got Patrick to kick around for a few months)…
It’s a daily effort to ignore “the news” and funnell listeners into a series of “safe topic baskets”. Liberals are always stupid and useless, and Republicans never get a fair shake.
In a nutshell, that’s what it is. FoxNews tapped into this brilliantly, and now we’ve got a 24/7 outlet for illogical bullshit and distraction.
A few months? HA! I remember listening to Rush Limbaugh for two weeks straight in 2002 and he was still talking about the Clintons.
Most Republicans I know are only concerned with the primitive things in life: beer, pussy, having fun, and material goods.
They like the sensation of feeling like they’re smart and everyone else is dumb…what they accuse liberals of all the time.
Oh yes, the ol’ “liberals” tag. “Liberals” want to destroy everything that is sacred. Do I hear Washington’s echo? Don’t forget to always put the quotation marks around that noun. These supposed “humans”…
Me laugh.
BTW Chris, no way to leave comments on the polygamy post.
I of the many comments in a row speak yet again.
Strange how it is always teenaged girls in these sects that are “destined” for marriage….who’s lovin’ the older babes?
Should be OK now
Just wanted to say the above part
Washington was a grade-A stooge alright! OPERATION SWARMER – his rah-rah theme for a particular week or two. Professor Plum and Colonel Mustard posted comments along with me.
The problem as I see it is that liberals have no leadership to turn to at all. We need a strong moderate to steer the ship.
I was watching CSPAN the other night and the secretary of transportation was speaking before a house committee about changing CAFE regs. The two Democratic reps from California (both female) kept talking in broad terms about how we really need to immediately change MPG standards for the domestic market. They spoke only of generalities and I got the sense that they had absolutely no idea about how these changes would affect employment in the auto industry, profitability to the companies, etc. They kept just spouting off about how history will judge us. I’m sure you guys are familiar with how lame our American auto companies are doing (Chrysler may be OK, not sure). But Ford and GM are both in trouble. Fixing them, while modifying our production lines will take a lot more than just generalities. The Republican committee chair seemed to have a much better grasp on the practical difficulties facing the auto industry.
Anyway, it’s just discouraging. At this moment in time I’m not familiar with a single Democratic candidate that I could firmly get behind. Republicans are worse.
Any suggestions out there? I’m so tired of bashing Republicans because the truth is that our problems are so big and seemingly insurmountable that it would take a truly benevolent dictator to solve them. I don’t see ANY leaders that I think are up to the challenge.
Both paries seem disconnected from the average person. I really do wander what happens to people once they get to Washington DC.
The threat to a fistful of petrodollars
The article is about the question of whether or not the U.S. $ will maintain its standing as the global reserve currency.
This single issue poses a much greater threat to America than terrorism ever will (in my humble opinion). Yet I’m not convinced that there will be a single candidate on the ballot in 2008 that will be able to manage any of our big issues, let alone this single and very important issue.
I wasn’t being sarcastic when I asked about candidates. Do you guys know of any candidates you feel are worth a crap, regardless of party?
Damler Chrysler had a good quarter and past year overall. Ford and GM are reluctant to change. Take the example of Visteon – – a spinoff of Ford, this company operates worldwide, trades on the NYSE and supplies automakers with parts. For a while they were focused on their parent company’s product line, then began creeping into the japanesse market. If you look at their earnings per share over the past five years, it’s nearly as scary as GM and Ford – BUT – in the past year they’ve cut their production of Ford parts and instead started focusing on parts needed for hybrid cars, and now they’re back in the green with a pretty bright future.
This is because of a strategic shift in research, sales and production capability AWAY from the present or ten years ago and TOWARDS the future. Think about this…a sister company of Ford figured out how to make money in today’s auto market faster than the parent company could.
Not as difficult when your final product is a part rather than an entire automobile, but then again, after last year’s “employee discount” managed to up sales, the companies were still stuck with inventory. So what do they do? Take a look at the new models and consider whether or not GM or Ford learned ANYTHING over the past couple of years.
I think it’s a crock of shit, all this talk from politicians now about emmissions and fuel efficiency. If they’re from California, they’ve got something to hold up and brag about, but the rest of the 49 states are behind the curve (hence the lawsuits against the EPA in recent weeks).
Congressional Republicans and the White House can’t even agree that pollution is causing a problem. If they can’t appreciate this basic fact, than how could we ever trust them to try and clean up the air?
Seriously…with the GOP in power, industry can do whatever it wants. That’s why GM and Ford haven’t jumped all over the hybrids, and that’s why mining companies can get away with using popsicle sticks to hold up tons of rocks in a cave.