U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
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(D) Joe Neguse
(D) Phil Weiser
(D) Jena Griswold
60%
60%
40%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Alexis King
(D) Brian Mason
40%
40%
30%
Sec. of State
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(D) George Stern
(D) A. Gonzalez
(R) Sheri Davis
40%
40%
30%
State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(R) Kevin Grantham
(D) Jerry DiTullio
60%
30%
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
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90%
2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Somebody
80%
40%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Somebody
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CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
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CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
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10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(D) Joe Salazar
50%
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40%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
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State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
March 06, 2007 07:55 PM UTC
58 Comments
He will do it in January of ’09.
I don’t think Rove and Bush will play that game. It didn’t help preceptions of Clinton when he did it. Plus Libby was Cheney’s man, Bush is loyal to his people. Libby has a better chance appealing until he gets to the Supreme Court
…and have no doubt GWB wants to pardon him. But will he is a whole different question.
Fun flashbacks from the Rocky Mountain News
July 17, 2004 — Media critic David Kopel wrote in the RMN:
“Remember U.S. diplomat Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame? According to Wilson…the White House ‘outed’ Wilson’s wife, exposing her as a CIA agent by telling columnist Robert Novak. It used to be a very big story… From the Denver dailies, we have not a word now that a major anti-Bush scandal — which the papers considered newsworthy just a few weeks ago — has turned out to be a con.”
July 25, 2004 — The RMN wrote in an unsigned editorial:
“The Ambassador Joe Wilson story sounds a lot more like pure fiction with a political agenda than any legitimate claim to truth telling. …His biggest fabrication, it turns out, is that he’s the victim of a right-wing ‘smear campaign.'”
February 17, 2005 — The RMN wrote in an unsigned editorial:
“So how did this pointless CIA leak investigation get so far afield?”
July 13, 2005 — The RMN wrote in an unsigned editorial:
“To those who remember Ken Starr and Whitewater, it looks as if Fitzgerald’s investigation has morphed into one of those endless special-prosecutor searches for somebody somewhere who has done something wrong.”
as opposed to Clinton who did something morally wrong, but it was not illegal and it did not harm the country.
The Bush camp was hell-bent on getting us into Iraq; the CIA was aware of the ambiguities in the intelligence justifications that Bush et.al were conveniently ignoring; the CIA (or some segment thereof) made attempts to bring forward a countervailing point of view; the Bust camp retaliated and tried to discredit them for doing so. Too bad those at the top got off scott free.
Libby wasn’t convicted for outing Phlame. He was convicted for perjury and obstruction of Justice.
Oddly enough, that’s all Clinton did, but he didn’t get convicted. Now Libby is probably going to jail for something that Clinton did as well, but everyone thinks that Clinton’s impeachment was over sexual misconduct and everyone thinks that Libby was for outing Phlame. This is freaking messed up!
Why is Libby looking at all this time and a huge fine, but if I went drinking and driving I might spend the night in jail.
So freaking messed up.
It;s messed up that Republicans spent more tax-money investigating Clinton’s BJ than 9/11. It’s messed up that the White House outed a CIA agent and lied about it, to take us to war in Iraq (forgot about Afghanistan) which now has the price tag of 3,150 US soldiers dead, 20,000 US soldiers injured without proper care, 600,000 Iraqi’s dead, and $1 trillion dollars with no light at the end of the tunnel.
It’s messed up all right that your parties priorities are to protect POS like Libby, over our troops.
Libby lied about efforts to out a spy in retaliation for her husband’s criticizing Shrub’s Iraq policy……there is absolutely no comparison!
You’re right that there is no legal distinction between the charges leveled at Scooter and Bill. But there certainly is a substantive one. Clinton committed perjury and obstructed justice over a civil case involving personal behavior. Libby committed jury and obstructed justice over a criminal matter involving outing a CIA agent. Once the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice become issues for the court to decide, the backstory is relevant only insofar as it provides evidence to prove the crime. But for the purposes of public debate and public concern, the backstory has far more relevance than that.
but…Clinton’s misdeeds were not part of a court proceeding. He was brought before a Congressional committee, and the matters where voted on by the Senate (I believe that’s the body.)
There is not need to meet evidentuary standards; the senators could all agree that whomever did whatever to whomever but vote to not convict.
It was none of America’s beeswax except as gossip what Clinton, Monica, and Hillary did or did not do. I think some of it was envy, most of us have “broken in” places with sex. The Big Dog happened to be able to do it where most of us can’t.
Clinton was sued, in civil court, for sexual harassment by Paula Johnes. He was deposed about his sexual practices and in that deposition, he lied about having sex with Monica. It certainly was part of a judical proceeding and he was charged with perjury because an FBI investigation, as part of the Starr stuff….and I can’t follow that, discovered the sexual activities with Monica… ……Clinton was impeached but not convicted. He did surrender his license to practise law in Arkansas because of the perjury
That it was Armitage that outed the supposed “covert” CIA agent? And yet NO ONE cares that it wasn’t Libby, or Cheney or even Bush that committed a crime. Armitage comes OUT and says it was him, and yet he is never brought to trial. He isn’t investigated.
If this was happening to a Dem then y’all would be saying the same crap that was said when Clinton was being charged. But since it’s a Republican and everybody hates Bush then it’s justice.
It’s this kind of politically motivated crap that will make good people think twice about entering politics
Probably Fitz is doing the old “up the food chain” technique. “We” DO want Cheney, Novak, and others to hang. I will concur that probably Bush didn’t know about it, he was too busy pedalling his bike. But he also promised that whomever leaked Plame would be fired…..
Politics has always been nasty. But it was the Pubs that wrote the book in our generation. Now they are suffering the consequences.
such as going after a critic (who turned out to be spot on) by outing a covert US agent, then sending your underling off to trial to take the fall.
what clinton did (the ‘backstory’ to the perjury) was stupid. what Edgar or Charlie did is criminal, impeachable, treasonous.
Thanks for refreshing my old memory.
As you imply, the impeachment had nothing to do with national issues or security.
They all deserve to join others in gitmo. In my book, they are all traitors along the lines of reagan and associates. I hated it when Poppa bush pardon the RRR. He was way out of line in doing so (along when ford pardoned nixon). I doubt that Poppa Bush was any part of that fiasco, but …. It seems like Republicans are pulling damaging stunts to America and then simply letting each other off the hook. I am hopeful that this will go all the way to W. and we will see him with a 10 year sentence. But I doubt it. Who knows, it sounds like Edmunds will be coming out with some damning info on W. this week, so there is always hope.
And yes, had the dems done anything remotely like these acts, I would say the same.
I seriously doubt that a libertarian would have done any of these illegal and immoral acts 🙂 .
One more reason to impeach an incompetent and disastrous president.
But we’ll just have to wait a little less than two years, instead. Two relatively impotent years, thank god.
He’ll conveniently pass away from a blood clot before he leaves office in 2009 or before he’s impeached, to deny us the pleasure of removing him. The question then is, “WHO IS BUSH GOING TO REPLACE CHENEY WITH?” I think there are some GOP presidential candidates who would love the job.
First, the Taliban tried to kill him at Bagram A.F. base, then the blood clot (amazing news since most of us thought that he had ice water in his veins) and now poor Scooter is a convicted felon.
Cheney desperately needs some good news. When is Mary’s due date for Dick’s turkey-baster grandchild?
The moment Cheney is gone we need to impeach Bush. Until then, getting rid of Bush only gets us Cheney and that would be even MORE of a disaster (although he is really the president right now!)
It is almost certain that both would be convicted. That of course brings up the third in line….. I really did not care until she was trying to push Murtha and now Johnson. I am having a difficult time seeing a difference between her and W/Cheney/Rove/Rumsfeld/Delay/etc, other than their preferred color.
Cheney and Rowe and Bush have committed no crime. Cheney and Bush have the constitutional authority to declassify anyone and anything. there was no crime in “outing” Valerie. Libby’s crime was lying to the Grand Jury and the FBI. Cheney and Row and Bush have not been accused of lying to the FBI.
It is the same crime that Clinton committed: perjury…lying under oath. Clintn was NEVER impeached for a bj….and Libby has not been convicted of “outing” a CIA agent.
I think a course of the Constitution should be mandatory for a high school diploma.
blows your cover…and,… I’m not talking Monica. Many crimes have been broken by Bush/Cheney/Rove. Constitutional authority is built, not upon the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law. Are you ready to argue that?
How convenient of you to dismiss the outing of a classified CIA agent working on non-proliferation issues in Iran. Fucking incredible!
Your lame attempt to decouple/delink Libby from Cheney and Bush ….duly noted….find a crow recipe.
It is NOT the “same” crime Clinton “committed”. You are obviously not a lawyer. Please contain your comments to what you are qualified commentiong upon. Have you checked the weather channel lately?
Zzzzzzzz…..
“a classified CIA agent working on non-proliferation issues in Iran.”
Got a source? I don’t think anyone’s proven on the record that she was even a covert operative, let alone what she may have been working on.
I am not a lawyer. I’ve studied history a bit…that which I didn’t actually live through. The Constitution is damm well build on the letter of the law, not the spirit, whatever that means. We don’t have “people’s courts” or mob hangings.
What “crimes” are you talking about? I have always agreed with most of your postings, SR, so I am taken back by your attack….although all is fair in blogging. I think the invasion of Iraq violated International Law. All of us bear some responsibility for that. I think that the “imperial” executive undermines the Constitution, but Congress has not gotten on board with investigations. I don’t like throwing the term “crimes” around. We have a process, procedures and all are based on fact finding. I support that.
It has been determined, as I understand it, that there was no crime committed in the so-called “outing” of Valerie Flame. There was an investigation, requested by the CIA, and the independent prosecutor was appointed by the Justice Department to follow up. In the course of that investigation, Libby lied. His crime was perjury, as was Clinton’s. End of story….
I am guilty of blogging in haste and with too much emotion. Fifty lashed with a wet noodle!
I feel your pain! More importantly, I appreciate your righteous anger.
If the Dubya-apologists can claim that Congress–simply in considering its options and having debate on the top issue facing our nation–can be called treasonous (and deserving to hang, a la the misappropriated, made-up “Lincoln” quote), then certainly exposing the identity (for purely political purposes, mind you) of a CIA agent must be suitable for a similar label? I mean, how can the Dubya-apologists argue that with a straight face–That Congress doing its Constitutionally-mandated job is somehow seditious, while exposing a covert agent to slime a political foe is lawful?
Man. That is some strong Kool-Aid.
Yes, the charge is perjury, in both cases (Clinton and Libby). But in the case of Scooter, there are ‘aggravating circumstances,’ attempting to coverup a lie that launched a disastrous pre-emptive, costly invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation; the circumstances around Clinton, meanwhile, were a $40 million witch hunt that after years and years could only turn up a politician getting a blow job from a (of legal age) intern.
SHOCKED I tell you!
Ok, so we’re looking at a pardon of course. Libby’s defense will buy time with various appeals. As others have said already, the pardon will come after the November 2008 elections.
So two questions for the ColoradoPols crowd:
1) Following this verdict, what are the odds of Cheney suddenly stepping down due to “health concerns”? Not likely, but it would give the Bush administration a graceful way out of this one.
2) I don’t think this is likely, but any chance congress might actually have the guts to pursue this? All signs point right to Bush and Cheney.
That’s why the timing of the recent blood clot is so convenient. He can certainly use that as a medical reason to resign (as if the 14 heart attacks he’s had over the last 30 years didn’t provide medical reasons enough!).
Would Bush pick one of the GOP presidential candidates to be V.P., or would he pick a seat warmer? Would whomever Bush selected actually accept the position? And will the Democratic Congress confirm an Iraq War hand clapper like McCain?
Haven’t read anything implicating Bush (yet)
A note from Cheney indicated that Bush wasn’t going to let Rove (not mentioned by name) hang on this scheme – that Scooter was going to take the fall, and that Cheney wasn’t at all pleased about that.
Now, that doesn’t say Bush authorized the outing of Valerie Wilson, but it does indicate that he was willing to cover it up and protect “his guy” rather than doing what was proper and ousting Cheney.
Guilty on four of five counts! To all you right-wingers who derided this investigation, what say you now? And to Bob Woodward, David Broder, and the rest of the talking heads who said this was nothing more than Beltway gossip, stick four felonies up your fanny and then tell me again about your established practice of covering for this administration.
“If anyone in my administratin is guilty of a leak, they’ll be fired” GWB
And yet Karl Rove and Dick Cheney still walk the West Wing.
“Leaks are traitorous”…GHWB
I agree with Bush 1.
He has been engaged in single combat by proxy with Dick Cheney and his proxies, been the target of countless slimes and other attempts to manipulate him into making a mistake, yet, not once has lost his temper. Not once has he retaliated. Unlike Ken Starr, there were no impromptu press conferences in his driveway each morning. There were no leaks.
There was just simple hardwork, integrity and fulfillment of duty. A great American.
The fourth estate sure took the stand often enough! The WAPO and NYT, among others, cozied up to power, and were skilfully manipulated by this administration, with the full cooperation of the medias corporate ownership.
One of my strongest beliefs, is that “The truth will set you free.” I remember walking up the hill at U.W. many a cold morning and seeing that engraved in one of the buildings cornerstones.
If, “They hate us for our freedoms” (One of the most loathsome platitudes of the GWB administration) then let freedom ring….through a healthy INDEPENDENT press.
Of all people, Wolf Blitzer explained just exactly what the Bush White House did by outing Valerie Plame:
COLLINS: And remind me, Wolf, there was also quite a bit of discussion about whether or not her identity was very well known in the circles of Washington, D.C., and the level of covertness that she held.
BLITZER: I can speak as a reporter here in Washington for 30 years. I did not know that Valerie Plame-Wilson was a covert officer. I didn’t even know that Joe Wilson was married at the time.
I’m not sure it was all that widely known what she did, what she didn’t do. The fact of the matter is, she had been what they call a knock.
She was not working undercover as a U.S. espionage officer, a CIA clandestine officer working overseas. The CIA had, years earlier, established fake businesses, fake companies for her to go out and recruit spies, foreigners who would help the United States in various capacities. And as a result, she was not working at a U.S. embassy pretending to be a scientific attache or a cultural attache or something else.
COLLINS: Right.
BLITZER: She was out there on her own, working as a clandestine officer, pretending to be an energy consultant, a private citizen, when, in fact, she was an employee of the U.S. government. She was a clandestine officer working for the CIA.
COLLINS: OK.
BLITZER: And that’s very dangerous work. And to release that kind of information obviously not only can compromise her, but can compromise a lot of people who might be working and cooperating with the CIA.
Go Wolf.
Releasing that kind of information compromised the national security of our country. The Bush White House chose politics over the safety of Americans.
Politics over NATIONAL SECURITY! Ought there not be a law?
h/t Americablog.com
This is the result of a cacophonous media whirling themselves into a frenzy like a bunch of long-haired dirvishes protesting the grocery store’s latest switch to processed tofu. Libby did nothing wrong and he got hosed by an increasingly worrisome justice system.
I won’t waste my time disproving you ridiculous posts.
We can probably agree that Libby ended up taking a fall for his boss (though in the end, he didn’t seem to be doing so very gracefully! Am I wrong, or did he try to cut a deal?). In that sense, he wasn’t the *most* guilty player in this particular scenario. Would you agree with that, Robin?
You may be intelligent, but you sure are stupid.
Libby was NOT convicted by the media. If anything, the media was sceptical. He was convicted by jurors who examined the evidence and made a decision.
Sorry if the system isn’t good enough for you, it’s the best we have.
“Did nothing wrong” my ass.
the underlying criminal operation far outweighs the conviction itself.
The jury was right, Libby was the fall guy for an adminstration that is crazy and rotten to the core.
They not only betrayed Valerie Wilson and the other patriots working at the CIA, they betrayed the country.
One reason people are paying so much attention to the presidential election is everyone wants to get rid BushCo as fast as we possibly can. Too bad we’re not like Australia or Britain and can declare elections at anytime. These guys would have the West Wing door hitting them in the ass repeatedly on their way out.
what do you mean by a “increasingly worrisome justice system?” Independent judiciary is one thing which stands between us and a theocracy or a christian dominated public sector. Undermining it seems to be one strategy of the radical right wing nuts. Are you on board with that?
I don’t think I have ever been a state employee, but I was a federal civil servant, once. We took an oath..to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States…..Don’t you have to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States as a state employee????
I have been busy getting my new ride and working and just now noticed my name at the tail end of this thread.
Is it that obvious that I think Libby should be let go?
He is innocent I tell ya. If only because he is a conservative……..
Dwyer brings up the point that Cheney and Bush can de-classify anything they want, and it’s okay.
That depends on the reading of the law, and which law… Yes, Bush (and by delegation, Cheney) can de-classify information. But the Intelligence Identities Protection Act contains more restrictive provisions than the laws protecting generic state secrets. Under the IIPA, only the CIA (now probably the NDI) can determine the declassification of the identity of a covert operative. Furthermore, divulging the identity of Plame (and her cover firm) very likely damaged the most sensitive of undercover operations: the monitoring of WMDs in the Middle East. That could be considered Treason, and there is no Presidential immunity for that…
At no point has Fitzgerald absolved Cheney, Rove, and crew of committing a crime. In fact, he came perilously close to making formal accusations against them during the Libby trial. But the buck stops for now at Libby; without his co-operation, or that of another person within the Cheney camp, there can be no further legal prosecution.
The next step in this saga – barring Libby walking over to Fitzgerald’s offices and spilling his guts – is for Congress to take up the impeachment of Cheney using the evidence entered at Libby’s trial, plus whatever else Fitzgerald has stuffed away in his office and is willing to share. Impeachment is a political process – not a legal one – and Cheney’s actions are sufficiently outrageous to warrant the attempt.
That if Fitzy boy had something “hiding away” somewhere he would have used it already. But he hasn’t. Libby is as high as the Dems are going to get, and they ruined the life of a man who despite what you think and feel is not the person responsible. Everyone is happy about that?
And no Pub came forth (Cheney, ????) to spare him. Sometimes when you play with fire you get burned.
Fitzgerald has nothing that he considers sufficient to prosecute anyone else. In fact, it’s not unlikely that even if he had the goods on Cheney he’d be unwilling to enter the Constitutional morass of prosecuting a sitting VP. I never wrote otherwise.
But what he *might* still have “hiding away” could still be sufficiently useful to Congress to consider during impeachment proceedings or other hearings.
Libby is most certainly responsible for the actions he performed: lying to a Grand Jury, to FBI investigators, and obstructing justice. He’s also quite obviously responsible for following the orders of his boss and telling some journalists about Valerie Plame, despite the now legally-binding evidence that he knew she was a covert CIA operative.
Was he the primary person responsible? No. For that we can “thank” Vice President Richard B. Cheney. And we can add in Richard Armitage and Karl Rove among others.
But Libby chose to accept the role of fall guy and general damage sponge, and I have little sympathy for a man who accepts that role in the face of one of the most damaging blows to our national intelligence network.
We are approaching true stupidity here.
There is no proof that Plame ever was a covert operative, that she was an operative working on WMD proliferation, or that she was outed illegally or at all. If there were, it certainly would have been among the charges. It was not. Any hints, allegations, or other such jackassery to the contrary is idiotic.
In fact, there is no proof that neither Libby, nor Cheney, nor Rove, nor the President were involved in the “leak” of her identity at all. Armitage came clean on that one – yeah, that guy in State who didn’t get along with the Evil Triplets. Saying Libby was the fall guy for guys who unequivocally did *not* do any leaking, also, is naught but jackassery.
Here’s how it went down – (presumably Plame, but that can’t be certain) nominated Wilson to lead the expedition. Wilson spewed forth an OpEd regarding the expedition that was later determined to be completely wrong on all the important facts, flying the flag of having been sent by the Vice President. The VP and White House said “WTF? He’s not our guy.” And Armitage spilled the beans about how Wilson got involved at all.
In closing, where’s the special prosecutor for Sandy Berger removing classified documents from the National Archives?
We know that the CIA forwarded the issue to the DoJ specifically because she was a covert operative whose cover was blown.
We have numerous (but admittedly anonymous) intelligence officials who have indicated that Plame was specifically focused on the Iranian nuclear situation.
We do not *know* that her outing was illegal, because no-one’s tested the theory that Cheney had the authority to declassify her information. Unfortunately for you, the reality is that prosecutors only prosecute when they think they can win based on the available evidence; absent enough evidence (due in part to lying etc. on the part of key witnesses in this case), no prosecution will occur.
What we know is that Armitage isn’t the sole source of information here. Libby, Rove, and others all took part in disseminating Plame’s identity. And a single disclosure is not considered carte blanche to other officials to confirm that identity, either – the law specifically says otherwise.
We also know that Wilson never said he was sent “by the VP”, but rather “at the request of the VP”, who asked the CIA to look into the Niger transactions – this much is confirmed by the publically known facts. Wilson’s report was obviously *not* incorrect, since he found no evidence of a transfer that, in fact, never happened; and in fact, he did find significant reason to doubt that such a transfer ever occured.
In closing, so much of what you said is just plain wrong, your post has no credibility. And last I checked, you didn’t need a special prosecutor to go after something that was already well-handled by a regular investigation.