WHAT'S FOR RATFEST TODAY?

WHAT’S FOR RATFEST TODAY? Did prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald meet with him last night? [Raw Story]  Will hungry diners feast on grilled rat Rove, a little Libby, or a great big pig roast of Cheney?  How many side dishes will be available at the cold buffet? An awful lot of scrambling seems to be taking place.  What will be on the menu and who will be happy with the dining still remain?

THERE WAS a lot of last minute scurrying around. [WaPo]  Rove returns again to the center of attention [LA Times]  The Heretik sees in this not only a search for justice.  Quite a few people are ready for the revenge cold buffet and would like to see the rat Rove stuffed full of indictments to make a good chew but they may choke still on how things resolve.

THE HERETIK SEES we are where we were before and will be again until those indictments come down.  Speculation still rules.  Some think Rove could get off with probation and might only be charged with making a false statement . . . if he rats on Libby and Cheney. [Talk Left]  The ‘source’: Murray Waas.  And as The Heretik recalls, if Cheney lied, it wasn’t under oath but he might possibly be charged with making a false statement.  Quite a few people think charging people with making false statement when the ‘original’ crime could not be proved is dubious at best [Just One Minute] 

THE HERETIK IS NOT one of them. A lie is a lie is a lie, as those who attacked Clinton would say and this has come back to haunt them.  But whereas Clinton’s lies were in a private sphere made all too public, what we have here are lies made in private that have done great public damage. 

THE HERETIK WILL LEAVE it to the more partisan diner to point to two thousand dead just outside the buffet room door.  What The Heretik has seen is an offhand, casual approach to lying and intimidation, the evil of business as usual.  Small morsels all for sure, but more than enough to fill the stomach for those who can hold such conclusions down.

AND WHERE WILL WE GO from here?  Bush has gone out of his way to praise the prosecutor.  If indictments do come, that will be a big problem in ways perhaps not well thought out before hand [Caroline Daniel/FT]

Mr Bush has praised Mr Fitzgerald's deft handling of the inquiry, which could deflate any later attempts to paint him as a partisan prosecutor over-reaching his mandate.

However, Frank Luntz, Republican pollster and strategist. said: “If [Fitzgerald] indicts, they [the White House] will have no choice but to attempt to demonise him. I think that is going to be really, really tough.”

WE WILL SEE whether the buffet opens today.  Will everyone be happy?  Probably not/  Wurmser and Hannah could end up being the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of this story of what is rotten in DC.

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THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL (OR NOT) [Seattle Times-Pilot] During an interview Tuesday, Wilson, who once worked as a carpenter in Sequim and enjoys visiting the Northwest, cast the imbroglio in personal terms. While political pundits contend the leak investigation is really about how President Bush took the nation to war, Wilson said the experience has pitted him and his wife against the most powerful people in the United States.

"The case is not about taking the Bush administration to task," said Wilson, but rather an attack on his civil rights.

AND THE HERETIK WOULD ADD on the flipside, Cheney and Libby in particular took what Wilson did very personally. 

AND WHAT ABOUT TENET AND THE AGENCY? [Kevin Aylward/ Wizbang] The [NY Times] article goes on to identify areas of difficulty Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may face if he brings indictments against Libby or Rove (or even Cheney). The Tenet connection is intriguing - especially for any defense attorney - because if the CIA was the source and the original complainant that could put them in a pretty awkward position.

THE HERETIK AGREES this could be a problem seemingly at the center of the case, but if the case becomes one about a coverup and lies, Tenet may look bad, but others will look far worse. 

AND WHAT ABOUT LEAKS IN THE FUTURE?  [Jehl/ NY Times] Exchanges between reporters and government officials have always been a central part of how Washington really works. They have served as shortcuts, ways to trade information beyond the glare of television lights and outside of bureaucratic barriers. But Mr. Fitzgerald, who obtained federal subpoenas to compel reporters to testify in the case, is not the only one in Washington who is trying to train a new kind of spotlight on the transactions. [via Firedog Lake]

THE HERETIK FIRMLY BELIEVES the leak and stenography that passes for Twentyfirst Century journalism reveal serious problems in this case. “Reporters” clearly have been used by “sources” to spread lies and disinformation. A war sold as a cakewalk to prevent the next smoking gun being a nuclear cloud continues on seemingly forever.  Joe Wilson is either a hero or a villain. His wife if either a martyr or an accomplice. 

OUR VISION IS SKEWED by the prism of our politics.  When reporters allow align their politics with power and their vision travels through power’s prism it seems we end up with little light and more shadow.  Who listens to anyone else these days when conclusions precede evidence?





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