The pResident himself, now needs to be pursued actively by Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald

[Bravo Zulu]

A spokesperson speaks out
Scott McClellan's belated candor says something about the president
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
By Dan Simpson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It is very important that the head of state of a country have clean hands; dirt from the top trickles down fast.
Nonetheless, President Bush and his merry band seemed to have claimed the soul of a former White House spokesperson, Scott McClellan, according to a piece of his upcoming book, "What Happened," which his publisher, PublicAffairs, has let out as a teaser.
Now, no one with half a brain has believed during the case of Valerie Plame, the outed CIA officer, that Mr. Bush was unaware of what was going on as Vice President Dick Cheney, his chief political counselor, Karl Rove, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Mr. Cheney's chief of staff, subsequently convicted on four felony counts of perjury and obstruction of justice, scurried around outing and sliming CIA agent Valerie Plame in return for a New York Times op-ed written by her husband, retired U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson.

There is an image of Mr. Bush that he himself works on by saying folksy, sometimes stupid things in public and spending time at his ranch clearing brush -- that he is not an awfully sophisticated fellow and that he would be capable of just going to bed early up in that White House while the sharp-teethed mice down there in the offices chewed people and countries up, unbeknownst to him. There is also, in general, a tendency among people trying to make sense of the actions of presidents -- including diplomats such as I was -- to take the position that the leader of a country is basically benign: It is those depraved politicians around him who do all these things that, if only he knew about them, he would put a stop to.

What we are looking at here is the White House -- the president -- using the power and influence of the state to try to crush an individual -- in this case, the spouse of an individual
To have these people on the attack against one, out to wipe you out, as they were with Valerie Plame, is to bear a terrible, painful burden. For a CIA agent, someone trained to put his life on the line for his country carrying out the policies of its president, what happened to Ms. Plame had to have been close to more than she could bear. In 2003 she was a 40-year-old mother of 2-year-old twins, performing in demanding positions in a hard, competitive career.

Mr. Bush and his people did virtually wipe her out. The truth of Mr. McClellan's claim that it wasn't his people that did it without his knowledge, but the president himself, now needs to be pursued actively by Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald as well as by the media. To turn the president with the power of the state at his command loose on vulnerable members of the population with impunity is simply not acceptable in a democracy with a constitution and functioning courts.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07332/837215-374.stm

[ixion]

1. *'s hands have never been clean.

even when he was failing and business. That hasn't stopped him from pawing his grubby mitts all over our republic, though, for the past 7 years. :grr:

[peacebird]

2. come on people, just one more vote and it's off to the greatest page....

[thecrow]

3. Ah, okay!

Off to the greatest!

[peacebird]

4. Bravo crow, Bravo!

:toast:

[tom_paine]

5. itzgerald won't do that, BECAUSE THAT'S CONGRESS' JOB

As frightened as they are to do that job to the Bushies who will strike back with allthe ruthlessness and ferocity (but probbaly none of the violence, not openly performed, anyway) as any Totalitarian Thugs, we have slim hope fo Congress doing it's job.

[0007]

8. Can't congress be embarrassed into "The American Dream"?

Are we at the point where we just lay down and say, "Fuck it"?

[tom_paine]

9. NEVER lay down and just say "Fuck it."

However, I do believe we are well past the point where Congress can be embrarased into anything, they are not in any way a reflection of the Will of the American People.

I will still vote in our crooked and meaningless "elections" just in case I am wrong, but I have no illusions. That machine might as well be connected to a hamster-wheel, and it probably is.

[Olney Blue]

6. Excellent piece. K/R.

[formercia]

7. This is nothing new for Junior

He was known as the 'Enforcer' during his father's campaign for President. He and Karl were out busting heads to make sure nobody said anything that might affect the campaign.

[intheflow]

10. kick n/t