Scooter's Web - The public face of the Libby Legal Defense Trust

[bigtree]

What you can learn about his case from his new Web site.

By John Dickerson
Monday, Feb. 27, 2006

Scooter Libby has a Web site. He's not running for office, but the site makes it looks like he is. The lead picture on the front page shows him with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Other snapshots portray him in soft focus and at oblique angles, the kinds of images candidates use to make themselves look more huggable. Fortunately, Libby's Web designers didn't stoop to showing him with dogs and children.

The Web site is the public face of the Libby Legal Defense Trust, which is raising money for Libby's defense. "Good lawyers are very expensive," says the site. "And Scooter and his family already have made many sacrifices during Scooter's ten years of dedicated public service. Now they need our help to win this fight." There are several remarkable things about the Libby site. The first is the astonishing power of his friends. Despite his troubles, an incredible array of GOP rainmakers and powerbrokers stand with him. The advisory committee would make any GOP candidate salivate. Its chairman, former ambassador to Italy, Mel Sembler, is a former RNC finance chairman as is Lawrence E. Bathgate II. Mercer Reynolds, Sam Fox, and Wayne Berman brought in heaps of cash for George Bush's presidential campaigns. Members of the Republican establishment, including former United Nations Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and former Energy Secretary Spence Abraham and others with the titles "Honorable" or "Ambassador," have also put their reputations behind Libby. The fund hopes to raise $5 million. Visitors can add to the $2 million reportedly already raised without worrying about disclosure. The Libby team is not releasing the names of its donors.


The soft Scooter sell is about more than just raising money. It's also about cleaning up his image for the public, the press, and potential jurors. The Web site offers a page titled "What You Aren't Hearing," with testimonials lined up like movie blurbs. The endorsements, taken from Bush and Cheney's public comments, news articles, and television chat shows, offer hints about Libby's defense that go beyond his legal team's official filings. The Web site suggests three strategies his lawyers may pursue.

1. Libby is a good guy.

2. Everyone forgets.

3. Patrick Fitzgerald is no Ken Starr.

full article: http://www.slate.com/id/2136889/fr/rss/

[NanceGreggs]

1. Memo to Libby re raising funds ...

You might want to try:

Ask your GOOD BUDDY, Dick Cheney, for the bucks; he's the one who got you into this mess to begin with. Believe me, he won't MISS the money -- but be sure he's not holding a loaded gun when you ask.

Go down to Halliburton headquarters and ask them if you can have the contents of their 'Petty Cash' box. There's bound to be enough there to cover ALL of your legal expenses. If they decline, you can always rummage for the $10,000 bills that have fallen behind the sofa cushions in the lobby.

Ask your GOP colleagues, Frist & Santorum, if their respective 'charities' will send some coin your way. I understand they disburse a lot of funds to things other than 'charity'.

[bigtree]

2. Ha!

Cheney might need whatever he and Halliburton have for his own defense, though.

[NanceGreggs]

3. True!

Especially if Waxman keeps the ball rolling with asking for a complete audit of Halliburton's books!