The attack on Patrick Fitzgerald begins.
By on Oct 10th, 2005 at 11:05 am
The attack on Patrick Fitzgerald begins.
TIME quotes a Bush advisor on the special prosecutor’s office: “These guys are bullies, and they threaten you.”
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I’m surprised it took this long.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:08 am“An aid”
I thought there was a quiet revolution underway to disregard anonymous stuff. Wh o cares what an aid said?
October 10th, 2005 at 11:14 amMy next door neighbor hates dogs. News at 11:00.
What took so long? Poor Rove and DeLay–they’re so misunderstood and so persecuted. Hopefully, they’re persecuted all the way to the slammer!
October 10th, 2005 at 11:14 amIts time for the house of cards to come down.
This will be an unexpected samhain gift.
BOO-HOO
a lesson in civics 1a for us all/
BUSH your NEXT
October 10th, 2005 at 11:15 amMR. RUSSERT: …will you pledge today, because you have tremendous confidence in him, that you will not criticize his decision?
MR. MEHLMAN: Again, I’m not going to speculate. I have tremendous confidence in him. I look to getting to the bottom of this. Whatever he does, I can assure you, people are going to follow and are going to look to abide by.
MR. PODESTA: Just say “yes,” Ken.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:20 am#5 – Ha!! I don’t believe it’s physically possible for Mehlman to give a one word answer to any question. It will always be a paragraph.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:35 amThe bullies are in the White House, not in the special prosecutor’s office.
For more on the real politics of payback, see:
“The Smallness of King George”
October 10th, 2005 at 11:40 amAttack the messenger!…what a shock..lol, OH…don’t forget, all republicans report to the nearest millitary base for duty. All male,female OF ANY AGE, NO EXCEPTIONS. ‘We will show everyone we back up our goals’. Bring all your guns.
CALLING MR LIMBAUGH, MR O’RILEY, MR ROVE..etc.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:41 amYeah, just when you’re hoping those prosecutors will be cuddly pussy-cats…
I guess the nature of the threats included:
“Mr Rove, if you refuse to testify, we may have no option but to charge you with obstruction of justice”;
or
“Mr Rove, I remind you that you are under oath, and any false statements you make may result in a charge of perjury. A charge that you well know carries serious consequences”;
or
“Mr Rove, the deliberate outing of an undercover agent is a serious felony and one where the government will press for the maximum punishment”.
To Bushco, I guess, an explanation of the LAW might very well sound like a threat. And given the way they dealt with Judy Miller, a very credible threat at that.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:44 amOf course, the article was co-authored by Viveca Novak, a.k.a., daughter of Novakula.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:46 amWhy does bushco ALWAYS use the EXACT SAME response? If it’s negative, 1st try to ignore it so it gets no news traction. If it gets traction, attack it. Smear it like it was Castro’s illegitamate baby, make it un-american.
I’m not surprised though. After they dragged McCain through the mud in 2000, after what Rove did to Valerie Plame, same ole same ole.
Why, Even “good ole” Tom DeLay is pulling the same stunt right now. I guess the current republican playbook only has 3 plays in it. And Supreme Ct. nominee Myers says this ias the most brilliant man she has ever met? Puleeze.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:46 amIts time for a validator quote page on Fitzgerald. A perfect example comes from your Kristol post.
Bill Kristol:
October 10th, 2005 at 11:52 am“just looking at what Fitzgerald is doing and taking him atr his word, you know, being a seious prosecutor here.”
#13
Same old, same old. Go away spammer.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:58 amLet’s get a comment from Ken Starr or Susan McDougal on prosecutorial toughness.
Politics ain’t beanbag, huh Rovester?
October 10th, 2005 at 11:58 amWhen the finger gets pointed at Republicans, Republicans attack the finger.
October 10th, 2005 at 12:14 pmI guess when Ken Starr was dragging in all of Clinton’s administration to testify in an attempt to get something on him that wasn’t bullying. When the shoe is on the other foot they turn into a bunch of whiners. I suppose it’s to be expected from the chickenhawk brigade.
October 10th, 2005 at 12:18 pmHow many millions did we spend to impeach Mr. C for his sexual infidelity…? How many subpeonas….how many witnesses…. and yet the Repugs have the gall to say that FitzY is too agressive…. If these guys weren’t so repulsive they would be funny.
October 10th, 2005 at 12:19 pmIf the DeLay example is valid, the Repugs can attack Fitzgerald all they like. It might not change a thing. If any indictments are to be issued, they’ll still get delivered.
It took the Dems 40 years to fall under the weight of minor corruption. It’s taken only 10 years for the Repugs to fall under the weight of major jailtime corruption. And they have the gall to complain! But they did it to themselves and can blame no one but themselves.
October 10th, 2005 at 12:23 pmThese guys are bullies, huh? I wonder what Susan MacDougal would say about such a description?
October 10th, 2005 at 12:26 pmWhat is Susan McDougal doing now? This woman went through hell during the Clinton years. The FBI and Ken Star made her life miserable. I would not give you two cent for Ken Star. He is a nasty man. I read her book and my heart goes out to her.
October 10th, 2005 at 12:27 pmI guess tough-on-crime republicans don’t like the “tough” part when they’re the criminals.
October 10th, 2005 at 12:27 pmYes sir, the attack teams will be coming out in full force and volume. Sort of Rovian dont you think?
Rove has already drawn up the attack cycle and system to be used against the federal prosecutor, his secretary, his mother, his wife, his children, his dogs, his grandparents, anyone who has ever talked with or been with the prosecutor is fair game.
In about two weeks you will hear statements from the RNC like “well his father was___________”. Fill in the blank.
October 10th, 2005 at 12:32 pm“These guys are bullies, and they threaten you.”??
October 10th, 2005 at 12:33 pm…
…
And Dick Cheney is an Angel??
(sigh)
#16 – Yes, and they attack WITH the finger.
October 10th, 2005 at 12:37 pm#14 – Amen, brother.
Come on, buckfush, I know you’re on our side, but its not productive or appropriate to use this site to sell tee-shirts.
There are plenty of very cheap blog ads out there, go seek them out, or else you are just part of the problem.
It’s Think Progress, not Think Profits
October 10th, 2005 at 12:56 pmLetters to the editors of Time would be in order. And as they (and other news outlets) continue their smear campaign, continue to write to protest.
October 10th, 2005 at 1:05 pmMy experience in the newspaper industry is that the letters to the Editors generally are picked to represent the ones they get – so if they get 100 letters in favor of a viewpoint, and 300 against, they usually print 1 for and 3 against. So the more the merrier and we may have a chance at at least stating our views if not getting them to recant the propaganda that they have catapulted…
Letters are more effective than emails by the way, and faxes aren’t bad either!
Still hoping for a resurgence of the honor of the third estate…
The republican smear machine is breaking. They finally crossed the legal line (they crossed the ethical one long ago) when they went after Wilson and they are getting called to the woodshed over it. Then they went after Cindy Sheehan with all guns blazing and couldn’t even dent her. Now it just looks pathetic. The people and the press are waking from their long slumber and these games no longer distract.
“He’s a bully!!!” looks extremely childish and I am on schadenfreude overload.
October 10th, 2005 at 1:27 pm[...] From ThinkProgress: The attack on Patrick Fitzgerald begins. [...]
October 10th, 2005 at 1:54 pm#19
October 10th, 2005 at 2:06 pmWould you call Ascam a minor or major corruption incident?
Hard to make Fitz look partisan, what with his investigation into Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Daley.
October 10th, 2005 at 2:08 pmthe Thugs in the Whitehouse are gods people. What is dog spelled backward ?
October 10th, 2005 at 2:08 pmDo we need any more proof that these guys are a bunch of whining, lying bastards? Ken Starr who relentlessly pursued Clinton for eight years, only to finally come up with a blue dress stain, was not a threatening bully?
October 10th, 2005 at 2:11 pmCompare that to the investigation of the treasonous act of revealing a CIA operative, perjury and lying to federal prosecutors by WH staffers. Fitzgerald is being tough on them – making him a bully if you are squirming; he has a crime to investigate. Starr spent 8 years on a fishing expedition. Fitzgerald should be smart enough to protect his back, and that probably explains his leakproof case, which will end soon (with a whole lot of indictments, I hope).
#17, You write like me but you aren’t me! We will have to ID ourselves differently.
October 10th, 2005 at 2:12 pmRepublicans on Ken Starr’s office: “These guys are heroes, and they inspire you.â€
Republicans on Patrick Fitzgerald’s office: “These guys are bullies, and they threaten you.â€
LESSON LEARNED: Crucifying a sitting president by conducting DNA testing on a stained blue dress to prove the coverup of an extramarital affair is HONORABLE. Playing legal hardball with a presidential aid who committed treason is a TRAVESTY.
October 10th, 2005 at 2:13 pmPatrick Fitzgerald is a bully. Good, he’s doing his job.
October 10th, 2005 at 2:18 pmHOW MANY PEOPLE DID ROVE AND LIBBY GET KILLED?
Darn, that’s just terrible that the prosecutor would play rough with Rove. Rove doesn’t deserve all this. Gimme a break, all Rove and Libby did was out an undercover operative, potentially putting all foreign assets she ever worked with at risk of legal prosecution, physical harm, or even death. What the heck is Fitzgerald’s problem? Why doesn’t he chill out — after all, it’s just “the criminalization of politics,” isn’t it?
HOW MANY PEOPLE DID ROVE AND LIBBY GET KILLED?
October 10th, 2005 at 2:20 pmThese guys are bullies, huh? I wonder what Susan MacDougal would say about such a description?
Comment by Joe D.
Susan refused to lie about Clinton to get out prison.
Republican snots piss their pants and roll on their friends. Susan would say: Karma.
October 10th, 2005 at 2:47 pmSounds alot like your average school yard…
October 10th, 2005 at 3:17 pmThere just has to be one of these honorable gentlement that when facing a lifetime of ‘tossing salads’ will roll over and squeel like a piglet on their partners. There’s just too much sh*t running down hill, imho.
October 10th, 2005 at 3:21 pmAttacks on Fitzgerald… so what? He does his job, he finds wrong-doing, indictments follow… how is any of it changed by the white house reacting at all?
The Administration is totally powerless in this. They can’t spin it, they can’t make it go away. Maybe they will try… but, it’s there like an elephant sitting in your living room.
Can’t do anything about it. Attacking Fitzgerald does absolutely nothing… Unless you watch FOX NEWS… then, I guess it gives a bunch of crazies something to have on air break downs over.
October 10th, 2005 at 3:35 pmthe comments about aggressive bullies remind me very much of what was said about Kenneth Starr and his team when they were going after Clinton… are prosectors supposed to play nice when the GOP is the bad guy?
October 10th, 2005 at 3:42 pmI suspect that right now Bush, Cheney, and all the criminal vermin that make up their treasonous administration are making plans to flee down to Rev. Moon’s big hacienda down Paraguay-way.
October 10th, 2005 at 4:18 pm#10 – chill..and everyone else, for that matter – THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT:
F.Y.I. – I sent an email to Viveca Novak, via Time’s website, and asked her is she was related to Robert Novak…she replied, as below:
No, I’m not related in any way to the man referred to by many as the Prince of Darkness, nor to any other Novak you’ve ever heard of. I get the question all the time and understand why, given the current investigation, people might be curious. Hopefully I’d have the sense to recuse myself from covering the story if we were kin.
Thanks – Viveca Novak
you see – it doesn’t hurt to ask!
October 10th, 2005 at 4:24 pmPrince of Darkness rules!
October 10th, 2005 at 4:32 pmThese guys are bullies and they will threaten you??????
Another bit of projectionism from the Bush gang. It seems they are in the position they are because they were bullies and they threatened Wilson by the treasonous act of naming his wife as a CIA operative.
I wonder that means that Fitzpatrick and his staff are not bought off by Bush and are going to follow the law.
October 10th, 2005 at 4:35 pmRepublicans are so good in accusing other people OF WHAT THEY ARE GUILTY OF.
Hey Repukes, dont forget: RULE OF LAW … RULE OF LAW … RULE OF LAW … and … RULE OF LAW.
By the way … Terrorist attack would be a surprise, Katrina had advanced warnings … Can you imagine if the crisis in New Orleans was caused by a terrorist attack instead of Katrina, where is the Bush PLAN to protect Americans?
October 10th, 2005 at 5:02 pmI’ve learned that whatever a pug says the opposite of what he says is true and factual.
P.S. I hope Fitzgerald realizes that the American People are not going to settle for some two bit lousy indictments on some white house aids that we never heard of. We want the big fish!
October 10th, 2005 at 8:46 pmwhen the neocons come marching in against Fitz they will find exactly what they found when they marched in against Cindy Sheehan which is the exact opposit of what they want. A STRONGER CINDY AND STRONGER FITZ
October 10th, 2005 at 9:17 pmThis bush administration broke every law in the book.
October 10th, 2005 at 9:50 pmNever paid for their wrong doings. People died,and are maimed, ours and theirs,because of this administations,
a brain child of Rove.
Justice will be done, or all those who died will have given their lives in vain.
Outing a CIA agent at a time of bush’s war, that person
committed treason.
Damn pesky rule of law thang! Give them a steaming supersize helping,Mr. Fitzgerald.
October 10th, 2005 at 10:40 pmI am not from the USA but I do keep tabs on what is going on there because As America goes so goes the world..
October 11th, 2005 at 9:09 amBush and his Administration are going down big time and I predict before the year is out!
HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN!
THOSE WHO ARE FIRST WILL BE LAST and THOSE WHO ARE LAST SHALL BE FIRST!
Their time is up and there is no escape and they know it. Their little black magic bag of tricks is empty and as they reach in with trembling fingers all they find at the bottom are the toys of Propaganda and fear. They have lost. We have won! Plain and simple.
Thank God for PATRICK FITZGERALD – and let us remember he is only one of many who will cause the house of cards to fall. we are the many!
You in America are finally awakening from the long deep sleep and I am proud of you. You are the torch barers for the world and we are with you every step of the way.
PEACE BE WITH YOU AND ALL.
This is all to the good, but…just remember this, Bush can, and will, issue a full pardon to Karl Rove or any other party involved, in any misdeed. His new executive order can seal for all time, any info regarding his (or 42’s) time in office, so we’ll never know anything that he prefers remain secret.
October 11th, 2005 at 3:17 pm“Would you call A[b]scam a minor or major corruption incident?”
In the grand scheme of things, minor. If anything it looked more like entrapment, but it did expose some unethical and unseemly behavior, and ended the political careers for those involved. The S&L collapse, well, looting is a more appropriate term, was a huge, and largely unreported, scandal, especially given the ties to a certain politically dynastic family.
October 11th, 2005 at 3:23 pmSurprise! The pot calls the kettle black. These Bushies are the dirtiest fighters there are; they’ve learned well from their Israeli mentors. TIME is an old Zionist stronghold, so it’s not surprising the people who put George Bush in place will do whatever they can to protect him. With his puppet master Karl Rove playing both ends against the middle, endlessly distracting the goyim from the reality of the world banking cartel’s control of world events, maybe Bush will implode like the World Trade Center buildings and WTC 7, and take Rove with him. The problem is, their successor is already in place. Her name is Hillary Clinton. And there are hundreds more like her ready to be the next dupe to do Sharon’s bidding. God Bless us everyone. Selah
October 11th, 2005 at 3:29 pm