Broder on Libby: ‘This whole controversy is a sideshow.’
Broder on Libby: ‘This whole controversy is a sideshow.’
The Washington Post’s David Broder today:
Despite the absence of any underlying crime, Fitzgerald filed charges against Libby for denying to the FBI and the grand jury that he had discussed the Wilson case with reporters. Libby was convicted on the testimony of reporters from NBC, the New York Times and Time magazine — a further provocation to conservatives.
I think they have a point. This whole controversy is a sideshow — engineered partly by the publicity-seeking former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife and heightened by the hunger in parts of Washington to “get” Rove for something or other.
Like other special prosecutors before him, Fitzgerald got caught up in the excitement of the case and pursued Libby relentlessly, well beyond the time that was reasonable.
Previously, Broder wrote that journalists “owe Karl Rove an apology” for saying he was central to this scandal (even though he was).
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Once again, Broder doesn’t read his own paper. Carol Leonnig who covered the trial for the POST takes the MATLOCK FANS natterings and blows them out of the water.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/08/AR2007060802478.html
June 10th, 2007 at 11:00 amThat’s amazing, even for the doddering Señor Broder, well into the period of self-blindness that accompanies some into old age. His alliance with the forces of darkness is incontrovertible, and no one should pay him any consideration whatsoever.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:02 amThe hack speaks…..
*yawn*
Wake up, you old fool.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:06 amWe should appologize to Rove eventhough he did exactly that which we insinuate?!?
This reminds me of the Sam Rayburn quote about the GOP congressmen…
“If you quite lying about us, we’ll quit telling the truth about you.”
June 10th, 2007 at 11:07 amI’ like to say wow-but what else would you expect.
Typical repuke speak, it is at the point where if their lips are moving then they are lying.
This will get interesting we’ve got the two most evil people running the show(shooter and rove) and the guy who’s nominally in charge is a complete boob. I’ll bet money the boob-in-chief has a public breakdown before his term is over.
T
June 10th, 2007 at 11:08 amIs there any doubt at this point that Broder’s so called objectivity, his status as the ‘Dean’ is simply a cover for a blatant Republican apologist?
Seriously, he simply seems to echo the right wing Conventional Wisdom to a T, and doesn’t even need the proper coaxing to do so.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:08 amRight… someone (Hint.. hint..) must have pulled that ring on a string in the middle of his back.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:11 amZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ–huh? Is Broder working for Fox now?
June 10th, 2007 at 11:12 am“side show” to what? …
June 10th, 2007 at 11:19 amthe main event, the center ring that is the
bushco crime family dealings?
… ok…
“Despite the absence of any underlying crime”
Huh?
WTF?
Last time I checked, PERJURY WAS STILL A CRIME!
June 10th, 2007 at 11:19 amoh… and wait till you hear what joe LIEberman
had to say on face the nation… breaking news:
he’s all for bombing iran…
imagine that…
June 10th, 2007 at 11:20 amThe wingnuts are recycling stories.
This is classic.
http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/6184.html#comments
June 10th, 2007 at 11:21 amThis is fascinating because not only does Broder know he’s propagating falsehoods and misinformation, he knows the backlash he’ll receive. BUt like a good lapdog, he keeps repeating the propanda, knowing it will stick in just enough places to plant the seed of doubt.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:22 amHe’s right. This is a side show.
We need to stay focused on what really matters:
June 10th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Joe Liebermann is…interesting. Here we have a man who lost as a Democrat, won as an Independent with backing and funding by Republicans, who now caucuses with the Democrats, giving the Republicans an insider in the Democratic caucus, and votes Republican.
And he threatens to switch sides, and become the Republican he already is. Too bad the Democrats caved into his antics. They should have forced his hand long ago. Yes, that would have meant losing the majority status in the Senate. But it would have shown the American people that continued ownership of the government by Republicans was a very bad thing for America and the world.
By allowing Leibermann to stay a Democrat in name only, the Democratic Party gets its deserved share of the blame now.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:28 amYes it is a sideshow… and if they uncover what is in the main tent, Libby will have to stay in jail way longer than 3 years.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:29 amDavid Broder’s shelf life as a “journalist ” has expired. He gives political hacks a bad name.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:33 amThere is an underlying crime, and it’s called Treason. Libby was convicted for derailng, by obstruction, an investigation into the most serious crime of treason.
Shorter Broder: if you don’t catch the criminal, no crime was committed.
sheesh.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:34 amLimpbutt, In-Hannity, O’Rally, Brokes, Buck-less, Novak-aine, Scar-face, Tucks-it, BecknCall, and now BROODER (and the trolls on TP) all want to make stuff about THEM, not about the news.
But, here’s the NEWS: Scooter-boy Libby is going to JAIL!
THAT is a sideshow worth seeing until the main event – the impeachment of: the president-in-charge-of-Vice; the current, coke-brained, corrupt, criminal president; and Gonzo (the S&M torture-lover)!
It’s only 590 days, 2 hours, 17 minutes, and 13 seconds until the sideshow is OVER! (And maybe sooner if the impeachments happen!)
Thank you, Lord!
June 10th, 2007 at 11:45 am**testing**
June 10th, 2007 at 11:52 amBroder is over the hill and senile. He has served his purpose and why anyone with half a brain would even read this fool is beyond me.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:52 amA sideshow, about a person lying under oath.
I recall a similar sideshow, not so long ago, about a person lying under oath … driven by the Republicans … with hundreds of willing, public accomplices … that resulted in an impeachment …
How is it that people have forgotten so soon that lying is bad, and lying under oath is a crime? These people who want to bring charges against Barry Bonds think Scooter is innocent?
June 10th, 2007 at 11:53 amWhat was the underlying crime in Monica-gate? A consensual blow job?
June 10th, 2007 at 11:58 am“Like other special prosecutors before him, Fitzgerald got caught up in the excitement of the case and pursued Libby relentlessly, well beyond the time that was reasonable.”
Actually, I think that Fitzgerald didn’t go nearly far enough. I believe that the fix was in with Fitzgerald. I believe he had his orders to throw Libby under the bus to protect Rove and others and that’s what Fitzgerald did. I am not saying that Libby shouldn’t have been convicted and sent to jail, I am saying that Rove, Armatige and others should also have been prosecuted.
The fact that the leakers also leaked Valerie Plame’s cover company Brewster Jennings is proof positive that they knew she was covert. Why would an agent who was not covert need a cover company? Rove and others committed treason and should have been prosecuted for it. The fact that they weren’t shows me that Fitzgerald was doing what he was told to do by the Bush Crime Family.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:03 pm#20 – I see you, true!
June 10th, 2007 at 12:07 pmMany I remind you Mr. Broder and all the rest of the right wing apologists for this crime family that Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion, and Al Capone didn’t own the Justice Department. We’ll take all the convictions we can get in any shape they come to keep these people from doing any more harm.
Thanks to the Honorable Judge Walton for seeing to it that no one is above the law, despite adversaries of justice in key media positions like David Broder.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:10 pmIn order to make the casual case that “there was no underlying crime” right-wing “rule of law” (choke!) apologists like Broder have to believe that Valerie Plame was not a covert operative.
To believe that, they have to ignore the testimony of the Director of Central Intelligence and Valerie Plame herself and the public findings of the Fitzgerald investigation, and they have to believe that the CIA would request an investigation when they KNEW that no covert operative had been exposed.
Why would they believe such a crock of sh!t? Because they know what the right-wing is capable of, and they assume the rest of the world acts as they do.
“No underlying crime”. By repeating that stinking pile of neocon crap, he has proven himself unworthy of being taken seriously ever again. “No underlying crime…”
I wonder — if Broder were to be mugged on the streets of DC and the police were unable to make an arrest, wuld that mean that no crime occurred? Apparently so.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:21 pm“despite the absence of any underlying conviction for the crime committed” – there Broder, I fixed it for you.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:27 pm#20
True, You get an “A” on that test as well as others.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:31 pmHe pursued the case for a longer time than was reasonable? Well if Libby hadn’t lied and perjerued himself and obstructed justice, as well as the other Bush admin members that were questioned, then maybe the damn investigation wouldn’t have taken so long.
What an idiot.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:31 pmRoboTroll 3100 reports:
No Underlying Crimeâ„¢
Out of Control Prosecutorâ„¢
Publicity-Hungry Joe Wilsonâ„¢
Valerie Plame Drove to Langleyâ„¢
President Bush promised to fire anyone connected with the leak. Since he hasn’t fired anyone in conncetion with the leak, that means a leak didn’t occur.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:34 pmIOKIYAR
Krugman “It’s OK If You Are a Republican” | Wilton DemocratsBy PAUL KRUGMAN I’ve been thinking of writing a political novel. It will be … mean that Iokiyar remains in effect, that the basic rules …
June 10th, 2007 at 12:37 pmhttp://www.wiltondemocrats.org/content/node/view/2862
That’s right cha’ll,
We all OWE Karl Rove an apology…
Karl, if I can speak for everyone at TP, and I think I CAN, well… it’s just… We’re Sorry Karl, We’re Sorry, can you ever forgive us?
June 10th, 2007 at 12:41 pmBroder is a traitor and we the citizenry of the US must demand that Washington Post fires him for treason.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:42 pmWhat this country needs more than anything are a few editors who will simply refuse to publish this crap. “Oh, it’s just an opinion.” When the “opinion” is just stupid propaganda written in spite of actual facts, it’s not fit to line a bird cage, much less be printed and syndicated and referenced by others. Just tell Broder that, no, sorry we’re not printed your column today because it’s just horse poop.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:50 pmMany years back Broder wanted the Washington Post to assign him to London to cover the international scene. Fortunately for American foreign policy at the time the Post had the good sense not to do that.
If only today’s Washington Post would exhibit the same good judgement of the old Post. If they did they would pull the plug on Broder’s column.
It would be interesting to watch Broder take his “wise old man” routine and try to make it work outside the protection of the Post’s bureaucracy.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:50 pmAre folks still reading the BS that comes from Broder?Folks he ain’t worth the read:Like PBegala said Broder is a gas bag.
June 10th, 2007 at 1:20 pmBroder ,Tim Russert & Matthews all still somehow think they are working in the local factories as journeymen.Reality is that these contemptible figures are multi-millionares pretending to be for the ordinary folks, like you and I who have to cut corners to meet our mortgage or car payments.Moreover those factories have long left our shores & any decency that Broder & his gang had.
answer me this:
broder’s article contains the clause “despite the absence of an underlying crime…”,
so
if libby was convicted for lying to investigators,
how does broder, or anyone else, know with certainty, that libby did not committ a crime?
p.s.
just for word play -
the underlying crime, dean broder,
was lying in front of you all along.
it was lying.
June 10th, 2007 at 1:22 pmEvery single mainstream media outlet that I’m aware of considers the sentence of 30 months that the judge laid down harsh.
You’ve got to be frickin kidding me. Just imagine if Plame and Wilson were Republicans. There is no way the GOP wouldn’t assail the “revisionist” and “activist” predisposition of the judge as merely tapping Libby on the hand.
In the larger context of the War on Terror the GOP would be clamoring for the death penalty.
June 10th, 2007 at 2:03 pmWell, well, well, looks like Broder just joined the list of traitors. Nothing like supporting treason and traitors. Jeopardizing the security of the US by exposing covert CIA operatives is TREASON. And starting a war based on lies is a high crime.
Signed: All the military that served in Iraq that returned in coffins draped with flags.
And traitors don’t get to question my patriotism.
June 10th, 2007 at 3:27 pmScooter Libby should be grateful that he didn’t receive the death penalty for treason. He was convicted by a jury of his peers. These traitors that are screeming “free Libby” don’t understand the law.
Signed: All the military that served in Iraq that returned in coffins draped with flags.
June 10th, 2007 at 3:40 pmDavid Broder = CUA!!! Completely Useless American!!
I would love to debate this moron at the swamps edge late one night…in a lighting storm of course…
June 10th, 2007 at 5:16 pmPlame and Wilson were Republicans #39…
June 10th, 2007 at 6:04 pmCan’t Broder just ride off into the Sunset and check into the old folks home. No disrespect to old folk. How much longer will the Washington Post PUT UP WITH THIS IDIOT? Anybody for a boycott?
June 10th, 2007 at 9:03 pmLast time I checked, PERJURY WAS STILL A CRIME!
Comment by JPV — June 10, 2007 @ 11:19 am
Well no, in this case it was always last prize. Last time everyone else checked Mr Fitzmas concluded his perjury investigation and Karl Rove wasn’t charged with any such thing.
In fact, I seem to recall everyone was pretty happy with Fitz!! for giving Karl Rove a pass as you believed this would lead to bigger fish. A fish named ’scooter’ apparently.
If you’re unhappy with this outcome why not head over to FDL and donate. Show your appreciation for the stand out coverage provided by the blogophere on this issue which generated 7 million posts about a single issue with no angle going unreported less than 50 times, and still left you clueless and suprised as to the result.
June 10th, 2007 at 9:18 pmKilo,
Actually FDL’s coverage left me with lots of clues and they made every effort to provide the facts and sound legal opinion, so unlike 99.9% of America, I knew what was going on with Plamegate. Perhaps you weren’t paying close enough attention?
June 10th, 2007 at 9:33 pmActually that doesn’t contradict what I wrote.
They did indeed leave you with lots of clues of unsupported conspiracy theories the evidence doesn’t support, just as http://www.whatreallyhappened.com will.
At the end of the day though, the investigation charged one guy with lying under oath.
On the other hand, how many different individuals do you estimate were suspected of lying under oath, being secretly indicted, being close to charged, etc according to FDLs coverage ?
Really ? Are you being honest ?
Everyone who completely ignored blogs like FDL’s hourly updates on Plame knew everything they needed to about the investigation just by listening to Fitzgerald’s press statements on the TV.
These incuded the statement that this investigation wouldn’t be concerned with anything related to the Iraq war or WMD claims. Clear statements which seemed a little lost blog readers for some reason.
Perhaps why ? What I just wrote was pretty clear wasn’t it ?
Several years, several dozen different conspiracy theories, thousands upon thousands of posts about a story that ended up being about a perjury conviction.
Were we paying attention to the same thing ?
BTW here’s your Sunday funnies:
June 10th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
It’s a sideshow from a big show that never happened, indictment of Rove and impeachment of Cheney.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:41 pmKilo > I never posted the comment you quote from me in your post 47.
I have never made any such statement, so that is a fabrication.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:31 pmInteresting way for Broder to attempt to again reframe the situation:
“…that he had discussed the Wilson case with reporters. [...] engineered partly by the publicity-seeking former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife …”
It’s no longer even the “Plame outing” — which they made appear benign. Now it’s just “the Wilson case”.
But, it really was exposing the public identity of a covert deep cover CIA agent and an entire network of classified U.S. state secrets.
Broder has a nifty way of sugar coating the truth.
June 11th, 2007 at 12:01 amYeah you did.
Otherwise we might have seen a complaint about the fabrication of the rest of the posts saying the same thing that I didn’t quote.
Did you notice that the posting date and time were quoted also ? Allows you to do this and find that post along with 10 others all saying the same thing in various discussions with other posters.
Then you can do this and discover more threads you posted in from the same day, at the same time.
Then you can do this and see if there were any claims of fabrication at the time.
June 11th, 2007 at 12:09 amJay Randal you are silly you are too scared to go with the girl soldiers and fight terrorist but you and your crew are going to take to the streets and overthrow the government ? with who’s army Hugo Chavez’s and Iran’s ? Pleeeease . stop making a fool of yourself
June 11th, 2007 at 1:11 am#
David Broder = CUA!!! Completely Useless American!!
I would love to debate this moron at the swamps edge late one night…in a lighting storm of course…
Comment by dixie blood — June 10, 2007 @ 5:16 pm
I am sure you would , and loose because you are a loser and a fool who knows nothing . watch the movie and maybe then you would be a little smarter or better that that and go to iran and stand in a crowd if you got as much balls as Broder . but we know that you don’t . Wink
June 11th, 2007 at 1:19 amBroder knows what side his bread is buttered on. He went over to the Dark Side a long time ago, thanks to a 37 coctail-weenie-a-day habit he just can’t shake.
Cheers,
June 11th, 2007 at 7:41 am