Joe Conason (Salon): The deception Bush can't spin (Libby Case)

[Dudley_DUright]

If we are to believe the grand jury testimony of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby -- as reported by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in court papers -- then the president of the United States has been deceiving the country ever since the CIA leaks investigation began in 2003.

Compared with other deceptions that George W. Bush has perpetrated in the years since he promised to restore honor and integrity to the Oval Office, this one cannot be spun away as a misunderstanding, a "misunderestimate" or a mistake. From the moment that the Justice Department opened its probe of the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA identity to the press, Bush insisted that he wanted to find and punish the culprits, especially if any of them were among his White House staff. He claimed to consider the leaking of classified information to be a matter of the utmost seriousness.

And he let his press secretary insist repeatedly that the White House had absolutely no idea how this terrible thing had happened.

We have come a long way since then, of course. We have learned that at least two of the highest-ranking White House staff members leaked Plame's identity to reporters as part of a broader effort to discredit her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, for daring to draw attention to White House misuse of intelligence on Iraq in an Op-Ed in the New York Times. We know that Libby, then the vice president's chief of staff and national security advisor, and Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff, both participated in that effort -- and that both have lied repeatedly about their roles in the scheme.

more...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2006/04/07/libby_case/

[ginnyinWI]

1. A thought just struck me: he might resign over this

People will say, "oh no, he'll stick it out"...Yeah that's the way he talks, but if you look at his actions, he tends to either do nothing about a problem (Iraq), or else back down (creation of Dept. of Homeland Security).

I think personally, he'd like to just up and quit. It's in his background to do it. I can see him doing it--he's so much like Nixon. He can dish it out, but he really can't take it.

[JDPriestly]

2. In short, he is a bully. -- can dish it out but can't take it

[Kurt Remarque]

3. if he hasn't quit over starting a war under false pretenses

he sure as hell ain't gonna quit now

[yurbud]

4. a college teacher friend said Bush will exit like a slacker student...

He'll just stop showing up.

[winston61]

5. Didn't Bill Maher give Bush some advice-

something like, when he gets tired of something, do what he's always done, just lose interest and walk away?