The Bush spin machine is already doing laundry on the Libby indictment...

[FormerRepublican]

Here's the latest news stories from today. Looks grim for Fitz - they're spinning Libby innocent and Fitz incompetent.

"The prosecution's conclusion: Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff zealously pursued information about a critic who said the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to make the case for war. The view of the president and vice president: I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a dedicated public servant who has worked tirelessly on behalf of his country.

Is Libby an influential White House adviser who lied? Or is he a man with a hectic schedule who happens to remember events differently from the reporters and administration figures who will eventually be called to testify against him?

"As lawyers, we recognize that a person's recollection and memory of events will not always match those of other people, particularly when they are asked to testify months after the events occurred," Libby's lawyer, Joseph Tate, said in a statement.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald drew his detailed portrait of Libby based on a two-year investigation that pulled dozens of witnesses in for questioning, including President Bush and Cheney."

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/feeds/apcontent/apstories/apstorysection/D8DHUT900.xml.txt/resources_apstoryview

"A lawyer representing I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is outlining a possible criminal defense strategy for his client that appears to rely on the muddle involved in hectic schedules, chaotic times and an overall blur of events and conversations, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.

Attorney Joseph Tate complained in a statement that allegations that Libby lied to the FBI agents and a federal grand jury relied too heavily on recollection amid "the hectic rush of issues and events at a busy time for our government." The aide resigned Friday from his role as Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

Libby was indicted Friday by a federal grand jury on five counts that include lying to prosecutors, perjury and obstruction of justice of his involvement in the leak of covert agent's identity. The indictment ended a two-year investigation into who revealed to reporters that Valerie Plame was an operative for the Central Intelligence Agency. See full story.

Tate said he and his client were "quite distressed" that the charges of "alleged inconsistencies in Mr. Libby's recollection" were considered "false statements," the AP reported."

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B6D96703B-7809-4F78-8C72-82725A3D5B60%7D&siteid=google&dist=

Further examples that the White House just doesn't get it when it comes to the Plame leak. Here's another article that makes it plain:

"As an outsider to Washington, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald appears to have misunderstood the finer points of how national security classifications work when a secret is as discrete – and sensitive – as the identity of an undercover CIA officer.

In his five-count indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff I. Lewis Libby, prosecutor Fitzgerald leaves the false impression that it was all right for White House officials with security clearances to be discussing the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame, a counter-proliferation official under deep cover.

Under the rules of classification, however, to see such secrets an official must not only have a top-secret clearance but also special code-word clearance that grants access to a specific compartment governed by strict need-to-know requirements.

In both the Libby indictment and a hour-long press conference on Oct. 28, Fitzgerald showed no indication he understood how extraordinary it was for White House officials to be bandying about the name of a covert CIA officer based on the flimsy rationale that she was married to an ex-diplomat who had been sent on a fact-finding trip to Niger."

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/102905.html

[Straight Shooter]

1. Could it be that Americans are tired of excuses and want explanations?

The bush administration is once again in damage control mode. No apologies, no explanations. It is very wearisome, and the act is beginning to irritate a lot of people.

This is part of the "attack Fitzgerald" agenda, which I hope backfires on them just as the "attack Wilson" operation did.

[TheGunslinger]

2. You had the same idea as myself and the poster of this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5219924

;)

[madmom]

3. not only this but I'm curious and call into question Libby's "need

to know" the identidy of a CIA agent, if they were as secret as they say they were ( top secret with a special code word)

[emulatorloo]

4. repeating "Tim Russert Told Me!" over and over is pretty specific.

does not sound like Libby ever changed his story to OH I forgot Dick Told Me.

Fitz is not the idiot these spinners are

again these spinners should be told "You are either the dumbest person ever born or a bold faced liar"