Robert Joseph. NEW news cycle happening

[PretzelWarrior]

wooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the worm turns.

[grasswire]

1. as Buchanan said....

....this guy's fifteen minutes of fame is beginning.

:-)

[Elidor]

2. This guy is a sideshow

Meant to distract from the big boys. As someone said in another thread, some no-name flunky MADE Condi and Dick put that in the SOTU over the CIA's objections? I don't think so. It's great to have a new cycle for the story, but this guy is no more plausible than Tenet. At best he has a hand in the cookie jar (among many others).

[PretzelWarrior]

4. but if he takes rap...he's fair game for offers to come forward and spill

all he knows about other inside dope. Hopefully this guy doesn't fly in small planes or walk at farmer's markets.

[Emboldened Chimp]

3. So he's the guy?

The first bone fide casualty? Good. Let's hope it leads elsewhere, like to Condi next. She's got to be feeling the heat.

[hang a left]

5. this scum is not a casualty

they want the matter "behind us" so they are trying to do just that again. It is not going to fly either.

[PretzelWarrior]

6. this is bullsh!t. they need to get to the top of this.

not the bottom--THE TOP!! Bush was a fuckin' coward who wouldn't answer the questions today directly on the statements because he ISN"T beyond blame.

GET EM. We got em on the run. We're gonna smoke em out. The noose is tightening. Bring em on.

Let's ROLL. Let's get America back on track. Hire a Democrat for the job.

[PaDUer]

7. that's right....

they're going to wheezle their way out!!

[Cush]

8. turn on hardball

Chris Matthews isn't buying it. He wants to know who 'pushed Jospeh'

[starscape]

9. Joseph is...

He's on the NSC..

Robert Joseph, Senior Director for Proliferation Strategy, Counterproliferation and Homeland Defense.

A Democratic Underground article had it pegged:

www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/07/16_blame.html

An excerpt from the article:
"Here's how it went down: according to Alan Foley, a proliferation expert at the CIA, he was questioned by Robert G. Joseph, a nuclear proliferation expert at the National Security Council, about the use of the uranium claim in a draft of the State of the Union address. Foley (CIA) objected to the use of the claim because the intelligence was weak and had been essentially discredited. Joseph (NSC) then cited the British report. Foley countered that the CIA did not believe the report was correct. Joseph then asked Foley to at least confirm that the British had indeed made such a report. Foley confirmed that this was true, the British had issued such a report. End of discussion."

[Vitruvius]

10. Yup -- Bu$h* is sending in the RED-SHIRTS

-- starting with the low-level guys... But it will escalate...

What Bu$h* doesn't know is that the red-shirt ploy works only on Star Trek. Because it's only a plot device. Unfortunately, Bu$h*'s grip on reality is shaky at best...

[starscape]

11. exactly...

passing the buck only goes so far.. either way, this makes Bush look really bad - in several ways. It's his State of the Union.. the one speech of the year he has to get right!

If he accepts responsibilty for the statement, he looks like he tried to deceive the public..

If he doesn't, and he passes off to some NSC crackpot like Joseph, it looks like he isn't even in control, or calling the shots, of his own Presidency..

That's the sense I'm getting right now. What did we see when this story broke?.. Condi defending Bush, Rumsfeld defending Bush. Ari Fleischer doing the 'tough talking'. I'm sorry, but if I'm the President in this situation, I want to be front and center DEFENDING MYSELF... Because this is one situation that is a no-win. It's his speech - he said it to millions of people - and now wants to be untouchable. BIG MISCALCULATION...

[Walt Starr]

12. Oh yeah, the Director of the CIA is going to fall on his sword for

a low level patsy.

RRIIIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHTTTT!

My question is, why isn't a single "journalist" pointing out that Tenet falling on his sword for this guy just doesn't add up?

[snippy]

13. According to Time there was a debate about whether to include it.

NSC Special Assistant to the President Robert Joseph denied through a spokesman that he said it was O.K. to use the line {in the State of the Union about Iraq, uranium and Africa} and as long as it was sourced to British intelligence. "There was a debate about whether to cite it on our own intelligence," another official told TIME. "But once the U.K. made it public, we felt comfortable citing what they had learned." TIME writes, "And so the line went in. While some argued last week that the fight should have been kicked upstairs to {NSC adviser Condoleeza} Rice for adjudication, White House officials claim that it never was."

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,464424,00.html
So who was involved in the debate? And who is we?