OT: Sidney Blumenthal, "Libby's last disinformation campaign"

[emulatorloo]

I don't know how many of you are following the Libby trial, but it has been pretty fascinating. Sidney Blumenthal has a great summary of the case and closing arguments over at Salon. You can still read it even if you aren't a member by watching an ad.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/02/22/libby_trial/index.html

Libby's last disinformation campaign
Not only did Scooter's defense rely on emotion over facts, but it appealed to the jury to dismiss the craft of journalism as false by nature.

By Sidney Blumenthal

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"It's not he said, she said," Fitzgerald declared. On the courtroom screen appeared the eight people with whom Libby had discussed Plame nine times. "It's he said, he said, he said, she said, she said, she said, he said, he said. Is this the greatest coincidence in the world?"

"One of the myths is that Wilson's wife is not important." For Cheney and Libby "she wasn't a person. She was an argument. She was a fact to use against Wilson."

The defense left virtually untouched the many witnesses corroborating that Libby sought Plame's identity and spread it. Now Fitzgerald reviewed their unimpeached testimony. Point by point, Fitzgerald deconstructed Cathie Martin's talking points dictated by Cheney, getting down to the irreducible nub of Cheney's obsession, handwritten on a copy of Wilson's New York Times Op-Ed article: "Or did his wife send him on a junket?"


Speaking rapidly in order to fit all his facts into the hour allotted to him, Fitzgerald did not slow his clipped delivery as he came to the most dramatic statement of the trial. "You just think it's coincidence that Cheney was writing this?" he asked rhetorically, before answering his own question. "There is a cloud over the vice president. He wrote on those columns. He had those meetings. He sent Libby off to the meeting with Judith Miller where Plame was discussed. That cloud remains because the defendant obstructed justice. That cloud is there. That cloud is something that we just can't pretend isn't there."

"That cloud" was like the sudden appearance of a thunderhead over the proceedings and the administration. In no uncertain terms, in his most public statement, Fitzgerald made clear that he believed that Cheney was the one behind the crime for which he was prosecuting Libby. It was Cheney who was the boss, Cheney who gave the orders, and Cheney to whom Libby was the loyal soldier, and it is Cheney for whom Libby is covering up.

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[MBS]

1. prediction of thunderstorm in Huff Post

I'm guessing he's right about #1 and #2, for sure. . as for #3, depends on what Fitzgerald does next!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-emanuel/three-predictions_b_41851.html
Three Predictions by Ari Emanuel
I have three predictions to make this morning: 1) John McCain will not be the Republican Party's nominee. 2) Hillary Clinton will not be the Democratic Party's nominee. 3) Before the end of Bush's term, Condoleezza Rice will be Vice-President.

[emulatorloo]

2. Firedoglake has a nice "personal" account of Fitz's closing

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/02/22/fitz/

<snip>

I don't quite know how to explain it, other than to say Pat shocked people. His demeanor throughout the trial had been fairly direct, occasionaly subtly snarky or self deprecating, but he had not once raised his voice. . . until that moment. It jarred people. It commanded attention. Fitzgerald became a one man spontaneous passion machine from that point on. Yes, there were moments when his voice modulated, but his intensity never wavered. His command of the details of exhibits, including exhibit numbers, was unmatched by any other attorney in the case: he rattled them off like the names of his friends.

All about me, right from the outset of Pat's closing argument, I saw people begin to look at each other. Furtive, sidelong looks popped out all over. There I sat just behind the defense table, and I watched the lawyers sag and share occasional "oh shit" looks. Wells had his forehead resting on his hand, anchored on the table, remaining virtually immoble throughout. Junior defense attorneys, unconsciously mirroring his tone, slumped a bit in their seats the way my fifth grade basketball team used to do during a serious ass whupping early in the game with three quarters left to play. Just like my old basketball team, defense attorneys snuck looks at the clock (when will it be over!?). Libby's brother, who could pass almost for his doppleganger, put his arm around Scooter's wife. Fitz laid out a long, proper drubbing, and the jury, most of all, hung on every word and breath.

I can remember at whiles looking sidelong at Jane or Sidney, and they at me, especially when Fitz so clearly put Cheney's actions up for all to see. Whoa. We had not expected Fitz to go that far. No words passed among us, but we all had that, "Shit, he's really going for it" look in our eyes. We had all expected Fitzgerald to be the headline maker of the day, but he exceeded even our expectations, for all the fire and damning content he laid out.

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