CNN is on crack!

How else do you explain this teaser on the front page:

Bush: Weapons search shows Saddam 'a danger'

President Bush says the work done so far by weapons hunter David Kay and his team has uncovered a network of biological laboratories, elaborate methods of concealing weapons of mass destruction programs and equipment that Iraq had shielded from the United Nations. "These findings already make clear that Saddam Hussein actively deceived the international community, that Saddam Hussein was a danger to the world," Bush said today.

Goes to this article:

CNN.com - Iraq weapons hunter facing tough questions - Oct. 3, 2003

The head of the CIA's search for banned weapons in Iraq is likely Friday to face a second day of tough questions in Washington after admitting his team so far had not found any weapons of mass destruction.

David Kay, a former U.N. weapons inspector who heads the Iraq Survey Group, said his team has found no weapons of mass destruction but has discovered evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime planned to manufacture them.

Well to be fair of CNN, maybe The Whistle Ass is on crack.

- rob 1:14 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Thanks to Atrios to reminding me to check out Krugman:

'Slime and Defend'

An outraged President Bush immediately demanded the names of those responsible for exposing Ms. Plame. He repeated his father's statement that "those who betray the trust by exposing the names of our sources" are "the most insidious of traitors." There are limits to politics, Mr. Bush declared; Mr. Wilson's decision to go public about his mission had embarrassed him, but that was no excuse for actions that were both felonious and unpatriotic.

Everything in the previous paragraph is, of course, false. It's what should have happened, but didn't. Mr. Bush took no action after the Novak column. Before we get bogged down in the details — which is what the administration hopes will happen — let's be clear: we already know what the president knew, and when he knew it. Mr. Bush knew, 11 weeks ago, that some of his senior aides had done something utterly inexcusable. But as long as the media were willing to let the story lie — which, with a few honorable exceptions, like David Corn at The Nation and Knut Royce and Timothy Phelps at Newsday, they were — he didn't think this outrage required any action.

- rob 1:09 PM - [PermaLink] -

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<"By using the powers of my mighty mind, I will make this story go away."


Ashcroft, Rove ties scrutinized

Democrats are stepping up calls for an independent investigation of the leak of a CIA officer’s identity, charging that political ties between Attorney General John Ashcroft and White House political adviser Karl Rove represent a clear conflict of interest.
...

COMPANY controlled by Rove, who stands accused by the CIA officer’s husband of at least condoning the leak, was paid more than $300,000 by Ashcroft’s 1994 Senate campaign in Missouri for direct mail work and other services, the New York Times reported Friday, citing campaign finance data.

President Bush’s top political adviser also played a role in two earlier Ashcroft gubernatorial campaigns.

Information about the ties between Rove and Ashcroft has emboldened Democrats to push harder for a special counsel to investigate the leak.

“Given allegations about the involvement of senior White House officials and the past close association between the attorney general and one of those officials, the investigation should be headed by a person independent of the administration,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement issued Thursday. “If there ever was a case for the appointment of a special counsel, this is it.”

If you agree, here's a petition for you to sign:

Investigate the White House

"Attorney General Ashcroft must appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the White House's role in revealing an undercover CIA agent's identity. This act was a breach of national security and a felony and should be investigated by an independent party."

- rob 1:02 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Ever have a really bad week? You know, have you ever had a "you have to resign your job because you said a racist statement and then it is revealed you're a drug addict" kind of week?

Yeah... then you know how Rush must feel.

Rush Limbaugh in pill probe

In one missive, Limbaugh pushed Cline to get more "little blues" - code for OxyContin, the powerful narcotic nicknamed hillbilly heroin, she said.

Hillbilly Heroin. Wow, he's stuck to character even while getting high.

Don't be too worried about Rush though. This isn't some poor African American buying crack on the streets (who'd get many years of jail time), no this is a famous rich white guy. He'll get the old Jeb Bush daughter treatment: forced rehab.

Heck, he might even keep his radio show. Pathetic sad little hypocrite that he is.

- rob 2:27 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Get Your War On has been updated.

- rob 2:22 PM - [PermaLink] -

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From MHO:

October 4, 1997
CNN's "Evans & Novak"

JOHN ASHCROFT: The truth of the matter is that if the law's been violated, we should be able to ascertain that.

We can, if we have an independent person without a conflict of interest.

ROWLAND EVANS: .The attorney general has shaved down all the allegations that Vice President Gore apparently down to one single allegation -- which telephone he used to make these fundraising calls from.

Do you really think that alone is worthy of a special prosecutor?

ASHCROFT: .you know, a single allegation can be most worthy of a special prosecutor.

If you're abusing government property, if you're abusing your status in office, it can be a single fact that makes the difference on that.

So my own view is that there are plenty of things which should have caused [Attorney General Janet Reno], a long time ago, to appoint a special prosecutor, an independent investigator.

We asked for that on March the 13th of this year in letters from Republican members on the Judiciary Committee. And she's in a bad position.

The man who signs her check is the man that she's investigating, and she hasn't been very aggressive about it.

Which brings us to:

Investigating Leaks

Attorney General John Ashcroft has put himself and the president in a very dangerous position with his handling of the Justice Department's investigation into how Robert Novak got the name of a C.I.A. operative for publication in his syndicated column.

After career lawyers conducted a preliminary investigation into the leaking of the officer's name, Mr. Ashcroft chose to proceed with a full investigation within the Justice Department. He did so despite department guidelines that would have permitted him to appoint an outsider, who would serve at Mr. Ashcroft's discretion but could make independent decisions.
...

If someone at the White House, perhaps acting with institutional sanction, revealed the name of a C.I.A. operative to undermine the credibility of Mr. Wilson and thus stifle dissent over Iraq policy, that in itself would be a serious assault on free speech and an egregious abuse of power. In such a case, the blanket denial that Mr. Bush issued this week would put him dangerously close to the territory in which the cover-up eclipses the offense.

- rob 2:20 PM - [PermaLink] -

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So many scandals, so little time.

The Bush Lobotomy scandal finally has legs though it was a crime that everyone knew about back in July (investigative reporting seems to be a dead art). I call it The Bush Lobotomy scandal because it might lead to the removal of Bush’s brain, otherwise known as Karl Rove.

President George Bush's closest political adviser, Karl Rove, was yesterday at the centre of a criminal investigation into allegations that he leaked the name of a CIA agent in an attempt to suppress criticism of the administration's Iraq policy, in what is fast becoming the administration's worst scandal since coming to office.
…

Reporters at Time magazine and NBC News and a handful of others were also tipped off about Ms Plame, and Democrats claim the source in each case was Mr Rove. According to some accounts, Mr Rove did not mention Ms Plame by name but referred to "Wilson's wife" being a CIA employee.

Its fascinating to watch the various odd defenses the Bush loving right wing is coming up with such as “oh she was just an analyst,” such as this ridiculous essay from the right wing rag Newsmax :

Novak giveth and Novak taketh away.

That’s the long and short of the so-called “scandal” trumpeted by the Left and promoted by the lamestream media.

After all, it was the Novak column of July 14th that instigated this affair.

If that report was valid enough to instigate this flap, then why isn’t his clarification, that no one from the White House called him and that Wilson’s wife is neither an agent nor a covert operative, good enough to end it?

So since Novak says the leak was given to him during a general discussion of other items it somehow proves it wasn’t a leak? Eh? We can discount that instantly: a leak is a leak, and even so Novak isn’t an unimpeachable source. And second we are now taking Novak’s statement of Ms. Plame’s position at the CIA as fact? This is the same guy who already said the CIA told him that he shouldn’t break her cover.

In fact here is what a former CIA operative says about her:

LARRY JOHNSON: Let's be very clear about what happened. This is not an alleged abuse. This is a confirmed abuse. I worked with this woman. She started training with me. She has been undercover for three decades, she is not as Bob Novak suggested a CIA analyst. But given that, I was a CIA analyst for four years. I was undercover. I could not divulge to my family outside of my wife that I worked for the Central Intelligence Agency until I left the agency on Sept. 30, 1989. At that point I could admit it.

So the fact that she's been undercover for three decades and that has been divulged is outrageous because she was put undercover for certain reasons. One, she works in an area where people she meets with overseas could be compromised. When you start tracing back who she met with, even people who innocently met with her, who are not involved in CIA operations, could be compromised. For these journalists to argue that this is no big deal and if I hear another Republican operative suggesting that well, this was just an analyst fine, let them go undercover. Let's put them overseas and let's out them and then see how they like it. They won't be able to stand the heat.
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LARRY JOHNSON: I say this as a registered Republican. I'm on record giving contributions to the George Bush campaign. This is not about partisan politics. This is about a betrayal, a political smear of an individual with no relevance to the story. Publishing her name in that story added nothing to it. His entire intent was correctly as Ambassador Wilson noted: to intimidate, to suggest that there was some impropriety that somehow his wife was in a decision making position to influence his ability to go over and savage a stupid policy, an erroneous policy and frankly, what was a false policy of suggesting that there were nuclear material in Iraq that required this war. This was about a political attack. To pretend that it's something else and to get into this parsing of words, I tell you, it sickens me to be a Republican to see this.

Drudgereport is also running this, but gleefully tries to discredit it by pointing out Larry’s “3 decades” statement along with the fact that Ms. Plame was only forty. Please, these attempts at smearing have gotten so pathetic it is really sad, as once you guys were the best at distraction and smear, but that is just too weak. I’m in my mid-thirties, and have been working for, gasp, three decades! (you know, the eighties, nineties, and the naughts).

Slate further defines levels of secrecy at the CIA and defines how Ms. Plame fits it:

Nonofficial cover. NOCs (the word rhymes with "rocks") are the most covert CIA operatives. They typically work abroad without diplomatic protection (often they pretend to work for some commercial enterprise). If these spies are caught, there's no guarantee that the United States would admit their true identities. When using official cover could put a spy's life and work at risk, NOC is the only alternative.

Why is it such a big deal that someone outed Valerie Plame? For starters, it's a felony. And Plame was also reportedly a NOC with years of experience investigating weapons of mass destruction. If this is true, her discovery could compromise intelligence operations she was involved with around the world, which would explain why she maintained her nonofficial cover even when she was back in the United States. "Hard target" countries like China and North Korea often keep records of every known meeting between Americans and their scientists and officials. Almost certainly, those lists would have been frantically reviewed when Plame's identity was revealed, and any sources she recruited could have been exposed.

The crime is obvious, the reason is petty (revenge, spite, intimidation standard Bush White House playground motivations), and the risk to national security an actuality that some neocon’s are even admitting this is bad (back to scary old Newsmax again):

The burgeoning flap over the leaking to the press of the name of a CIA agent - a clear and serious violation of federal law - is a serious, serious legal and political problem for the Bush White House.
…

7) Whoever authorized the Plame leak could possibly go to jail for this willful act of lawbreaking. And those who actually called the six reporters could also go to jail - unless they cop a plea and rat out others.
8) Preliminary reports are that there is a great dissension inside the White House staff over this leak. Many are described as 'disgusted' at the outing of Ms. Plame.
…

10) Meanwhile over at the Langley HQ of the CIA, there is much disgust over the way they are always made the scapegoats by this White House. After all, CIA Director Tenet had kept the African uranium tale out of the Cincinnati speech last October that helped escalate the case for a pre-emptive war against Iraq. But if heads don't roll over the Plame leak, you can bet that CIA will leak things of their own about the Bush White House.
…

13) We need to reverse things: if the Clinton White House had sold out an active-duty CIA agent as 'payback' for some whistle-blowing article, we would be outraged. This crime is no less serious because it was done in a Republican White House.

This is a huge deal, and the press has been ignoring this for two months. There are other scandals out there, and here are just a few.

The Harken Scandal (Here’s a review of the scandal that is full of flavor: The REAL Dirt On Bush/Harken Scandal!!). Basically Bush was involved in insider trading and was a Director of a company that was the prototype for Enron style accounting (and lots not even get into some intriguing “mystery” investments that were involved in the story). This had the opportunity to blow real wide when the Enron scandal hit, but the press was too deep in post 9/11 shock to follow up on a Bush scandal, so it never really took off. The truth is, this scandal never will become big time.

The Florida Election Scandal. Just too many things here to talk about. We’ve got the thousands of legitimate Florida voters (many blacks – most likely Gore voters) taken off the voting lists because of erroneous out of state criminal convictions (the false data was supplied by gasp Texas). We’ve got the mob of republican staffers (the "bourgeois riot") physically threatening vote counters. From Katherine Harris working form the Bush campaign from her State office, to the one of the most ridiculous supreme court rulings ever (not up there with the “slavery is legal because it slave aren’t citizens ruling,” but up there with the “tomatoes are vegetables” ruling) ( "None Dare call it Treason" ). Florida’s election nastiness goes on and on, but won’t ever hit it big while Bush is in office, but when this episode hits the history books it won’t be good for Bush, might not even be called a fiasco, but rather, a coup d’etat.

Iraq War. There are so many things about this war that have been big for a while. Mostly the coverage has been centered around the lack of post-war planning (or that any planning was based on pure fantasy), and that the war itself was predicated on lies. But the financial angle is going to become big soon. Nothing like Bush’s friends making money from this to get people riled up.

Saudi Arabia and 9/11. This definitely has got legs. The administration approving a flight of Saudi citizens (including many bin laden family members) has been around since it happened, but always keeps popping up again, such as yesterday’s Who let Saudis flee after 9/11?. And the Bush administration is doing its best to keep the Saudi connections to 9/11 a secret, and that also isn’t going away either, such as yesterday’s White House Not to Declassify More of 9/11 Report . 9/11 Itself is going to become a big story next year around the 3rd anniversary. As the election nears and with the republican convention being held in New York (Rove’s 3rd biggest blunder after the Wilson Affair and the “Mission Accomplished photo op), people may be over the shock enough and appalled at the opportunism to really start asking some questions. (9/11 timeline)

These are just some scandals I remembered off the top of my head, for a large, but out of date, list, check out: Bushgate: The Bush Scandal Impeachment Warning System

- rob 2:19 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Don't let "I lost to a dead guy" Ashcroft bungle this like he bungled his senate re-election in 2002.


Petition for Independent Investigation!
Political Bullies At White House Break The Law And Risk National Security

DEMAND AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION:

Members of George W. Bush's administration leaked the identity of an undercover CIA agent to the press.

That agent was the wife of one of the administration's political foes.

Knowingly leaking the identity of an undercover agent puts the lives of the agent and her sources in danger and is a violation of federal law, punishable by up to ten years in prison.

Right now, only John Ashcroft's Justice Department is looking into this. Given Ashcroft's record, such an investigation is not credible and Americans deserve better.

DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT!

While the White House claims it will comply with an Ashcroft-led investigation into the identity leak, that is clearly not enough. We must demand that Ashcroft designate an independent investigator and that Bush and his administration comply fully and openly with that investigation.

Demand an independent investigation by signing the petition below. A major public outcry is the only way to end the ongoing cover-up and keep the guilty from going free.

- rob 4:36 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Another Chance For Maryland?

Ehrlich Seeks Probe Over Ballot Machines

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) has asked state investigators to look into the opposite interests of a well-known Annapolis lobbyist who represents two companies involved in the overhaul of the state's voting machine system.

Ehrlich requested the inquiry last week after learning that Gilbert J. Genn, a former Montgomery County delegate, is registered as a lobbyist for Diebold Election Systems Inc., the company that has a $55 million contract to provide the state with its electronic voting system, and Science Applications International Corp., the computer security company the state recently hired to examine the Diebold voting machines for flaws.

I am shocked that anyone connected to Diebold would be anything but a paragon of integrity. Just shocking.

Not to be cynical, but this will go nowhere, and Maryland's 2004 election results will be decided to a 16 year old know as "The New Neo."

Upset about Diebold? Then sign the petition.

- rob 12:32 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Thanks to MHO:

"I'm a doctor. I believe if you have a theory and a fact comes along that disproves the theory, you throw out the theory. Republicans believe if a fact comes along that disproves your theory, you throw out the fact."

- Howard Dean, responding to "flip flopping" charge (9/28)

- rob 12:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Economics May Be Behind Your Baby's Gender

Say what you want about Bush, but he really is fighting for the guys.

Difficult economic conditions in a country may result in fewer male than female births, says a study from the University of California, Berkeley.

He wants to make sure the teen guys of 2020 really have good odds on getting dates. That's George for you, always looking out for the little (and perhaps otherwise dateless) guy.

- rob 12:25 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Boiling Brew: Politics and Health Insurance Gap

Even before the Census Bureau announced the numbers, showing that the number of uninsured Americans had risen by 2.4 million last year, to 43.6 million, most of the major Democratic presidential candidates were campaigning hard on the problems in health care.

That's yet another amazing figure to Dubya's already impressive resume.

- rob 12:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bye Bye Rove?

Okay, we were out yesterday and this weekend when a story that could finally bring down Rove broke:

CIA seeks probe of White House

The CIA has asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations that the White House broke federal laws by revealing the identity of one of its undercover employees in retaliation against the woman’s husband, a former ambassador who publicly criticized President Bush’s since-discredited claim that Iraq had sought weapons-grade uranium from Africa, NBC News has learned.

The CIA has been taking the fall for Bush’s 9/11 and Iraqi failures. It’s interesting that they finally decided to fight back. Sorry George, this isn’t your daddy’s CIA.

The American news media, being such hard hitting investigative journalists are now taking this opportunity to write about an outrage they we here at TCS first mentioned in July.

So the White House is pissed that Wilson (who also worked for Reagan and Bush the elder so perhaps the conservative media can drop this “Clinton appointee” red herring already) has revealed that they lied about Iraq’s WMD’s in the State of the Union, so they tell the world his wife is CIA. Basically some "senior White House officials" just struck a blow against our war against terrorism, just to say, “well I can hurt you too,” like the schoolyard bullies they are. Remember the “adults” are in charge. They just happened to be emotionally and morally stunted adults.

Top White House officials don’t give a damn about outing our spies, which according to Bush the elder means they are traitors. “I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.” - George H.W. Bush, at the dedication of the George Bush Center for Intelligence. (thanks Eschaton)

So how does Bush respond to realizing that there are traitors working directly under him that puts our nations security at risk?

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, during a lively news briefing, said no internal investigation was planned.

"At this point, I think the Department of Justice would be the appropriate one to look into a matter like this ... There are a lot of career professionals at the Department of Justice that address matters like this." (from: White House Rejects Independent Counsel for Leak)

Basically it’s not a big deal to them. Why? Because they know the leak was an act of revenge and not of a nefarious spy, which is cool with them I guess. Of course, we’re still left with many spies with blown covers.

The Washington Post has some good details: Bush Administration Is Focus of Inquiry

For more details, and up-to-date information on this, I’d recommend: Talking Points Memo, they’ve been pushing this story all along, and are acting as a great clearing house on this long brewing scandal.

Buzzflash is a great source as well, and has a great little bit Rove's history in this area of leaking items to Novak:

"Sources close to the former president (Bush) say Rove was fired from the 1992 Bush presidential campaign after he planted a negative story with columnist Robert Novak about dissatisfaction with campaign fundraising chief and Bush loyalist Robert Mosbacher Jr. It was smoked out, and he was summarily ousted."

And Buzzflash also has a lot more detail about Rove's bag of dirty tricks: Karl Rove, As They Say, Has a History

- rob 12:20 PM - [PermaLink] -

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