When Joe Wilson was recently interviewed on Comedy Central’s fake news program, The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart described Bob Novak as a “douchebag.” Couldn’t have picked a better description.

Ambassador Wilson strongly believes that the source of the leak is from the Veep’s office, particularly “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s chief-of-staff. And we know that chiefs-of-staff don’t go about doing things without orders from the top…

It amazes me that members of the Administration in an attempt to discredit the ambasador’s wife told news organisations that He only got the Africa Job due at his wife’s suggestion like that was a bad thing. 
Hmmmm… The undercover WMD analyst married to the ambasador goes to Africa with him on HIS WMD fact finding mission to a culture where women are likely to be overlooked due to cultural differences.  Now is that a good cover for a SPY or what?

You know, I’m proud to be a Texan and I can honestly say that I am ashamed that George Bush is a native of my state. We have a sense of pride here that few enjoy and I can honestly say that given the chance I’d string that bastard up from a fucking Oak. Honestly, most don’t seem to realize that just how ashamed most Texans are of George Bush and as a native he should know how we deal with our problems. Maybe its about time we remind him that if you fuck with the bull you get the horns.

The first thing I’m thinking, about Bush anyway, is that I hope he gets bad legal advice. Then I think how cool it would be if he had to use a public defender.

And the guy from Texas, Neodromos - what a relief man! I was beginning to think the entire state of Texas is a lost cause.

But Bush isn’t a native of Texas, so maybe you can still hold your head up too high.

Brock may have his wish.

Bush consulted with James E. Sharp who represented James Secord of Iran Contra fame.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/politics/03leak.html?hp

The Center for American Progress did a little digging on Sharp and found that he represented Joe Harry Pegg, a friend, in a drug smuggling case. After he was convicted, Pegg appealed on the basis that Sharp had a conflict of interest while representing him. Another defendent in the case charged that Sharp had suborned perjury.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=11th&navby=case&no=9911287MAN

The court did not deny that that Sharp labored under a conflict of interest.

Good choice of a lawyer?.

Even if the bastard wasn’t born here he was still raised in Midland and Houston and he still calls Texas home. For that, I say he’s a native. But still, the point stands, the man is a fucking moron and a disgrace to anyone from the south. As for him asking for outside legal advice, he needs it. Anyone with a rational eye can see that the security leak was a direct result of Wilson’s criticism of the administration’s attempts to justify the invasion of Iraq. I can honestly say that it doesn’t surprise me though. The entire fiasco reminds me of when the Republicans passed a nice bit of legislation not too long ago to pay for the war in Iraq and specifically told congress it would cost something on the order of 50 or 60 billion less than its actual cost when they knew it would have been too expensive to gain enough gonressional support. The irony here is that the Democrats attempted to pass a similiar piece of legislation, bu when they noted its actual cost, a vast majority of Republicans said that it would have been too expensive. So let’s tally up the score on this one. The republicans lie to pass an overly expensive piece of legislation then complain that the same piece of legislation offered by the Democrats is too expensive. Jesus, these people never cease to amaze me.

I hear ya Neo! No one likes to be manipulated and lied to and that is mostly what this administration does. I just can’t understand people who don’t see it. It’s like we’re living on different planets, them and I.

My submission word this time was “door”, and that’s what I hope we show Bush in November. The bad news is that, even if we deny him another term, there’s still Jeb, who will likely be our president in another few years.

Brock it’s because people aren’t taking your advice and checking things out for themselves. (I could list a number of whys but I would just get discouraged.) As a result, there are a surprising number of people who still believe that Iraq is linked to 9/11 and that the President is doing a good job in the war on terror.

Cheney may also have been interviewed in leak of CIA Officer’s name, according to David Johnston of the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/05/national/05charity.html?pagewanted=1&th

The article states that Cheney was recently interviewed by the federal prosecutors investigating the Valerie Plame case. The time and place of the interview has not been disclosed.

Cheney is probably not the focus of the investigation. He was reportedly asked about conversations with senior staff and whether he knew of a concerted effort to out Plame. It is not believed that he testified under oath or that he has been asked to appear before the grand jury.

Apparently Cheney has also consulted with outside counsel. It is not known if either Cheney’s interview with the investigators or his consultation with an attorney influenced the President’s decision to talk to James Sharp. Could the President actually be doing something on his own?

In an article posted on FindLaw.com

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20040604.html

John Dean discussed the significance of the President having consulted with a criminal attorney. According to Dean

Under existing precedents, the President cannot refuse to give testimony to a grand jury.

Investigators are probably seeking to interview all persons who have links to the leaked information, however tenuous.

If called, it would be because the Special Counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald, believes that the President knows more about the matter than his public statements.

One lawyer, interviewed by Dean, said that it did not appear that either the act of outing Plame or covering for the perpetrator(s) would be shielded by executive privilege.

Well, this remains to be seen. We can be pretty well assured that, if the President or the Vice President is called to testify, they will try to raise the issues of executive privilege or separation of powers.

Bush and Cheney are consulting outside attorneys because discussions that they might have with White House Counsel would not be covered by attorney client privilege. They have Ken Starr to thank for that. Starr succeeded in establishing that there should be no privilege in criminal cases where government lawyers represent or consult with government officials in that case.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&case=/data2/circs/8th/964108p.html

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=dc&navby=case&no=983060C