Liebby, Liebby, Liebby...

The Bush Cabal: Redefining Hubris Since 2000

"Lie. "Scooter" Lewis Libby" has his arraignment today. It's probably happening as I type. Unbelievably, the smarmy git intends to plead innocent. Maybe I'm missing something and almost everybody pleads innocent at the initial arraignment, but it seems to me that he might as well be pleading "more obstruction of justice." Does he really think he's fooling anybody? Can we enter a plea of "moron" on his behalf?

Maybe he imagines that Judge Walton is already in pocket? It's true that shrubya nominated him for his current position; but it's also true that Walton is far more beholden to GHWB than to our Prevaricator in Chief. And while Poppy has his issues, he's still 1000% more reality-based and intelligent than Junior; comparatively, Poppy's a regular paragon of integrity and moderate reason. I, for one, hold out hope that Walton's work in GHWB's administration reflects a similar relative sanity. And thanks to the internets and this lovely post from Jeff Berman at TPM Cafe, we have a little more than wishful thinking to sustain us.

I practiced before Judge Walton when I was a staff attorney at the Public Defender Service in DC. It's an unfortunate metaphor given what many of my clients were charged with, but Judge Walton is one straight shooter.

When you're representing clients charged with major violent crimes, domestic violence, etc., there are a handful of judges whom your clients pray for because they are inclined to be sympathetic. There are scores of judges you desperately want to avoid. And all you can reasonably hope for is a judge who is tough but fair. Judge Walton fits that last category to a T.

If a client stepped out of line, Judge Walton would whack him back into place. If a client failed to take responsibility for what he'd done wrong, Judge Walton would send a powerful message about accountability...As one of my clients was fond of saying, "Judge Walton don't play."

Somehow, I don't think Walton will find Scooter's Plame Game any more amusing than Fitzgerald did. Unless Scooter's banking on a pardon somewhere down the line, I think he ought to be worried:

In short, he will make you pay, but only if you have it coming. Judge Walton is a man of integrity. He has a finely honed sense of honor and decency and he's not afraid to articulate it from the bench. He is bright, to be sure, but his defining characteristic as a judge is his nose for justice.

...Scooter apologists can be sure he'll be treated as innocent until proven guilty. Those already prepared to convict him can be sure that Scooter won't get a pass thanks to any political connections. And those who are most concerned that the rule of law is upheld can take comfort that a fair and balanced judge -- in the real senses of those words -- is handling the case.

From your keyboard to God's pixelator, Mr. Berman! It seems that Liebby is stuck between the rock and the hard place that are Walton's toughness and Fitzgerald's meticulous prosecutorial style. Because, let's face it; the man lied.

Unless we're really expected to believe that Ooops! He forgot about Cheney giving him Plame's name. And Ooops! He plumb forgot about those breakfasts with Judy, too, goshdarnit. Maybe Ooops! He also forget to stock up on gingko biloba. Surely someone so keen on tree patterns would remember something like that...

Although, there does seem to be quite the bout of forgetitis making its way around the White House. Bush has pretty well forgotten his promise to fire "anybody involved" with the leak and I doubt he can even pronounce "Osama bin Laden" anymore. Neither Hadley nor anybody else observing the meeting "has much recollection" regarding his discussion with Nicolo Pollari, head of Italian Intelligence. Niger? Nope; not ringing any bells...

Now I realize we all have bad days; goodness knows I forget plenty of stuff. And I suppose it's possible that Liebby did simply forget about the conversation with Cheney and the meetings with Baghdad Judy; but does he seriously expect anybody to believe he forgot about the notes he took? Is that not the point of taking notes - to safeguard against forgetting? Besides, it's not like Fitzgerald waited until last month to question Libby; this investigation started two years ago. Surely the events and notes were much fresher in his mind then. It's really hard to imagine he couldn't recall at least one of the three at the time.

Conversely, if his memory lapse was actually genuine, why didn't he just answer with "I don't remember?" He's a lawyer, for crying out loud. He should know better than most what it means to state an untruth on the witness stand. If he honestly didn't recall, he would have said as much. Instead he conjured up some nonsense about hearing about Plame from the press...ooookaay, Scooter.

Near as I can tell, it boils down to a choice between incompetent or nefarious. Either Scooter is so forgetful as to be unfit for office, or he lied his honkey heiney off. My money's on the latter, although those may not necessarily be mutually exclusive constructs...