Bill Moyers Says It Beautifully

When I grow up I aspire to write as well as Bill Moyers:

We have yet another remarkable revelation of the mindset ofWashington’s ruling clique of neoconservative elites—the people whotook us to war from the safety of their Beltway bunkers. Even as Iraqgrows bloodier by the day, their passion of the week is to keep one oftheir own from going to jail.

It is well known that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby—once Vice PresidentCheney’s most trusted adviser—has been sentenced to 30 months in jailfor perjury. Lying. Not a white lie, mind you. A killer lie. ScooterLibby deliberately poured poison into the drinking water of democracyby lying to federal investigators, for the purpose of obstructingjustice.

Attempting to trash critics of the war, Libby and his pals in highplaces—including his boss Dick Cheney—outed a covert CIA agent. Libby then lied to cover their tracks. To throw investigators off the trail, he kicked sand in the eyes oftruth. "Libby lied about nearly everything that mattered,” wrote thechief prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. The jury agreed and found himguilty on four felony counts. Judge Reggie B. Walton—a no-nonsense,lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key type, appointed to the bench by noneother than George W. Bush—called the evidence “overwhelming” and threwthe book at Libby.

You would have thought Read more

Shorter Schloz and the IG

I’d like to point out something about TPMM’s story on the two complaints (and do read the complaints–they’re infuriating) submitted to DOJ’s IG on Brad Schlozman.

It’s unclear if the Department’s inspector general ever pursued theallegations from the December, 2005 letter at the time. But the officecertainly is now. In a letter to the judiciary committee chairmen lastmonth, Glenn Fine and Office of Professional Responsibility counselMarshall Jarrett announcedthat their joint probe into the U.S. attorney firings had been expandedto include hiring practices in the Civil Rights Division. Schlozman has been accused of recruiting Republicans for career spots and then asking them to scrub mentions of their GOP bona fides from their resumes.

As I pointed out yesterday, it’s unclear how enthusiastically the IG is pursuing the multiple incidents of politicization in DOJ’s midst. They are now investigating Gonzales’ apparent witness tampering. They are now investigating Schlozman’s blatant discrimination. But were they? Did they?

To the credit of the IG, it intervened when Gonzales attempted to pawn the whole self-investigation off onto the OPR. But how aggressively would it have pursued these issues without the intervention of Chuck Rosenberg? And how aggressively is it pursuing them now that Rosenberg is no longer acting Read more

Under-Sealed

Bandar and DOJ

Another Example of ICE Subpoenaing Voter Rolls

Gonzales May Be Next

Reggie Sends Libby to Jail

The President’s Counselor In-House Lobbyist