We're gonna see another Saturday Night Massacre re: Rove

[patcox2]

Anyone remember the Saturday Night Massacre, during the Watergate investigation? Its hard to beleive that anything so brazenly lawless could have taken place, but it did. And I think it will happen again, and soon, in order to prevent the indictment of Rove and/or Cheney in the Plame matter.

To understand what happened, you must be aware of the crucial difference between a special prosecutor and an independant prosecutor. We no longer have independant prosecutors. So, Fitzgerald, who is invetigating Plamegate, is a special prosecutor. the difference is, a special prosecutor can be fired. And I think Bush will fire him, soon, to prevent further investigation.

There was a special prosecutor investigating Watergate. When he started to uncover the truth and it was looking bad for Nixon, Nixon took the desperate measure of having him fired. Technically, only the Attorney General could fire him, so Nixon called the attorney general in on a Saturday night and demanded he fire the special prosecutor.

There were men of honor in the republican party in those days, and the AG refused to do it. So Nixon fired him. Then he appointed, on the spot, a new acting AG and demanded that this guy fire the special prosecutor. The second guy also refused, so Nixon fired him and appointed a third acting AG. I am not suure if it was after 3 or 4 tries before Nixon found an unprincipled scumbag who would do what he wanted, but eventually did. It was called the massacre because of this ludicrous situation of the president appointing and firing several attorney generals in one night.

And for you trivia buffs, the name of the unprincipled scumbag: Robert Bork.

So anyway, Bush's will sink to any level to maintain their grip on power, so I think this is a high likelihood outcome of this Plame situation.

Hell, Gonzalez is such a spineless dick-licker to begin with, he has probably offered to fire Fitzgerald already. They'll probably replace him with someone unbiased, maybe Jeb.

[Lex]

1. Thank you for that bit of history.

I appreciate it.

[etherealtruth]

2. I was a mere child but...

...mercifully I had politically aware liberal parents that payed close attention and discussed it at the dinner table.

[bushisanidiot]

3. The white house will go after fitzgerald's family and try to dig up

anything negative they can find, then they will put fitgerald's balls in a vice and squeeze until he either quits or "commits suicide". this is how the neo-cons operate. they do not know any other way than "force".

i don't pres. nosepicker would admit his guilt by "firing" fitzgerald.

[fob]

15. I just noticed on that binocs pic that the flag emblem on bush*s

arm is on backwards too. The blue field should be on the right, which makes it appear backwards on the right arm but correct-facing on the left arm.

[Az_lefty]

41. He's actually wearing it according to AR 670-1

When worn in this manner, the flag is facing to the observer’s right, and gives the effect of the flag flying in the breeze as the wearer moves forward.

[fob]

47. Huh? The blue field is to the left so if bush* were walking forward

then the "breeze" would fold it over so I don't get what you're saying. It seems if you're describing how I also think it SHOULD be, but look again, it isn't.

[On the Road]

36. You Mean They Might Break into His Psychiatrist's Office?

It's been done before.

[KaryninMiami]

4. As this heats up, they will stop at nothing to divert the attention

and knowing who these people are and how they play, the sky's the limit as to what they will do to shift the media attention from Rove to a different event or issue. Watch for the media to grab on to anything they can so they don't have to cover this story. I am concerned about what they will manifest in order to create a diversion. Remember- they will stop at NOTHING to achieve their goals and will not sit by and let Rove go down in flames. He's far too important to them.

[napi21]

5. It COULD happen, but I'm not sure even ShrubCo would try that.

Things are very different now. There was no internet, there was no cable TV 24/7 coverage, etc.

I think it's possible, but unlikely!

[emulatorloo]

6. what the republican said to me that nite

"I am sure that the President had a good reason to fire them."

Thanks for the post, but don't give Bush any more ideas!

[cthrumatrix]

7. nice recant of our "democracy"..... what Iraq wants soooo bad

[indepat]

8. A key point: There were men of honor in the republican party in those days

and we are very soon going to see if there are today.

[sam sarrha]

9. Chaney seems to be at the heart of this.... Link>>>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x66773

the title is SOOoooo good ..AMERICAN JUDAS.

he could have stopped the N koreans, Pakistani's, Iranians and libians from getting Nuclear technology.. but he had a chance to profiteer on it..(now there is a 50% chance of a major city being totally destroyed by a nuclear Bomb in the next 5 Years.. )the 'Wallmart like sale of Nuclear tenhnology'...

[shelley806]

10. Fascinating. I'd forgotten about Bork...another BIG reason for dislike

and disdain of the unethical jerk. Nominating.

[navvet]

11. Does not need to happen

all Fitzgerald has to do is to decline to refer charges against Rove due to lack of evidence or some such and the whole matter disappears.

This is how I think the whole thing will play out.

Just my guess any way.

[Hamlette]

12. They did the same thing in Whitewater. Starr was appointed

after the first prosecutor couldn't find any wrongdoing. Can't remember the first prosecutor's name...on the tip on my tongue. Dang.

[AndyTiedye]

13. Only if Threatening Fitzgerald's Family Doesn't Work

[Pirate Smile]

39. What about the people on the Grand Jury? The Republicans are

trying to frame this so that if an indictment isn't returned then Rove is a victim. How do they get the Grand Jury to NOT return any indictments? :scared: :tinfoilhat:

Crazy thoughts just don't seem quite as crazy with this crew in charge.

[NoPasaran]

14. A slight correction

Nixon didn't actually appoint acting AGs that night, he just went down the chain of command in the Justice Department as he fired people. I think Bork was Soliciter General at the time.

[DelawareValleyDem]

21. Correct

Bork was third in the chain after Elliot Richardson and Deputy AG Bill Ruckelshaus. Interestingly, there's some semantical debate over whether Richardson was actually fired or resigned. Woodward and Bernstein's The Final Days mentions this in passing

[Carla in Ca]

24. This bit of history is so interesting

I had forgotten about this. I think it is time for me to do a little reading. I know there are a lot of books on the subject. Do you recommend the one by John Dean?

[DelawareValleyDem]

30. I wasn't really a fan of

any of the memoirs of the principals. They were all self-serving, in typical Republican fashion, although Dean at least admitted wrongdoing. Two good books on Watergate are Nightmare by J. Anthony Lukas and Watergate by Fred Emery. If I remember correctly, Lukas mentions in passing W. Mark Felt as a possible Deep Throat candidate.

[Carla in Ca]

43. Thanks, I'll get those

n/t

[The Stranger]

25. Excellent point. For a new AG to be installed, wouldn't the Senate have

to consent?

[patcox2]

26. The next in succession becomes the acting AG.

Someone always has the authority, else the department would be powerless during the interim. I did say "acting" AGs.

[The Stranger]

28. Right, but for the AG cabinet position to be filled, doesn't the Senate

have to provide advice and consent?

[Jose Diablo]

16. "Unprincipled Scumbag"=Bork, remember him? n/t

[FlemingsGhost]

17. Nah ... a "terrorist" strike will change the subject, if it gets too hot.

This will likely get very messy ...

[warrens]

18. Which led to the greatest bumper sticker ever

Impeach the Cox-Sacker

[Mandate My Ass]

46. OMG!! I never heard that one before

Bee-yoo-ti-ful. :rofl: :rofl:

[digno dave]

19. Let's here it for Fitzgerald's huge testicles

[damntexdem]

20. The first one was such a fiasco, that Dubya wouldn't dare emulate ...

Oh wait -- this is Dubya I'm talking about! Maybe he will try it.

[gkhouston]

22. and ultimately, it didn't work.

They're running out of options, fast, and I suspect if they had anything dirty on Fitzgerald they would have played that card already. I think it may be too late for them to stop this train wreck.

[kster]

34. I'm with you, *co

made their first big blunder, my guess this sticks, and the house of cards keeps tumbling. But I still wouldn't put anything past them, *co will have single handedly ruined the agenda.

From DSM to the vote rigging machines. The gig is up, its out there, there has got to be some higher ups in the voting rigging machine companies, that wish they would have let Kerry win this one time, because then they could have continued with the rigging machines uninterupted for years.

Now the vote rigging machines will soon be Exposed. GREED will always get you in the long run. My 2 cents........ for what it is worth.


Keep the pressure on these guys.............

[catmandu57]

23. Another saturday night massacre

would be an open admission of guilt, even these bastards can't be that stupid, they'll stage a terror attack to conveniently get rid of the special proscecutor, before they'll resort to this. Too many Americans remember this shit.

[patcox2]

27. They'll do a "swift boat" campaign against Fitzgerald, trump up grounds..

They'll do a better job than Nixon, who apparently just got drunk and had a not so brilliant idea and acted on it. Bush will get surrogates to muddy the water, paint the whole investigation as "out of control," malign fitzgerald, say that the whole thing threatens national security, and they won't have to have a massacre, because our current AG, the mental midget toady Gonzalez, will gladly fire Fitzgerald, and then fall on his sword, take all the blame, even swear that Bush never asked him to do it. It would go differently.

[FreedomAngel82]

29. I wonder if he'll do it though

Wouldn't that show that Rove is guilty of the crime? They have to prove he's innocent and it wouldn't look good for Rove and Bush could possibly have to lose him. Then Rove would probably want revenge.

[Minnesota_Lib]

31. A very conservative friend of mine who cannot stand Bush...

seriously thinks they will invoke Marshall Law sometime between now and the 2008 election cycle because 1.) the public is becoming aware of the neocon agenda and will not support any of their candidates; 2.) because of the enormous amount of scandals that the Bushites can't lie their way out of; and 3.) many religious fundamentalists are starting to catch on to the fact that the neocons are just giving them lip-service for their support and don't really give a hoot about their concerns.

I am not a tin-fold hatter but when a Moral Majority right-winger predicts this, I have to take pause.

[LibertyLou]

32. The People's response was: "Fire the Cox-Sacker"

Again, for those history buffs..

the name of the special prosecutor was Archibald Cox...

Thus, whoever sacked him...should be sacked himself...

Very punny I thought...

[Rex]

33. Not surprised about Bork.

Good thing the Dems 'Borked' him! :)

[K-W]

35. They will reveal that Fitzgerald was reccomended by Valarie Plame. nt

[bunny planet]

37. If * tries it, it will have the same effect as it did back then..........

The cover-up will be what gets them in the end.

I'm much more worried about other 'distractions' they might come up with.
:scared:
or other things they will be trying to get away with while we are paying attention to Rovegate.

[txindy]

38. They could try, but it'll backfire in the worst way.

Firing the SP would be an admission of guilt for the entire WH, including Dumbya.

[Terran]

40. Can we please not call people "dick-lickers"?

I mean, why not just get real and call the man a "faggot" while you're at it?

[TorchTheWitch]

44. THANK YOU for bringing that up!

I've been noticing a flood of "dick-licker" "cock-sucker" phrases lately, and they annoy the hell out of me.... so does "bitch-slap". These expressions are hurtful to people and are a product of the intolerent right.

I'm a bitch, a dick-licker and a cock-sucker, and proud of it!

[Terran]

45. You're welcome.

I'm seeing this a lot lately at DU and it's pissing me off. As Progressives we're supposed to be able to speak and write without offending whole groups of people gratuitously. That's what republicans are known for.

[steve2470]

42. SNM link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Massacre

[Melynn]

48. I remember the Saturday Night Massacre

and Bork's role in the episode. I believe that Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court was pay back for his role in that incident.

Anyway, you may be on to something. The question is whether Bush could get away with something like that.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

49. Ah yes, the Saturday Night Massacre. I remember it well.

It was the night of my 20th birthday and I had made plans with my friends to go out and party. The drinking age in Illinois at the time was 19 for beer and wine, so I was legal. I drank beer then.

I was getting dressed and my Dad knocked on my bedroom door and told me to come out to the living room, there was something really important happening.

Daddy was a Nixon hater since the election fight with Helen Gahagan Douglas. He was so angry that Tricky Dick pulled this stunt with Archibald Cox. My father said that night that Nixon would either have to resign or be impeached.

What really blew me away though was when my father, a lifelong Roosevelt Democrat actually said Elliot Richardson and Bill Rucklehaus did the right thing. It was the first and only time I ever heard my father praise any Republican politician.

I can still hear my father saying over and over, "Has Nixon even ever read the Constitution?"

I honestly think the SNM really played an important role in waking up the American public to Nixon's lies. Of course back then the American media did do it's job.

Chimpy doesn't need to have a Saturday Night Massacre. All he has to do is sign pardons for everyone and it's over and don't think he won't do it. He's that arrogant, he pardon everyone in a NY minute.

BTW, I never did go out with the my friends that evening. Stayed home with Dad & Mom and had a few beers with them. All in all, it was a great golden birthday.