Come on Dean, anyone say it!!!

[MichaelHarris]

You charge a person with perjury and/or obstruction of justice when people lie to keep you from getting the the truth. That's why the special prosecutor had to charge with those crimes, if that witness had told the truth then you would have gotten charges for outing a CIA agent.

Libby lied to keep people from getting indicted on more serious charges, it really is that simple, why would he lie if he wasn't covering up a more serious crime? If he'll lie under oath to the special prosecutor he'll lie to the federal court, Rove and Cheney know this.

The perjury and obstruction charge kept the special prosecutor from finding the full truth, the American people know the truth and they now know this administration will lie to cover up that truth. Why lie if you have nothing to hide? If an agent was not outed then he would not have to lie.

While the right claims a "Lewinsky" was pulled, charging someone with a crime other than the one being investigated it's important to remember the right INVENTED that tactic during the Clinton witch hunt. Whatever they want to call it these charges are directly related to the crimes being investigated, unlike the Clinton investigation where they finally nailed him on a blow job. I don't have all the figures but the death toll during Clinton's blow job is probably lower than 2000.

Scooter lied to keep the investigation from finding out a truth, a truth that was related to the primary investigation. What truth was he hiding? It's obvious to everyone except Fox News that someone higher up is being protected, someone whose Identity can only be summed up with the letter "A". I want to know who "B" and "C" are as well, as American's we only want the truth, when we can't get the truth in the investigation we charge someone with obstruction. There is a truth to be told and it's not about a blow job, it's about 2000 young men and women being sent to die for a lie. A truth Scooter had to lie for, A truth that would unseat a president.

Michael Harris

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Wow, that makes way too much sense.

It'll never fly.

[Democrats_win]

2. Exactly right!

[SharonAnn]

3. Did you notice Wolfie used the term "Culture of Corruption"?

Cool. It's a good sign that it's picking up steam.

[unpossibles]

4. brilliant n/t

[grasswire]

5. as I posited several days ago.....

....

John Dean stated Friday that the Nixon White House considered intentionally committing perjury so that underlying crimes could be covered over.

Here was the same plan as it may have been adopted by the Bush WH: Libby blatantly lies to the GJ and FBI so that he would be charged with the "process" charges instead of the substantive charges -- and does so with the plan to plea, which would end the matter for the WH.

I believe Rove and Libby have wargamed this strategy.

If Fitzgerald accepts a plea from Libby and doesn't indict someone else, the underlying crimes will never see the light of day. They'll all go unscathed.

[wiggs]

6. Something else important that should be said by dems

Even if there isn't enough evidence to technically indict people using espionage or covert identity acts, AT THE VERY LEAST YOU HAVE TO SAY THAT A VALUABLE CIA AGENT WAS OUTED DUE TO INCOMPETENCE AND RECKLESS SMEARING.

She was outed by the White House. Fact. They either knew what they were doing (criminal act) or they didn't know what they were doing (incompetent act) in their rush to discredit a patriotic whistleblower. Weren't aware Plame was covert? Fine....then we can say they are the same IDIOTS who were wrong on dozens of other issues, most of which also adversely affect national security, turning everything they touch into crap.

WHY CAN'T THIS SIMPLY BE SAID BY PUNDITS OR DEM LEADERS? Even if there's no further indictments dems should be shouting about the reckless, incompetent, ruthless, idiotic, dangerous abuse of power and misplaced priorities we've seen over and over.

If you listen to talk shows or read MSM, the discussion is only about indictments. But the underlying story and issue is what should be talked about! What the hell were these guys doing discrediting a former Ambassador and a CIA agent???

I personally think there will be more indictments, but why can't dems be aggressive in the meantime and rightfully blast the administration for doing this in the first place? Regardless of further legal trouble for Rove or Cheney, this is a perfect issue for dems to be pursuing, talking about, and tying it in to dozens of other misdeeds and mistakes....I hope I see more discussion of the issue in MSM, not just the indictment angle.