GOP Ready To Threaten Valerie Plame With A Subpoena

[kpete]

Republicans get ready to threaten Valerie Plame Wilson with subpoena Michael Roston
Published: Monday June 18, 2007


As Democrats in the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform plow ahead with their investigation of the intelligence used by the Bush administration to build the case for the Iraq War, their Republican colleagues are attempting to up the ante. Last week, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), the ranking minority member of the committee, alleged that former covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson had given false testimony and prepared to threaten her with a subpoena.

The Wilsons, who were not aware of the subpoena threat until contacted last week by RAW STORY, criticized the Republican effort in an exclusive statement.

"This is once again another frivolous attempt to go after Valerie Wilson, and distract from what's really at issue," said her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson through a spokesman.

During last week's hearing with Lurita A. Doan, the Administrator of the General Services Administration, who was found to have violated the Hatch Act by politicking in a federal workplace, Davis attempted to refocus the session on Plame's testimony.

more at:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Republicans_ready_to_threaten_Valerie_Plame_0618.html

[spanone]

1. desperation

[immoderate]

2. Are they sure they want to do this??

Valerie Plame is such an attractive and effective witness -- and not for their side.

--IMM

[LeftCoast]

5. I was going to ask the same thing!

Be careful what you wish for, eh?

[BOSSHOG]

8. Please Dems let em have it

Subpoena Valerie Plame Wilson. Put her on the stand again. Attempt to make larger ass's of yourselves then you already are republicans. Have her on live TV swearing to tell the truth. Drag the testimony out for days. Please davis infuckingsist that it happen. Your lemmings insist on the rule of law. Punish those evil Wilsons. Its your constitutional duty davis.

[blondeatlast]

28. My thoughts exactly--and sympathetic.

I'm thinking this would be a VERY bad idea so much that I almost want to see them do it but hate to see her dragged through anymore of this mess.

[Spazito]

3. Hmmm, will they push for the subpoena after they support "the

rule of law" and demand bush admin and it's employees, both former and current, address the multiple subpoenas they have received for both documents and testimony.........what's that I hear......ahhh.....crickets from the repubs, I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

[SeattleGirl]

4. They obviously haven't figured out they are messing with the wrong woman.

Yeah, they are up to their usual tactics of fear, fear, fear, terra, terra, terra, trying to scare her into backing off. But Valerie Plame is no shrinking violet. Assholes!

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

6. OH!!! PLEASE!!! DOOOO ITTTTT!!!!

:rofl:

[tanyev]

7. Do it. Do it. Do it.

They'll be sorry.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Please do it! She's the only one who gets my mind off of Lara Logan - Would LOVE to listen to her.

[BattyDem]

10. I thought the minority didn't have subpoena power

:shrug:

[robinlynne]

38. Well the majority certainly doesn't....

[onenote]

11. It appears that Tom Davis has decided not to seek reelection to the 11th District

His recent moves appear to be aimed at building support amongst republicans outside northern virginia, suggesting that he is giving serious thought to running for Senate (and may have inside info as to John Warner's plans). Or maybe he just plans on cashing out and going into the private sector.

But subpoenaing Valerie Plame -- not a move that he will have an easy time defending in his district.

[bunkerbuster1]

12. Honest question--what is the BFD about "who sent Joe Wilson?"

I know that the question was asked and Valerie answered under oath, but I don't get the importance of the question in the first place.

Why on earth was Cheney so apeshit about the assumption some had, that Joe was "sent by Valerie?" Who fucking cares whose idea it was, anyway?

I really don't get that at all, and yet it comes up all the time in discussions about the whole affair.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

13. All's I know is IF those assholes want to "up the ante", the Dems should shove an,...

,...'OPEN THE DOOR' concept and allow her to testify ABOUT ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!!!!

[bunkerbuster1]

22. Fine by me. But about that "who sent Joe Wilson" business...

It's just bizarre. In Wilson's original NY Times op-ed piece, he mentioned Cheney in the paragraph immediately preceding the paragraph about what precipitated his trek to Niger.

In all the accounts I've heard, apparently Cheney went apeshit becuase he thought Wilson was claiming it was the Vice President who'd dispatched Wilson to Africa. Which is crazy, because a) it's not terribly important, really, who sent him, and b) WILSON NEVER SAID CHENEY SENT HIM!

Basically, this whole affair is an affair because our vice-president is a psychopath... or that's my best take on it. Nothing else really makes any sense, as an explanation.

[yardwork]

33. It's part of the way the Rethugs muddied the water

I'm persuaded by folks who have made compelling arguments that outing Valerie Plame was done to stop her operation before it led back to Dick Cheney and Poppy Bush and their business deals with the Saudis involving arms and money laundering. Plame's operation was getting close to some information that would have been extremely embarrassing (and unprofitable) to a bunch of folks in bushco, so she had to be stopped and her operation had to be shut down.

So Cheney came up with the idea of using her husband's op-ed piece (which enraged Cheney Rumsfeld and Co for other reasons) as the excuse to go after Plame. The lie they came up with was to say that Plame recommended her husband for a fun-filled junket to Niger (yee-haw) and he was so ungrateful that he came home and laid into the Bush administration just as they were protecting our freedoms by invading Iraq. Toss in the obviously forged Niger document and the lie about Plame being nothing but a desk clerk and the whole picture gets so muddy that nobody stops to ask "why in the fucking world did bushco shut down an operation that was uncovering terrorist cells in Europe involving weapons of mass destruction??!!" After all, going after weapons of mass destruction and terrorists is what this is all supposed to be about, right? Wrong.

Valerie Plame's identity was revealed precisely to shut down her operation in Europe.

[bunkerbuster1]

35. It's pretty persuasive.

Certainly more than the idea that one op-ed piece would've so upset the apple cart.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

64. Precisely RIGHT! Cheney funded all kinds of shit, including OBL and SH.

He was profiteering until BOTH shut him and his corporacrats DOWN.

He got the power of this nation to shut them down (actually, enabled OBL, a LOT by withdrawing US forces and removing them to places OBL didn't like,...e.g. IRAQ).

Cheney is the most gross example of natural cruelity. He pretends to be human (taking care of his OWN).

Cheney is absolute human evil scum of the earth. He has no guilt about IMPOSING HUMAN SUFFERING while he profiteers for himself, whatsoever. He figures himself above any/all human being. He's evil.

Let's adapt his philosophy and kick his ass.

Jus' kiddin',...of course,...

[radfringe]

54. and to get the WHOLE story

they should also supoena Cheney, Rove and any other current and former white house staffer/official who was involved in this....

[LSK]

30. Joe Wilson was as qualified as anyone could be for what he was tasked

The whole argument is grasping at straws and incredibly stupid from the GOP.

[OzarkDem]

41. Nothing

its just an attempt at a Ken Starr style perjury trap.

[Morgana LaFey]

43. It was a SEXIST way to try to discredit them both but esp. Joe,

who'd written the Op Ed in the first place. The thinking goes like this: He has to have his wife get him gigs, direct his movements, help out his career. Can't do it on his own. Wouldn't have been tapped, wouldn't even have been eligible to go, were it not for her directing it. He is her gopher and pet project. He's not a real man, just a washed up, has been diplomat who has to have his wife get him work -- hah! and not even paid work! And she's guilty of nepotism.

[bunkerbuster1]

58. Probably more truth to that than I'd ever considered.

I keep forgetting, we're not dealing with rational, grown-up people here. We're dealing with sociopaths whose idea about gender roles is stuck somewhere in pre-Great War America.

[mmonk]

48. No assumptions.

Just a lie. Part of outing her.

[Hekate]

56. Joe Wilson was highly qualified for the task.He knows Niger, he knows Iraq.

The smear was to make it sound like a junket suggested by wifey -- the smear was to make Valerie Plame Wilson out to be a low-level desk jockey who self-interestedly put forward her own husband's name.

As we all know by now, Valerie was a covert operative working on WMD, and Joe was a former ambassador with extensive knowledge of the region. Both served this country honorably for decades before being ruined by Cheney's minions.

The BFD is the smear that wrecked the careers and threatened the lives of these two patriots.

Hekate

[wryter2000]

60. Ding, ding, ding

We have a winner.

It doesn't matter if the bleeding Queen of Wonderland sent him to Niger. What matter is what he found out and what her reported and to whom.

This is the typical muddy the waters trick. I swear, these idiots are so stupid they wouldn't believe the sun rises in the east if someone told them a Democrat said it did.

[Horse with no Name]

14. Since when did Repigs get subpoena power? n/t

[BlooInBloo]

17. I don't get that either.

[City Lights]

59. If you find out, please let me know.

:wtf:

[VP505]

15. Doesn't Chairman Waxman

control who gets subpoenaed and for what, or can any one on the committee issue one? IMO its very unlikely that Ms Wilson did that and it would be a big mistake for Davis to try and twist her testimony into a phony case. On the other hand maybe Waxman should encourage Davis to do that so he can demonstrate what an idiot he is again.

[madrchsod]

16. dumb idea guys

best to leave it alone cause anymore questions could open up a whole new line of inquiry...

[Karmageddon]

18. Only the frikking replicans are stupid enough to subpoena someone who testifies willingly

I have an idea, why don't they just "ask" her.
And the Democrats can give them a nice room someplace in the basement to hold their little meeting.

[Ioo]

19. They can't Subpoena Shit without the Dems okay...

HA

[wryter2000]

61. Hmmm

It's posing, no more. He knows he can't subpena her, but by making noises about her "false" testimony, he plants the idea deeper in the compost heap that makes up most Republican brains.

I wonder if there isn't some way to give him what he wants. That'd blow up in his face.

[marmar]

20. Today's Republican Party isn't even worthy of the crud you scrape off the bottom of your shoe....

What a pathetic bunch of assholes.

[Art_from_Ark]

50. The Repubs have been that way for most of their history

Why should now be any different? :shrug:

[SharonRB]

21. Do they even have subpoena power?

We didn't have it when we were in the minority.

[ThomWV]

23. No - - The Committee does but its run by Democrats, so there will be no subpoenas

[spanone]

25. But it made a nice headline didn't it?

The press wasn't curious enough to ask the question before they printed the story? Complicit.

[garybeck]

24. PLEASE answer THIS.

for 6 years we heard how the democrats were powerless because they were in the minority and had no power to subpeona anyone.

how, why, WTF? if there is any rule of law, the republicans should have no power of subpeona and the can whine all they want and who gives a crap. why are we reading about this at all? why doesn't waxman just tell them to go screw.

[Beetwasher]

26. LOL! Dumbass Repubs Think EVERYONE Is Afraid Of Subpoenas!

:rofl:

Umm, hey jackasses. People who tell the truth have no fear of subpoena's, you idiots.

[PRETZEL]

27. I agree. Let them subpoena her,

Better yet, let Valerie go on the news tonite and volunteer to testify. That'll either shut them up once and for all or will force their hand.

It's a PR stunt right now.

[LSK]

29. they cant issue a subpoena without a Dem

Subpoenas are sent only after a committee vote.

[blondeatlast]

31. If Raw Story can be believed--it's all about Condi. Geez!

First off-there isn't a chance in hell they will succeed, but anyway:

The Republican effort to subpoena Plame, whose husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, was sent by the CIA to Niger in order to gauge the truth of claims that the African country was supplying uranium to Iraq, faces obstacles that are likely insurmountable. A majority of members of the committee, which is controlled by the Democratic Party since January, must vote to authorize and issue the subpoena.

"It’s not a realistic threat. A majority vote is required for a the committee to issue a subpoena and it is highly unlikely that Rep. Davis will be able to marshal any Democratic votes," said Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of the DC-based group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Sloan is representing the Wilsons in a civil lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials who are accused of blowing Plame's cover and violating the Wilsons' privacy.

Still, the Congress members McNicoll represents made clear that their effort to subpoena Wilson was meant to fight back against Waxman's investigation of President Bush's push for the invasion of Iraq. Calling the Doan hearing "a witch hunt," Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), the former chairman of the committee during the Clinton administration, assailed Waxman for his attempts to subpoena Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

[bunkerbuster1]

57. I'd like to think Goopers aren't quite that stupid

The stupidity in question being, "If they're going to grill a chick on the Teevee, by golly, we'll grill a chick on the Teevee!"

But time and again, Goopers set the bar a little lower. These are the same geniuses who thought it made sense to counter that attractive, smooth-talking, half-colored fella running for the Senate in Illinois with Alan Keyes.

[bobthedrummer]

32. "Timeline: Activities of the White House Iraq Group/WHIG"

http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/10/timeline_activi.php

[ourbluenation]

34. DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!

I triple dog dare ya. do it.

[unblock]

36. threat? that's a threat?

she WANTS to tell her story!

[Octafish]

37. Please do. And ask why it's TREASON to expose a NOC and the Brass Plate.

Bush and company are traitors.

That's obvious to many DUers and perhaps more than a few members of Congress.

[walldude]

39. Bring it on.... n/t

[L. Coyote]

40. HELLO low IQ Freepers, Plame testifies voluntarily, no subpoena required.

Rep. Tom Davis doesn't have a clue if he really thinks a subpoena is needed for a voluntary witness.

If you have not seen the Doan Hearing, it can be streamed from the Oversight website: http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1337

It is very obvious the Rs are on the defensive, trying to detract from the crimes like never before.

At some point, I expect they will start bashing Roosevelt for being a Commie. :rofl:

[Ishoutandscream2]

42. "low IQ Freepers." Coyote, that's redundant

No such thing as a high IQ Freeper.

[L. Coyote]

51. At least it's not oxymoranic.

:rofl:

[K8-EEE]

44. Oh I really seriously doubt they will do that but I HOPE THEY DO!

Oh yes, BRING IT ON!!

[fooj]

45. Will someone please remind these dumbf*cks that they are the MINORITY party?

No subpeonas for you, Repubs. Boo f*cking hoo.

Actually, I almost wish that they could. :evilgrin: I would love to watch them bury themselves further!

[annabanana]

46. I watched this on CSpan. . during Lurita Doan Testimony

Davis was wasting time (like Rove asked him to , I'm sure). . and he gets sidetracked back onto Valerie and says she ought to be subpoenaed. .

Waxman came right back and said "Why on Earth should she be subpoenaed? If we want to talk to her all we have to do is ask. .She doesn't mind coming in".

That's all there was to this whole thing.

[never_get_over_it]

47. Oh please

Tom Davis is one of the world's biggest ass hole hypocrites - maybe he can explain his relationship with his current wife Jean Marie - while they were both married to other people - and he was busy voting to impeach Bill Clinton for lying about an extra marital BJ - those nasty glass houses and Tom throwing all those stones.....

[mmonk]

49. What do these traitors want to do to her

that they haven't already done? I hate these republican traitors. I've never hated before but now I have been given that gift and I will carry it to my grave.

[shanti]

52. marching orders from the chimp

obscure, obfuscate and all that.

[eridani]

53. Whatever you do, PLEEEZE don't throw me into that briar patch!

Snigger! Snort!

[puebloknot]

55. Chuckle! Guffaw! SML&RITB,LMAO* ...

...* Slapping my leg and rolling in the briars, laughing my ass off! :)

Bring her on! Give her a megaphone!

[LordJFT]

62. subpoena her

the republican party needs another embarassment

[puebloknot]

63. Truer than the truest truism I've seen lately! Truly!