Defending the White House against charges that it exposed an undercover CIA agent's identity in a plot to discredit a whistleblower of Bush’s Iraq war lies, spokesman Scott McClellan assured the nation of the noble intentions of the administration.
“That is not the way this President or this White House operates….And, certainly, no one in this White House would have given authority to take such a step,” said McClellan at a briefing on July 22, 2003, knocking down the mere thought such a thing could occur. “…I want to make it very clear, that is simply not the way this White House operates.”
Now that Patrick J. Fitzgerald has won his case that burning an undercover CIA agent in a false and ad hominem attempt to discredit a feared war critic’s arguments and repeatedly lying about it are precisely what did occur, today’s guilty verdicts against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby should serve as a finishing nail in the coffin of the most dishonest administration this country has ever seen.
Even the contorted efforts to shield the administration by the likes of the Washington Post’s Andrew Cohen (“The story here is that the events which led to (Libby’s) troubles are standard operating procedure in the corridors and backrooms and Blackberries of power.”) and David Broder will not insulate Bush and his cabal from the verdict of the jury that injustice was inflicted upon the American people ultimately by the president.
Capping an unusually bad week for Bush (and it’s only Tuesday), let’s hope judicial and political punishment fit the administration crimes.
Fitting would be a body blow resulting in organ failure, impairment of bodily function, and even political death, to paraphrase the administration’s infamous, revised description of physical torture that it so tragically employed.
Thanks Fitz.
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