Friday, February 24, 2006

PortGate? VisaGate? Nah... PlameGate

I was originally going to write a post about how former Senator and thrice-Vice-President/Presidential nominee/candidate Bob Dole (R-KS) has offered to whore himself for the UAE port deal and how that infringes on the role his wife, Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-SC) will play in the deal… but then I thought, nah… let’s wait to see how it plays out now that the firm (Dubai Ports World) has offered to delay the deal indefinitely.

Then I thought about writing a post on how the U.S. has approved the VISA of an Indian scientist.

Instead, I’ve decided to post about how seemingly desperate ‘Scooter’ Libby’s lawyers are becoming.

Yesterday, attorney’s for Vice President Dick “Dead Eye” Cheney's former top aide (‘Scooter’ Libby, who faces five counts of perjury, false statements and obstruction of justice charges) requested that a federal judge dismiss Scooter’s indictment on grounds that the special prosecutor in the ‘PlameGate’ case “lacked authority.”

(Why do Scooter’s lawyers say Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald lacks authority? Because they claim that the president, along with Senate consent, didn’t appoint him)

Scooter’s lawyers (doesn't that sound like the title of a bad TV-show from UPN or the WB?) also argued that Scooter’s indictment violated the Constitution and added that the attorney general did not supervise Fitzgerald.

The lawyers said the “illegal” assignment of “unsupervised and undirected power” given to Fitzgerald requires that he now be relieved of his duties and that all actions he has taken be voided (isn’t that convenient for them… even after Scooter as-much divulged that he did leak the information but that the Veep ordered him to do it)

(Want a little background on how Fitzgerald was appointed? Ask and you shall receive: Fitzgerald, or Fitz as he is known to his friends, was appointed December 2003 after former Attorney General John “These Camps are made for Kicking” Ashcroft excused himself from the investigation due to his close ties with the White House. Deputy AG James Comey, acting in Ashcroft's place, selected Fitzgerald and gave him extensive powers to conduct the investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity)

Scooter's lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton to conduct a hearing and explained how Judge Walton may have to require the Justice Department to turn over all records, even secret letters between Comey and Fitzgerald, in order to determine whether the special counsel's appointment is legal.

An intelligent legal maneuver this may be… but it still reeks of desperation in my opinion…

As always, stay tuned…

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