Other signs of life from the press corps

One member of the corps yelled repeatedly that Libby was convicted of "obstruction of justice." Another press corps member told Snow, "You are insulting our intelligence."

Ah ha! Signs of life! First Mika, then Chris... the natives are restless!

Picking up Helen Thomas' mantle at last and becoming real news reporters? Power on ya, and it's about time. This is the Watergate of our generation. This is the very reason I went to journalism school myself; I can't imagine how you who went into the business can stand not covering it.

Come back to us national media! We desperately need you to serve as citizen oversight (you can't leave this to the blogosphere and keep covering Paris Hilton forever.) This is the kind of 'news' you've been waiting for your entire careers. It's real, it's relevant, and it's a danger to our democracy.

Let the dam break, and your real voices out-shout the propaganda of your corporate owners! And thanks to the Washington Post, who finally gave us the goods on Puppet-master-in-Chief Dick Cheney.

Newspapers that are truly independent, like The Washington Post, can still aggressively investigate anyone or anything with no holds barred. - Bob Woodward

Libby judge questions Bush commutation

Judiciary Committee prepares hearings

The House Judiciary Committee plans hearings next week into President George W. Bush's decision to commute the sentence of convicted former White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby. They are likely to focus their inquiry into whether Bush's commuting of a jail sentence that had not yet been served was appropriate after the key judge in the Libby case questioned the President's act.

The judge is a little incensed. And this is good, because we need a few incensed judges to squelch any 'this is all partisan' angle the GOP hardliners may have dreamed up as a defense. What this is, is total bullshit. And it is obstruction of justice.

This 'get out of jail free' card was paramount to blackmail: "Scooter, I'll protect you - but keep your mouth shut." The judge of course, isn't very keen in obstruction of justice. Nice to have a few judges that aren't partisan, isn't it? We might want to keep it that way.

When asked why Bush let Libby out of jail, Snow gave one of the most Bush-indicting statements yet:

"He thought that any jail time was excessive. And therefore, he did not see fit to have Scooter Libby taken to jail," the White House Press Secretary stated, after a reporter pointed out that "Normally, somebody at least serves a day in jail, a week in jail, a month in jail," before a commutation is granted.

How wonderfully dictator-ish of you, W. The president over-ruled the decision of the judge because 'he thought any jail time was excessive.' And this for a felony, mind you. This, the guy who never gives clemency to anyone, for anything - unless of course they're his buddies.

This may turn out to be the finally straw; the ultimate overstep that brings Bush down. One can only hope. And Conyers was right there waiting for him (perhaps expecting this move?)

In a statement to RAW STORY Tuesday, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the decision to commute Libby's sentence required congressional oversight.

"In light of yesterday's announcement by the President that he was commuting the prison sentence for Scooter Libby, it is imperative that Congress look into presidential authority to grant clemency, and how such power may be abused," Conyers said in a statement released to RAW STORY Tuesday night.

"Taken to its extreme, the use of such authority could completely circumvent the law enforcement process and prevent credible efforts to investigate wrongdoing in the executive branch."

Jon yet again: Tony Snow lying

Double Impact: Tony Snow lying to himself... hilarious

Finding that Democratic Eisenhower

It appears that before we manufacture our Reagan, we need to find a 'Democratic Eisenhower.'

In a sign of how much the politics of Iraq have deteriorated for the GOP, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) - a member of House Republican leadership - compared Bush's political problems to then President Truman's in 1952. President Eisenhower subsequently won the presidency and Republicans captured the House.

"We're probably slightly behind where Truman was" with his Democratic Party in 1951 and 1952, McCotter said. "History has vindicated Truman ... fortunately I don't see a Democratic Eisenhower out there."

Hmm. A Democratic...

Well this is embarrassing. Are there any generals around who have actually won a war? Seriously. We've been really lousy at picking our wars lately.

I can think of only one, and he was sabotaged by the Cheney Administration, in what may have been a very clever, Machiavellian move to keep his popularity in check. Make Powell carry the lie out to the people. Of course history has nearly exonerated Powell. We now know that Cheney himself made up the lie, and sticks to it today; and that Powell didn't know it was a lie when he publicly defended it.

His credibility may not be what it was once, but perhaps Powell is finally fed up with neocon trickery and would consider switching parties. He is our only winning general since, well, 1945.

By the way, the GOP is finally looking after their hides.

I wondered how long it would take for the Republican moderates to act out. They finally marched right over to the White House. Well, sort of. There were 11 of them (comfort in numbers) and they waited until Cheney was overseas!

We all heard that it was a contentious meeting (meaning that Tony Snow has referred to it as 'interesting'. )

It appears that Rove and one other White House aide fired back after the story of the meeting leaked to the media (after all, everything is supposed to be top secret if it involves the GOP, and usually for good reason: GOP neocon activities are usually illegal, highly partisan, generally immoral, and not for public 'voter' consumption.)

But get this - there was even a yelling match between the aide and GOP Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill) at the White House Thursday morning!

How fun! Nice to see someone else angry for a change - as in a GOP lawmaker - someone other than the thousands of American families who donated beloved children to the bloody conflict, and the vast multitudes of American citizens forced to pony up tax dollars for occupation, lies, war profiteering and torture.