politburo diktat 2.0

The Lefties confront their Potemkin Watergate, as Fitzgerald only indicts Scooter Libby, whom the NYTimes resolutely describes as “the most important aide to the most powerful vice president in American history.” Libby was not indicted for outing Valerie Plame; he was indicted because “he lied to reporters about how he knew what he knew … He then repeated this origins story to the FBI (false statements), and to the grand jury (perjury)—who then concluded from this that Libby had mislead the investigation (obstruction).” per Jeff Goldstein. Undoubtedly worse than a sex scandal, but about twenty stories shy of a Watergate.

When asked about the war, Fitzgerald replied: “This indictment is not about the war. This indictment’s not about the propriety of the war. … The indictment will not seek to prove that the war was justified or unjustified. ”

I’m reminded of a line from Inherit the Wind: “the mighty [Fitzmas prosecution] explodes with the pale puff of a wet firecracker.”

So, how is all this playing with the Moonbats? Read on …

Atrios: “I’m also shocked that there’s a serious deficit of Karl related indictment activities.”

Digby: “To those who want to trivialize these perjury and obstruction charges against Scooter Libby, I would just suggest they take a quick look at the report that was filed publicly by Kenneth Starr against President Clinton”

Armando at Kos: “We Know Who Outed Plame … Paragraph 17 of the Indictment describes … Paragraph 21 of the Indictment describes … Paragraph 23 of the Indictment describes … Paragraph 24 of the Indictment describes … So who outed Valerie Plame? Libby and Rove. Is that too hard to understand?”

Crooked Timber: Hugh Hewitt’s editorial in the NY Times.

Kevin Drum: “OFFICIAL A AND MR. X….Just a quick reminder in case anyone has forgotten the sequence of events that led to Robert Novak’s original column outing Valerie Plame.”

Fafblog: “True, the Plame scandal is simple enough to be summarized in one sentence,1 but the devil is in the details. There are names and people and places - names like “Niger”, which sounds very much like Nigeria and yet is not Nigeria …”

Suburban Guerilla: “The Spirit of Fitzmas : I’m still happy. Because to me, Fitzmas isn’t about how many indictments we get – it’s about the spirit of justice and fair play that underpins our democracy.”

Attytood: “So in a way, Fitzmas — for those on the left so anxiouisly awaiting it — has been just like every other holiday from Christmas or Hanukkah to your last birthday. In other words…something of a letdown, even though you’re too embarassed to say it out loud. … Don’t be disappointed. Fitzmas isn’t all about “Scooter” Libby or Karl Rove going to the slammer any more than Christmas is about a bearded fat guy in a red suit.”

Mark Kleiman: “If the Libby indictment is the only indictment to come out of the Plame affair, I’d rate it something of a disappointment. Not enough to justify the triumphal tone of the reaction from the right wing — is it, after all, a small thing if a man with the title Counselor to the President revealed classified information revealing the identity of CIA officer, an then systematically lied about it under oath? — but still well short of the hopes some of us had entertained. But I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that the case ends with Libby, or that the case against Libby ends with today’s charges. ”

Heh. They were expecting the electric train, the puppy, and the BB gun, and all they got was a pair of hand-knit mittens.