Top Items:
Michael Ledeen / The Corner on National Review Online:
A STRAIN — I think the indictment stinks. You have to parse it very carefully to figure out whether Libby is accused of lying to the grand jury or the FBI, or to journalists. Go look. I finally concluded that it says that Libby lied to the grand jury (and elsewhere the FBI) …
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Opinion Journal:
Obstruction for What? — Libby is charged with lying about a crime that wasn't committed. — Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation took nearly two years, sent a reporter to jail, cost millions of dollars, and preoccupied some of the White House's senior officials.
Pete Yost / Associated Press:
Libby Lawyer Plans Lack-of-Memory Defense — WASHINGTON - The lawyer for Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide is outlining a possible criminal defense that is a time-honored tradition in Washington scandals: A busy official immersed in important duties cannot reasonably be expected to remember details of long-ago conversations.
New York Times:
Novel Strategy Pits Journalists Against Source — In pressing his indictment of I. Lewis Libby Jr., the special prosecutor is pitting three prominent journalists against their former source, a strategy that experts in law and journalism say has rarely been used or tested.
Byron York / The Corner on National Review Online:
THE WORD ON LIBBY — AND THE BIG PICTURE — A number of observations tonight from people who know and follow the CIA leak case: — The first is that they view the indictment against Lewis Libby as very strong. One source called it "as clear-cut an indictment" as one would ever see …
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:Libby's Indictment does not depend upon the recollection of reporters
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
Pete Yost / Associated Press:
'Official A' Stands Out in Indictment — WASHINGTON — In a sign of the trouble lingering for the Bush administration, the indictment handed up Friday in the CIA leak probe refers to someone at the White House known as "Official A." — The unidentified official could become a courtroom witness …
Discussion:
firedoglake, firedoglake, ed fitzgerald's unfutz, rawstory.com, TalkLeft, The Heretik, Lance Mannion, Wall Street Journal, Daily Kos and Don Singleton
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Anne E. Kornblut / New York Times:At Milestone in Inquiry, Rove, and the G.O.P., Breathe a Bit Easier
The New Republic:THE MORNING AFTER: — Well, that was much ado about nothing.
Discussion:
The Heretik, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, The Political Pit Bull, Viking Pundit and danieldrezner.com
New York Times:
Next Nominee May Well Spark a Climactic Battle — WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 - When Harriet E. Miers withdrew her nomination to the Supreme Court, she may have taken with it the last chance to avoid a climactic confrontation over who will succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is retiring.
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Washington Post:
Appellate Judges Cited as Focus of New Search — Supreme Court Candidates on Short List Were Vetted This Summer, Sources Say — With President Bush expected to pick a new Supreme Court nominee within days, several sources close to the selection process said the White House is focusing …
The Corner on National Review Online:
THE INDICTMENT DOES NOT ALLEGE ALL COVER-UP AND NO CRIME — There are several crimes laid out in the espionage act, but the one that applies most closely on these facts requires the government to prove that a person (a) obtained classified information lawfully (e.g., in his official capacity) …
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Don Surber:
Halloween Trackback Party — Hey, it was emailed to me. If you can think of a good caption, put it in comments. — Time to kick back and relax with a Halloween Trackback Party. You link me, I check trackbacks and I link you. Links can be on anything. Offer void after noon on Sunday.
Discussion:
Point Five, TMH's Bacon Bits, Mudville Gazette, The Alliance, BIG DOG's WEBLOG, Below The Beltway and Everyman Chronicles
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Tim Johnston / BBC:
Three Indonesian girls beheaded — Three girls have been beheaded and another badly injured as they walked to a Christian school in Indonesia. — They were walking through a cocoa plantation near the city of Poso in central Sulawesi province when they were attacked.
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Washington Post:
A New Moment of Truth For a White House in Crisis — With yesterday's indictment of Vice President Cheney's top aide, President Bush's administration has become a textbook example of what can go wrong in a second term. Along with ineffectiveness, overreaching, intraparty rebellion …
Michael Slackman / New York Times:
Syria Responds to Critics by Tackling Old Grievances — BAGHOOZ, Syria, Oct. 28 - The barbed wire was new, so new in fact it was still being rolled out Friday as Maj. Gen. Amin Soliman Charabeh pointed toward the swirling barrier as proof that his country was doing all it could to stop weapons smugglers …
Discussion:
Rantingprofs
Fareed Zakaria / New York Times:
'The Assassins' Gate': Occupational Hazards — IN "The Assassins' Gate," his chronicle of the Iraq war, George Packer tells the tale of Drew Erdmann, a young American official in Baghdad. Erdmann, a recent Harvard Ph.D. in history, finds himself rereading Marc Bloch's classic firsthand account …
Discussion:
Rantingprofs
RJ Eskow / The Huffington Post:
"Embedded Crony": Bob Woodward Shows His True Colors — Bob Woodward showed last night why he is the role model for a generation of morally compromised 'journalists.' He aggressively promoted his patrons' interests and, Judy-like, selectively cited government secrets.
Thomas Wagner / Associated Press:
GI Kills Suicide Bomber Who Attacked Hotel — BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. soldier shot and killed one of three suicide bombers who attacked the Palestine Hotel complex before he could reach his intended target and that probably saved lives in the building, the military said Saturday.
Rick Esenberg / JSOnline:
Sykes would be an excellent Supreme Court justice — Like many members of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy and fellow travelers of the Federalist Society, I welcomed the collapse of Harriet Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court. — She was neither unaccomplished nor unintelligent.
