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.
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, ed fitzgerald's unfutz, firedoglake, rawstory.com, TalkLeft, The Heretik, Lance Mannion, Wall Street Journal, Daily Kos and Don Singleton
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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
Anne E. Kornblut / New York Times:At Milestone in Inquiry, Rove, and the G.O.P., Breathe a Bit Easier
Discussion:
Wizbang, BrothersJudd Blog, The Tattered Coat, Severe Writers Block, AMERICAblog and Crooks and Liars
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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Sydney Morning Herald:
Christian girls beheaded in grisly Indonesian attack — Three teenage Christian girls were beheaded and a fourth was seriously wounded in a savage attack on Saturday by unidentified assailants in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi. — The girls were among a group of students …
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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 …
New York Times:
In Indictment's Wake, a Focus on Cheney's Powerful Role — WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 - Vice President Dick Cheney makes only three brief appearances in the 22-page federal indictment that charges his chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, with lying to investigators and misleading a grand jury in the C.I.A. leak case.
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
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.
Shannon P. Duffy / LAW.com:
Justice Alito? Some Say He's a New High Court Favorite — The short list of potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court suddenly appeared much shorter Friday as 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. quickly emerged as perhaps the most likely second choice to fill Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's seat.
Discussion:
The Buck Stops Here
Joseph C. Wilson IV / Los Angeles Times:
Our 27 months of hell — AFTER THE two-year smear campaign orchestrated by senior officials in the Bush White House against my wife and me, it is tempting to feel vindicated by Friday's indictment of the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
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.
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.
