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) …
RELATED ITEMS:
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.
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.
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:Libby's Indictment does not depend upon the recollection of reporters
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
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 …
RELATED ITEM:
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.
The New Republic:
THE MORNING AFTER: — Well, that was much ado about nothing. I don't really think the indictment of the man who served as the Vice President's Chief of Staff—and whose role in the administration was in fact much larger than that—is no big deal. It is.
Discussion:
The Heretik, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, The Political Pit Bull, Viking Pundit and danieldrezner.com
RELATED ITEMS:
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 …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Israel news and commentary …, Six Meat Buffet and Oblogatory Anecdotes
RELATED ITEM:
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 …
Andy McCarthy / The Corner on National Review Online:
WHAT SMEAR? — Some observations from the wrenching experience of watching TV last night and witnessing people I admire - people who were on the right side of the Clinton wars and have heretofore been strong rule-of-law conservatives - engage in what is a startling defense of the conduct alleged against Scooter Libby.
RELATED ITEM:
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
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
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
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.
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.
New York Times:
After Upheavals, President Seeks to Steady Course — WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 - After weeks of political turmoil, capped by the indictment of a senior administration official, President Bush will try to give his second term a fresh start by naming a new, conservative nominee to the Supreme Court …
