Drudge: Plame Investigation Broadened

I'll post the whole note here to save Brother Drudge some bandwidth:

INVESTIGATION OF WHITE HOUSE ROLE IN CIA LEAK IS SAID TO HAVE BROADENED, NYT FRIDAY: Prosecutors examine whether White House officials lied to investigators or mishandled classified information related to the case...

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Schweet.

Can you spell C-O-V-E-R-U-P???

Heeheeeheeeee, NOT good news for der Shrubmeister!

How far will Bush go up in the polls because of THIS one?

The fact is, anything the White House does wrong, will either be ignored or literally DEFENDED by half of the media.

Look, they can "spin" Clarke by attacking him.

But how can they "spin" indictments? Can they attack the Special Counsel? Attack the Justice Department? There's no way to use the "slime and defend" tactic against a federal indictment, no way.

...when they find reason to do so, like evidence of wrongdoing. That's why I say this looks bad for the admin. This investigation has not been short and sweet, and now it just got bigger...kinda like Watergate got bigger.

Am I wrong, or are there about a half dozen stories in LBN this evening that look like big black storm clouds on the horizon for Bush?

Dirk

1. The Plame Affair, as we discussed, is in a growth phase, and a decision is near. The Special Counsel is actually under pressure to make indictments.

2. The case that the Bush Administration totally neglected the terrorist threat prior to 9/11 is becoming incontestible. In addition to Richard Clarke, Gary Hart has denounced the Administration for doing nothing in response to the Hart-Rudman report on terrorism, and has called for firings and/or resignations of the responsible parties. The Bush Administration's response to the unravelling of its position has been a shocking campaign of misdirection, smears, and abuses of power. The scale of this scandal alone dwarfs Watergate.

3. Horrible events in Iraq have belied the Administration's claim that the light at the end of the tunnel is visible. Iraq is in chaos, and this is directly due to the Administration's failure to have any damned plan whatsoever for the post-invasion period. A Bush-mandated transfer of "sovereignty" to a hand-picked Prime Minister, possibly Ahmed Chalabi, is the best news that's going to come out of Iraq for quite some time.

Any one of the above scandals are enough to destroy a presidency.

I have the feeling the name of Patrick Fitzgerald is gonna be very familiar in the upcoming months!

a Kerry Supporter, difference is that Wilson choose Kerry as the best candidate way back in the Summer of 03 when he got smeared for telling the truth, thus his wife's name getting outed by the White house staff.

How bout that, The great defenders of terror, the people who saved America after 911, the same White house with a 57% favorable rating on the war on terror.... outed a CIA operative who's career assignment was, you guessed it, fighting terrorism. So much for *'s standing on fighting a war on terror.

911, never forget. Bush's Greatest Failure.

Perhaps the spin is finally unraveling. This has been obvious since about 9:30 AM 9/11/2001 to anyone with a brain.

The poll of the Grand Jury is what matters.

These are glorious days to be a Democrat. The shithouse is going up in flames!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/02/politics/02LEAK.html?pagewanted=print&position=

Prosecutors investigating whether someone in the Bush administration improperly disclosed the identity of a C.I.A. officer have expanded their inquiry to examine whether White House officials lied to investigators or mishandled classified information related to the case, lawyers involved in the case and government officials say.

In looking at violations beyond the original focus of the inquiry, which centered on a rarely used statute that makes it a felony to disclose the identity of an undercover intelligence officer intentionally, prosecutors have widened the range of conduct under scrutiny and for the first time raised the possibility of bringing charges peripheral to the leak itself.

The expansion of the inquiry's scope comes at a time when prosecutors, after a hiatus of about a month, appear to be preparing to seek additional testimony before a federal grand jury, lawyers with clients in the case said. It is not clear whether the renewed grand jury activity represents a concluding session or a prelude to an indictment.

The broadened scope is a potentially significant development that represents exactly what allies of the Bush White House feared when Attorney General John Ashcroft removed himself from the case last December and turned it over to Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States attorney in Chicago.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/

Josh has some interesting legal speculation about how Karl Rove's already admitted involvement in the Plame case may put him in violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

They can spin anything. And they do.

Do you really think Ashcroft recused himself in order to get an investigation that was fair and honest and not open to accusation of government cover up? No fuckin' way.

Trust me on this, if anybody of importance (ie. not part of the in crowd and also not expendable) is indicted, then Fitz is fucked. He'll be painted as a partisan hack on a witch hunt or as a person with a personal vendetta. The investigation will be as nothing when the ad hominem attacks commence. Maybe he did molest children and sacrifice them to Satan, maybe he did once give money to a lib'rul candidate, maybe he did once say that KKKarl Rove's tie didn't go with his shirt. Whatever, any indictments (let alone convictions!) will be spun as attacks on a just and fair and compassionate administration. And an attack on national security and our ability to prosecute our current wars. And that spin will be promoted in the media and it will be believed.

Khash.
(sorry, just feeling cynical - but cynicism seems so appropriate these days)