Scooter's threat: "Aspens turning in clusters" = "I go down, you go down."

Brotherjohn

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Mon Oct-17-05 09:57 AM
Original message

Scooter's threat: "Aspens turning in clusters" = "I go down, you go down."

Scooter Libby closed his letter to Judy Miller, giving her "permission" to testify, by saying: "Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them."

Maybe this has already been discussed here, but doesn't Judy know a veiled threat when she reads one? If one Aspen turns, the whole cluster turns. Judy and Scooter are in the "cluster", connected by the roots. Libby explicitly states how he testified in the letter (saying he had no discussion of Plame with reporters). If Judy testifies counter to this, the whole cluster "turns".

Translation:
"I go down, I bring you down with me."

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niyad

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Mon Oct-17-05 09:58 AM
Response to Original message

1. that was pretty much the way I read it.

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H2O

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:01 AM
Response to Reply #1

2. Uh, oh

This little bit will come out. Its going to unravel....

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Bumblebee

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:12 AM
Response to Reply #1

8. and I am sure she did too -- and that explains why

she is now saying that she does not remember who gave her the actual name... There are so many skeletons in her closet, it's not going to be pretty either for her or for the NYT!

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soothsayer

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:03 AM
Response to Original message

3. What did it mean that they're already turning. Who did he mean?

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Brotherjohn

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:10 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. I don't think he meant anyone was already turning. He was just trying...

... to make it seem like there was a reason to say what he was saying. Very awkwardly so, too, I think. By her account, they were not great friends (she didn't recognize him in Wyoming at first). Such a flowery sentiment seems way out of place in what is basically a business letter to a legal contact. And then to just throw it out there? Awfully chummy, and philosophical, doncha think?

But then, when you see that he details how HE testified in the letter, it all comes clearer.

I think the message was, if one turns, they all turn. If my leaves turn (if I go down), yours will too, because we're connected at the root.

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electropop

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:06 AM
Response to Original message

4. Most seem to have read it differently.

As "the whole cluster of us who met in Aspen are turning against Rove." Your reading is an interesting twist. Which makes more sense? How did Miller read it? I have no idea. :shrug:

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Brotherjohn

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:13 AM
Response to Reply #4

9. I think Fitz read it as an attempt at coercing her testimony.

That's why he was so focused on it. If Scooter and Miller decided to turn on Rove, Fitzgerald wouldn't be so interested in it (indeed he may be encouraging it). His other questioning also showed he's pursuing this line re Libby (i.e. him trying to coach/coerce her testimony).

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mattclearing

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:14 AM
Response to Reply #4

10. I agreed with this as well.

I think it refers to the Aspen meeting, saying basically that the people who run the show were no longer propping up the Bush Administration.

The media has since stopped making excuses for him and started reporting on all kinds of things they would never have touched before, like racism with regard to Hurricane Katrina.

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yellowcanine

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:11 AM
Response to Original message

6. Hmm. I thought the aspen reference was odd. You may be on to

something.

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leftofthedial

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:12 AM
Response to Original message

7. if true, that is witness tampering

Edited on Mon Oct-17-05 10:12 AM by leftofthedial

which is another felony

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Brotherjohn

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:16 AM
Response to Reply #7

12. Stories I've read today say that's one of the possibilities for Libby.

Edited on Mon Oct-17-05 10:17 AM by Brotherjohn

Fitzgerald prosecuted mobsters. I'm sure he knows this kind of thing when he sees it.

The "Aspen' quote alone may be meaningless. But combined with Libby explicitly stating, in the same letter, how HE testified?

Maybe still not enough to nail him. But it seems pretty clear to me he was attemtping to intimidate.

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Kingofalldems

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:16 AM
Response to Original message

11. From what I gather Fitzgerald was extremely interested

in that note. I wonder what will come of it.

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AlinPA

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Mon Oct-17-05 10:25 AM
Response to Original message

13. That "aspen statement" reminds me of a good spy movie. Some kind of

a password or secret code amongst the conspirators.

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