Oops ! I initially posted the wrong thing to this topic:


Here's an interesting discussion of the Valerie Plame case from last Friday:



http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/political_wrap/jan-june06/sb2_4-7.html

    The CIA leak case

    JIM LEHRER: OK.
    New subject, the -- the Libby statement to the grand jury that was released yesterday. He claims that the president OK'ed the release of sensitive intelligence information on Iraq. How do you read that?

    MARK SHIELDS: I -- I think, legally, the president probably has a case. Politically, he's damaged.

    JIM LEHRER: Legally, meaning he has the authority, as president of the United States, to declassify anything he wants?

    MARK SHIELDS: That's right. That's right.

    JIM LEHRER: OK.

    MARK SHIELDS: But... they're into splitting hairs right now. They're saying, well, it was legal for the president to do it; therefore, it wasn't classified because the president let it out.

    The president is selectively leaking, or having leaked, information that is classified for narrow domestic political purposes. And that -- that is not the George Bush that we -- that I think most Americans came to see as a straight-shooter, direct guy, un-nuanced, doesn't talk about the meaning of is, tells you straight from the shoulder.

    JIM LEHRER: David?

    DAVID BROOKS: Mark doesn't understand the difference between a leak and a drip.

    A leak hurts me. A drip is -- is information that hurts the other side.

    JIM LEHRER: That the public needs to have.

    DAVID BROOKS: That they need to have.

    (CROSSTALK)

    DAVID BROOKS: It's called open governments.

    JIM LEHRER: Open government, right.

    (LAUGHTER)

    DAVID BROOKS: And, so, there is a little hypocrisy on the Bush side.

    JIM LEHRER: Yes.

    DAVID BROOKS: But there's a lot of hypocrisy on the Democratic side. I don't remember Democrats getting upset about leaks that made Donald Rumsfeld look bad or the NSA story.

    People like the leaks that help themselves.

    So, is Bush hypocritical about the leaks?
    Yes.

    Are Democrats hypocritical?
    Yes.

    Is it a scandal, a legal scandal?
    No.

    It's -- it's embarrassing. But it's not the scandal that some people think it is that's going to lead to resignations and firings.

    And, by the way, I think, just on political terms, I -- I think this Plame thing has never had any political traction out in the country. Iraq has political traction. This Plame thing is of interest to a lot of people, but it has no real political traction.




Last edited by Wonder Boy; 2006-04-13 5:49 PM.