BushCo Posted by JP Stormcrow, 13 Jul 2007 09:24 am

Deconstructing Scootermania

It has been a little more than a week since the Scooter Libby commutation (Act I of a two-part act. Act II, The Pardon, coming in January 2009 - trust me on this one.)  The ardor that the case generated in the breasts of liberals, neo-cons and other right-wing nutters, and the Beltway establishment appears to be dying down somewhat, but it is not quenched. Although it was nice to have Judge Reggie Walton weigh in with some further disapproval while ruling on a technical aspect of how to interpret the terms of the commutation.

…. the Court notes that the term of incarceration imposed in this case was determined after a careful consideration of each of the requite statutory factors, and was consistent with the bottom end of the applicable sentencing range as properly calculated under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. [emphasis added]

(And for those of you who are playing along at home, Walton is a “reliably conservative” judge who was appointed to his current position by George W. Bush.) But it is worth taking a brief look at what fired up this mini-GNF in the breasts of so many. And of course the wise adage: “You can’t say that it is the best [or worst - JP] time you ever had until it is all over” applies. (Which adage was recalled by me while watching The Prestige last night -  a good flick, watch it if you get a chance.)

The saga for me personally (and much of the liberal blogosphere - search through Firedoglake or The Next Hurrah if you need to catch up on details) , has been all about trying to tug on one of the few exposed threads from this criminal and shameless administration. And the commutation in particular - and which face it, you knew something like it was coming - just served to highlight the lengths to which Bushco will go to avoid accountability. The timing dovetails nicely with the US Attorney scandal and the recent shameful session of the US Supreme Court, and illustrates why a Justice Department and judiciary composed of “honest brokers” is necessary for a functioning democracy. To me the commutation was the equivalent of the Saturday Night Massacre during Watergate, a “legal” exercise of power which served to reinforce the underlying iniquity of the Administration. The best post-commutation analysis that I read was by John Rogers on his blog Kung Fu Monkey , in which he likens the behavior of the Bush adminstration to a video game exploit ( “The exploit is shame.”)  and describes how “helpless” mere technical rules are against shameless insiders. I could go on, but in short:  Liberal Bloggers Outraged, Stop the Presses!

For the neo-cons and other assorted wingnuts this came down to …. well basically that they are unprincipled, criminally-minded, self-deluded, pompous shills for the rich and powerful who exploit the freedoms of this country - so what would you expect? Why did Sean Hannity “support” Scooter, Cheney and the Prez in this? Because he woke up that day.  Although if you want to plumb the depths you cannot do better than this fatuous editorial in the Wall Street Journal (shock!) by Fouad Ajami in which he applies ”The Soldier’s Creed” to Libby. 

It is the over-the-top reaction of the generalized Beltway elite that is most intriguing here (the WaPo basically turning its editorial pages into a vehicle for attempted jury nullification, heartfelt letters from folks like Matalin/Carville and on and on). They were so engaged in “defense” from the very start that you might have thought they were accessories to the crime…. oh wait, several of them were. But it went far beyond those few individuals. Several interrelated elements are surely in play including the general establishment/rightward tilt of the mainstream political press that is so decried by bloggers, and the identification of Libby with the dominant Beltway elite culture. Inclusion in the latter famously eluded Bill Clinton per Sally Quinn’s famous 1998 piece in the Washington Post which includes David Broder’s famous “he trashed the place” quote. (And which is only the second most fatuous quote from Broder in the article, in the other he claimed that the standards were harsher in Washington “we don’t like being lied to”. But I digress … kinda)  The Quinn article, like the Plame/Libby affair, will be pored over by future historians and anthropologists - they really are Rosetta stones for the Washington establishment. However, the specific element of Plame/Libby that I think is most interesting to examine, and which to me explains so much of the ”outrage”,  pertains to the role that information, and the transfer of information specifically, played in the whole tawdry narrative.

Information is power. This maxim is especially true (and lucrative) in an imperial capital like Washington DC. Who knows what, or is suspected to know what, who they have told, who they can tell, who they don’t have to tell - all of these are coins of the realm . Information leads to influence and influence can be spun into gold in a worldwide seat-of-power like Washington (for purposes of this article, parts of New York City are considered as being ”inside the Beltway”).  So Washington insiders are used to trading in information - a lot of it surely being information they are not supposed to have, much less give out or receive, but which they do daily and hourly. It all might not be as “radioactive” as the Plame/Wilson stuff - but I bet a lot of it is - and some of it more so. Knowing where the bodies are buried, and carefully and selectively passing that information on to others is one of the key aspects of the “Washington Game”. So in some sense I think the Libby thing resonated as a very serious threat to their whole framework of doing business - criminalization of their way of life. (An interesting aspect of this has been the treatment of the consummate insider sleazeball Jack Bob Novak is instructive. In some sense he overplayed his hand in the game - even for him, and he was mildly ”punished” for his role. But the very fact that he wasn’t run out of town years ago for his corrupt and slimy work is another indication of the nature of the whole arrogant enterprise.)

So what? Yada-yada-yada, power corrupts etc. etc. Nothing new here, move along. however, there are several “ponies of opportunity” in this particular dung-filled room.

To me the whole thing is best viewed as a symptom (as if we needed more symptoms to diagnose the disease), but it is a particularly telling one, and one which resonates with some Republican moderates ( like Fitzgerald and Walton), those who have not committed totally to the criminal enterprise which is the modern Republican party at the national level or those, like much of the press, whose very susbstantial paycheck is tied to flattering and pandering to their agenda.  There are even a few “unlikely” suspects who “got it”, EJ Dionne comes to mind. So we should drive this wedge as hard as we can, … and remember Act II is coming in early 2009 and is liable to open a few more eyes. That is too late to help with Bushco, but it will provide ammo for the larger and longer-term game. And a larger and longer-term game it is, the impulse to empire does not begin and end with the current hooligan administration. The ”bloated information-mongering lackeys” who comprise the Beltway Kool Kidz are dependent on it as well, and they ain’t going anywhere soon. This, however, is one of the things that the Blog world and “citizen journalism” can help with; to the extent that decisions are based on “conditons on the ground”, be that in Iraq, New Orleans, the Greenland Icecap, Oakland, or Hooterville as opposed to “perceptions held by self-interested parties in DC”, the power of the courtiers is reduced. Bloggers, especially “local” bloggers, have an obvious part to play in setting up an environment where conditions on the ground at least have a fighting chance. Because, you know, “The judgment is harsher outside of Washington, we actually prefer Democracy”.

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Responses to “Deconstructing Scootermania”

  1. on 13 Jul 2007 at 12:19 pm 1. JP Stormcrow said …

    Jumping in first on my own post to say that at one point I was going to organize the whole discussion around a parody of Lennon’s Working Class Hero. But it was too hard.

    And you think you’re so clever and classless balanced and free,
    But you’re still fucking peasents as far as I can see,
    A Washington Pundit is something to be,
    A Washington Pundit is something to be.
    There’s room at the top they are telling you still,
    But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
    If you want to be like the folks on the hill,
    A Washington Pundit is something to be.
    A Washington Pundit is something to be.

    But as you can see, you don’t have to change many words. So there you have it. Well-connected, relatively rich peasants sucking up to the high lords of deceit and death so that they can keep a leg up on the peasants of the hinterlands.

    Happy Friday the 13th!

  2. on 13 Jul 2007 at 1:50 pm 2. The Constructivist said …

    Maybe it’s not too late to apply for political asylum in Japan?

  3. on 13 Jul 2007 at 3:02 pm 3. JP Stormcrow said …

    Edited to correct Jack Novak to Bob Novak. DOH!

    Jack Novak’s of the world, I apologize.

  4. on 13 Jul 2007 at 4:03 pm 4. Oaktown Girl said …

    Being at work, I haven’t even had a chance to read this post in full yet. However, my eye did catch this because of the hyperlink:
    (Which adage was recalled by me while watching The Prestige last night - a good flick, watch it if you get a chance.)

    So my only contribution to this thread for now is that The Prestige and The Illusionist were released very close to each other (Sep. and Oct. 2006), and both were costume dramas having to do with magic and magicians. Hence, they were (are) forever getting mixed up in my mind, and I’m sure the minds of most other folks as well. So much so that even though I saw one of them a on DVD someone lent me, reading this post, I forgot which of the two movies was the one I had actually seen (whichever was the one with Ed Norton). I had to go back and look it up. Anyway, it was The Illusionist I’ve seen, and I found it pretty entertaining.

  5. on 13 Jul 2007 at 4:38 pm 5. JP Stormcrow said …

    So my only contribution to this thread for now is that The Prestige and The Illusionist were released very close to each other (Sep. and Oct. 2006)

    In fact my two sons had watched The Illusionist the night before, and they then insisted on everyone watching The Prestige last night. They both said that they liked The Illusionist better. (Prestige has a slightly higher IMDB rating.)

  6. on 13 Jul 2007 at 4:38 pm 6. Seattle said …

    It was quite the dance, wasn’t it? The aide of the leader of the free world ur, vice pres. faithfully covering someone’s back by lying. The judge faithfully giving the minimum sentence. The president faithfully commuting the sentence except for the quarter of a mil fine. Who do you suppose will be slipping him the funds to cover that?

  7. on 13 Jul 2007 at 5:11 pm 7. Oaktown Girl said …

    It’s Friday at 5:00 MOJ Standard Time. Where’s the Open Thread you ask?

    Well, since this thread got posted by GFAT (General Factotum and Tipstaff for the MOJ) JP Stormcrow so late in the day, we will go ahead and use this as our defacto Open Thread for the weekend.

    So, as JP (who will be participating for the next few hours from the cozy confines of The Trunk) would say, “Open Away!”

  8. on 13 Jul 2007 at 5:29 pm 8. James Killus said …

    The Libby thing was another one that I forgot to work into my saga of Patch 22. The talking point is that “there was no underlying crime.” The fact is that no underlying crime was proven. The reason why proof was lacking was that Libby committed perjury and obstruction of justice.

    Easily dealt with if you have Patch 22.

    No system can survive a sufficient level of bad faith. That is why there are even some conservative Republicans who are beginning to fear for the system. It can’t even deliver the goodies to them if it collapses completely.

  9. on 13 Jul 2007 at 6:18 pm 9. JP Stormcrow said …

    who will be participating for the next few hours from the cozy confines of The Trunk

    The MOJ is too nice. Trunking is too good for me.

    However, if the MOJ can’t do something simple like reversing a commutation … well, what can I say?

  10. on 13 Jul 2007 at 10:12 pm 10. JP Stormcrow said …

  11. on 14 Jul 2007 at 8:09 am 11. christian h. said …

    James is absolutely correct. Actual conservatives - as opposed to kleptocrats - must be appalled. The system they have so successfully defended against the uncouth masses for 200 years is being unravelled before their very eyes by their own creation. This is the point where the left must abandon its timidity. Because you know what - extremism in defense of liberty is a virtue (Goldwater may have been an asshole, but he did have a good speech writer).

    Of course, just like after the 2000 elections, the Democratic establishment, including the moderate-to-liberal commentariat, lives in fear not of the actual destruction of the liberal system of laws happening right before their eyes but rather is afraid that the people’s trust in the system may be undermined. That’s why they won’t impeach, why they are not too upset about Libby being successfully shut up (he can still plead the fifth now). That’s why they can be like piranhas over some blowjob, but won’t touch lying the US into war with a pole - precisely because the first is not important, and thus doesn’t have the power to undermine the people’s trust in their basic benevolence.

  12. on 14 Jul 2007 at 9:20 am 12. JP Stormcrow said …

    Yes there have been a few folks that could turn a phrase back in the day. The speech fragment that keeps running through my mind these days is:

    … testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

    And another item in the Goldwater may have been an asshole, but … category, is that he found it in himself to drag his sorry ass over to the White House in August 1974 to tell Nixon that the gig was up.

  13. on 14 Jul 2007 at 11:56 am 13. Oaktown Girl said …

    James (#8) you are so right. The “no underlying crime” talking points memo was in full effect even before the Libby trial was over, and then just got re-ramped up after Bush commuted Libby’s sentence. Sickening. And the spin portion of the commuted sentence was that Bush was still “respecting” the jury’s verdict by keeping the fine and probation in tact.

    Bullshit. A few days later once the legal scholars had weighed in, we all understood that a commuted sentence was much better for Bush than a full pardon. A full pardon prevents Libby from hiding behind the 5th Amendment, where as commuting the sentence keeps him quite forever.

    Democrats should have come out right away with a talking points memo of their own (an absolutely true one, to boot) that the commuted sentence was “Hush Money”. The words “Hush Money” and “Libby” and “Bush” should have been inextricably linked in peoples’ minds and on peoples’ lips.

  14. on 14 Jul 2007 at 8:03 pm 14. James Killus said …

    I generally preferred the (both correct and often repeated) phrase: Paris Hilton did more time than Scooter Libby.

    This White House has less moral authority than a party-girl celebutante. But the real scandal is that the press corps, and other “conservative” institutions (and the press is inherently conservative, the “liberal media” thing was a lie from day one) has been enabling the thugs for so long.

  15. on 14 Jul 2007 at 8:52 pm 15. JP Stormcrow said …

    Paris Hilton did more time than Scooter Libby.

    Not that I have any sympathy for her - but Judith Miller did more time than Scooter Libby. And it was basically because Scooter would not release her to testify. I wonder how she is feeling about that now … or do the roots of the Aspens intertwine still?

    They knew who they were targeting in Novak and Miller, two shameless individuals attached to powerful institutions.

  16. on 14 Jul 2007 at 9:00 pm 16. Oaktown Girl said …

    I generally preferred the (both correct and often repeated) phrase: Paris Hilton did more time than Scooter Libby.

    No arguments there, James. All I’m saying is that we have way more than one strong talking point available to us on this thing. Done correctly (not wishy-washy or half-assed), they would all be highly effective.

    I’ve heard interviews with more than a few people in the media business about folks in the corporate media and why they are so soft (won’t ask the tough or even obvious questions). It’s not just because they know who their bosses are (the corporate ownership of the papers and TV stations they work for and the accompanying financial interests), it’s that’s today’s corporate media reporter actually identifies more with the people they are supposed to be reporting on than the general public they are supposed to be reporting to.

  17. on 15 Jul 2007 at 8:58 pm 17. JP Stormcrow said …

    One final word (for now) on this circus.
    The Wall Street Journal had a forum on blogging as this was supposedly the 10th anniversary of “the blog” - via Digby here is a relevant excerpt from Jane Hamsher’s contribution:

    That message wasn’t carried by the beltway Brahmins of the MSM, the media elite who transcend party loyalties and embrace Libby as one of their own. They collectively bristled at the thought that Scooter (and no doubt themselves) should be subject to the verdict of some “ignorant jury” (as Ann Coulter likes to call them). No, that message was carried by bloggers and their readers, the thousands of people who collectively pored over the story’s coverage, serving as institutional memory and holding media outlets to account when the politics of access journalism threaten to obscure the truth.

    It literally is a group of people trying to desperately to be the only ones “in the know”. In fact there is in general an insider knowledge barrier between bloggers and the national political media. (And I think if/when this begins to disappear there will be many a challenge for the top-end bloggers to not go down the same path.) But for now bloggers must do things like attend/read trial transcripts - and that is one aspect of things getting into the courts - that nagging public record** and the threat of perjury (ha!) that makes everyone in that class so allergic to things going the legal route.

    ** At least for now. If we continue down our current path, one can imagine a growing list of crimes and circumstances that will be classified as involving security risks and much broader grounds for the government to not make public court proceedings.

  18. on 16 Jul 2007 at 12:05 pm 18. Oaktown Girl said …

    That’s why they can be like piranhas over some blowjob, but won’t touch lying the US into war with a pole - precisely because the first is not important, and thus doesn’t have the power to undermine the people’s trust in their basic benevolence.

    Agreed, christian. It’s the whole Anna Nicole/Paris Hilton diversion, just that the stakes and need for diversion are higher.

    JP - back to the trunk for you for putting up that comment (#17) late on a Sunday night and making my head spin with too much to think/worry about. As if I didn’t have enough already.

    Yeah, bloggers getting co-opted like print/TV journalists have been is a problem, but currently we have good policing around that with other bloggers calling them out. The greater threat immediately is if Congress gives over the internet to the corporations, and equal access to information is destroyed. That’s why Net Neutrality is so critical.

  19. on 18 Jul 2007 at 1:57 pm 19. JP Stormcrow said …

    In case you haven’t bled enough from the ears re: Libby, Eric Boehlert has a great summary of how the press capped off their whole pathetic performance on Plame/Libby by the way they reported the commutation. See his column Libby, Bush and the lapdog press at Media Matters.

    A couple of highlowlights:

    For the Beltway press, the Libby commutation was, at best, a three-day story. Yet try to imagine if, in 1995, President Clinton had stepped in and tossed out the 21-month jail sentence for Webster Hubbell, his senior aide and minor Whitewater player who was convicted of tax evasion. Would the press have treated that as a two- or three-day story?

    On CNN, host Anderson Cooper framed the story as just more partisan sniping: “No matter what the Democrats do on the Hill, Scooter Libby won’t go to jail. Much of this is political theater. Some might even say ‘politics as usual.’ ”

    With these a’holes as watchdogs, I’m sure that it will become ‘politics as usual’.

  20. on 18 Jul 2007 at 2:10 pm 20. Oaktown Girl said …

    On CNN, host Anderson Cooper framed the story as just more partisan sniping: “No matter what the Democrats do on the Hill, Scooter Libby won’t go to jail. Much of this is political theater. Some might even say ‘politics as usual.’ ”

    I can’t sugarcoat this: Fuck Anderson Cooper with a telephone pole, and fuck his fucking parroting of right wing talking points.

    “Journalist” my ass.

  21. on 18 Jul 2007 at 2:16 pm 21. christian h. said …

    What the hell is wrong with these people? Can’t they report on sports or something? In the revolutionary spirit, I’d have some different ideas how telephone poles and Cooper can be brought together…

  22. on 18 Jul 2007 at 3:40 pm 22. JP Stormcrow said …

    Can’t they report on sports or something?

    Actually, I have seen it mentioned and I tend to agree that sports reporting is generally much better than the national political media. It ain’t all great, but at least with the sports stuff there seems to be a finite limit to the amount of BS you can cram down people’s throats before they call you on it, and the sports reporters have adjusted to that. Keith Olbermann may be an example of the phenomenon. Anyway, I would trade every dogass third-rate sportswriter in the country right now for the whole Washington/NY crew. We certainly would not do any worse.