Special counsel Fitzgerald enters the line of fire
No matter how their lawyers spin it, this is unacceptable behavior for high officials entrusted with national security secrets. If President Bush is serious about his often professed desire to get to the bottom of the Plame leak, he should demand the resignations of those who had any role in leaking her identity, regardless of whether they are indicted or convicted.
- Houston Chronicle editorial
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald’s indictment of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby should be the final proof that the system of “special prosecutors” is bankrupt and ought to be abandoned.
- David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey
Depending on which side of the ideoplogical spectrum you happen to call home, Partick Fitzgerald’s indictment of “Scooter” Libby is either proof that our legal system is ideologically blind and works as the Framers intended, or demonstrable proof that the Special Prosecutor system is bankrupt and needs to go the way of the buffalo. I find it interesting, though, that not until Fitzgerald indicted a member of the current Republican Administration did Rivkin and Casey (both previous members of Republican Administrations themselves) cry foul. The Houston Chronicle, whose editorial board NO ONE will ever accuse of being Liberal nutjobs, feels that the system is working as it was intended to. So who’s right? Well, given that Republicans had no problem with the Special Prosecutor when Kenneth Starr was staging his publicly-funded persecution of Bill Clinton, let’s just say that I’m enjoying the realization that justice really can be blind- if not fair and/or efficient.
Whether or not Ftizgerald indicts Karl Rove or Dick Cheney remains to be seen. It also remains to be seen if Fitzgerald can secure convictions in any of the indictments past or present. Nonetheless, it is good to see Republicans whining and caterwauling about the “miscarriage” of justice. Not that I’m a “tit-for-tat” kind of person, but if Republicans had no problems with Kenneth Starr’s publicly-funded witch hunt, then they have no business complaining about a Special Prosecutor who by all indications is interested in justice and not ideology.
IF Republicans had been truly interested in restoring what they so blithely referred to as “honor and dignity” to the White House, things might have been different. Boy, they really screwed the pooch on this one, didn’t they? Now that the tables have been turned on them, Republicans are discovering that karma can indeed be a real bitch. Yes, if you’re going to live by the sword, you certainly have no right to claim surprise when you eventually swallow the business end yourself.
Partick Fitzgerald’s investigation has been, to all available indications, anything but a witchhunt. Fitzgerald is clearly no Kenneth Starr, who was merely a partisan political hack brought into to add an aura of probity and rectitude to a naked and unseemly attempt to bring down a Democratic President. No, Republicans have brought this shame on themselves. When you conduct the People’s business using the mantra “Power corrupts, but Absolute Power is kinda fun” as your guiding philosophy, you have no room for complaint when you get called on your illegal behavior.
I don’t know what the denouement of this sorry saga will be, but for Republicans to claim that it is a politically-inspired witchhunt is disingenous at best and just plain shameless at worst. Hmm…whodathunk that “Republicans” and “hypocrisy” would dovetail so beautifully??
