Robert Novak's Final Words on the Plame Case: "The Hell with You!"

editorandpublisher.com ^ | Published: August 18, 2009 1:15 PM ET

[Cyber Liberty]

I loved you, Bob, so I agree: “The Hell with them.”

[stephenjohnbanker]

“George Bush was the President and would have had NO problem defending himself if he had chosen to do so.

Ever. Even once.”

Amen!

[Jack Black]

I am pleased that he commuted Libby’s sentence, and that the Supreme Court finally told Plame to take a hike.

So, Libby is a convicted felon, for what? For having a different memory of two conversations with reporters five years after the fact. This was a travesty, and Bush's unwillingness to set it right with a full pardon shows his weakness quite clearly.

[Cboldt]

-- As for Bush, he bungled it from the start. He should have labeled Joe Wilson as an incompetent liar and made it clear that the "exposure" of Valerie Plame - from whatever source - didn't amount to a bucket of warm pee. --

Amen. He capitulated to a DEM call for a special prosecutor, which itself lent "heft" to the false charge that an outing had occurred. Libby lied his ass off to investigators, and got burned. All Libby had to do to avoid prosecution was admit he knew (from the CIA) that Plame worked for the CIA, and that he told/confirmed that to Miller and Cooper.

As it is, some DEMs, to this day, assert that Plame was covert, that Cheney damaged a CIA asset, etc.

[Cboldt]

-- So, Libby is a convicted felon, for what? --

Basically for claiming, in the context of an investigation about who know Mrs. Wilson worked at the CIA, he was damn sure he never contacted the CIA about whether or not Mrs. Wilson worked at the CIA.

[A.Hun]

This was a travesty,

GWB believed in the law. Libby doing time would have been the travesty, and Bush prevented that while still respecting the court system. Bush did the same with all his pardons and commutations. Weakness had nothing to do with it.

It was up to Libby to clear his name, something he decided not to do.

[Moonman62]

If anybody screwed Scooter, it was W.

[bobsatwork]

...at the request of Fitzgerald, I have kept secret... - I agree that this is short of a gag order, but but Fitz is a talented, ruthless and unscrupulous prosecutor. Not sure I would have crossed him.

[Tribune7]

But George Bush wasn't much helped by it.

That's his own damn fault. He should have pardoned Libby or fired Fitzpatrick.

[GOPJ]

I like Novak. Good man.

[Nervous Tick]

>> Fitz is a talented, ruthless and unscrupulous prosecutor

Talented and ruthless, eh?

And that explains the great strides he has made in his prosecution of Rod Blagojevich just how?

No, my take on Fitzgerald is, he is JUST like Eliot Spitzer — an egomaniac, a force to be reckoned with, a fire breather, but *only* until someone with guts stands up to him. The rest is pure PR (with the help of a complicit press) and intimidation with no substance or gravitas behind it.

Sadly, Robert Novak was not the man to stand up to Fitzgerald, although he could have been. I understand, but I sure don’t respect him for it.

[bobsatwork]

I should have said “UNSCRUPULOUS, talented, UNSCRUPULOUS, ruthless and UNSCRUPULOUS prosecutor”. Why on earth should he go after Blogo? Because he's a crook? That won't get Fitzy’s juices going. Now, if the name was Cheney or Rove, well... But this guy prosecuted, tried and convicted Scooter Libby for remembering a conversation with Tim Russert differently than Russert did. And that scares me.