little Timmy Russert may have big Plame problems

[welshTerrier2]

source: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2005_08_28_digbysblog_archive.html#112534324164889239

An equally egregious example is none other than the Monsignor --- Tim Russert. He too was subpoenaed and has since acknowledged that he spoke with Lewis Libby during the period in question. NBC released this very lawyerlike statement after he spoke with the special prosecutor that raises as many questions as it answers:

Mr. Russert told the Special Prosecutor that, at the time of that conversation, he did not know Ms. Plame's name or that she was a CIA operative and that he did not provide that information to Mr. Libby. Mr. Russert said that he first learned Ms. Plame's name and her role at the CIA when he read a column written by Robert Novak later that month.

If Bill Clinton had issued that statement, Father Tim would have been all over it for weeks. When parsed it can only lead to one conclusion. NBC's lawyers carefully left the door open for it to be revealed that Russert knew that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and that he told Libby that. All this statement says is that he didn't know her name or that she was undercover.

[acmejack]

1. Not timmy!

Big Russ would be so disappointed. Tell me it ain't so timmy.

[Tesla]

2. He sure has let the W/right have their say on covering up questions

about the whole affair.
Plus ol Timmy has been missing alot lately.

[Pirate Smile]

3. But who would have told Tim?

[Vickers]

13. That's the thing! See, they keep trying to shift the knowledge to the

press, failing to see that SOMEBODY HAD TO TELL THEM.

[Independent_Liberal]

4. Kick and thanks for posting this WT2!

[Julius Civitatus]

5. Karma is a bitch!

Timmy Russert should have known he was swimming with sharks, and these GOP bullies would use him like a TOOL, and then push him under the bus whenever convenient.

He shouldn't come crying now. He knew he was getting in bed with a group as ruthless as the mafia.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Oh, finally. Good news.

[emulatorloo]

9. what's good about it? Timmy scapegoated lets Rove Libby off the hook

OTOH personally I do no believe the Russert was the source of the Plame leak. This is just BS designed to deflect responsibility from the White House.

[welshTerrier2]

14. "lets Rove Libby off the hook" ??

no it doesn't ...

Rove and Libby leaked the information to Novak who published it ...

if Russert did indeed leak the information to Libby, that did NOT give Libby (or Rove) the right to take it to the press ...

[emulatorloo]

15. a reporter told me! I didn't know it was classified! the law says you have

to know!

[Totally Committed]

16. "Ignorance of the law is not defense."

Isn't that still SOP in courts of law in this country?

TC

[emulatorloo]

17. apparently though this law is "knowingly leaked classified info"

at least that is my understanding from what I have read. . .so if they can "prove" they didn't know it was classified, then that gets them off the hook.

[welshTerrier2]

21. your argument doesn't hold up ...

your statement about the law is accurate ...

what doesn't hold up, though, is that they would be "off the hook" whether Russert is scapegoated or he isn't ...

regardless of how they obtained and then leaked the information, if they can "prove they didn't know it was classified", by your own argument they would be "off the hook" ...

if Russert is guilty, i hope they hang him with the rest ... he is one of the most dangerous in the MSM ... many are taken in by his "pretense of balance" ... he does a fine job appearing to be balanced except for the most subtle imbalances that tip the scale ... many see the big pile of straw he puts on the camel and see him as fair; what they don't notice is that final straw that breaks the camel's back ... that's the one that ultimately does all the damage ...

[emulatorloo]

22. This isn't my argument it is Karl and Scooter's

if you look at my other post (SEE #10) I do not believe Fitz will buy it.

As always though being a dog lover, I admire the tenacity of a terrier.

[welshTerrier2]

23. "the tenacity of a terrier"

we can be a bit stubborn, i suppose ... :hi:

"tenacity" sounds so much better though ...

[emulatorloo]

24. I love them!

:toast:

[karynnj]

25. He seems less unbalanced than others

because he does allow the person he is interviewing to have a minute or more to answer a question. So, Kerry, Kennedy and others who are intelligent can get their side out. With some of the others, any one disagreeing with the host is cut off if they attempt more than a yes or no answer.

His interview with Bush showed Bush in a less than flattering light - unlike almost all the rest of his coverage. I think Russert was tougher on Kerry - but Kerry basically answered everything well. He should have asked Bush some of the harder questions he asked Kerry on Iraq.

[demgrrrll]

7. Mr. Potato Head, boiled, mashed and fried. Exxxxcelllllllllent

.

[meg]

8. This is Rove's initial line of defense

A reporter told me. Now this is Libby's? Obviously, as Cheney's guy and WHIG guy, Libby new at least in June. Libby did not need little Tim to tell him.

[emulatorloo]

10. It is total BS designed to deflect responsibility from the White House

blame the press for Plame leak.

This ain't gonna fly with Fitz and the grand jury.

[meg]

19. agreed (nt)

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. Libby can't claim innocence on a boomerang defense.

He started it, and just because the information came back to him, doesn't release him from responsibility

[yellowcanine]

11. Hmm - starting to sound as if SOMEONE in the WH leaked the basic

facts (Wilson's wife = CIA) to several reporters, including Russert and Judith Miller, who in turn leaked it to other administration officials. SOMEONE was trying to get around the bothersome little illegality of releasing classified information. Who is the SOMEONE and when did Bush know what that SOMEONE did?

[Totally Committed]

12. What goes around, comes around...

Karma, as they say, is a bitch!

TC

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

18. I remember being surprised that Russert

was among the first to cave and testify.

[LeftyElvis]

26. He's

a bush buttboy.

[kodi]

27. they are just a bunch of fucking kabuki players on the potomac

NY Times, Washington Post, broadcast "journalists," all of them.

these bastards are manufacturing consent and public opinion in a manner that would astonish even walter lippmann and gain the applause of Joesph goebbels.

The only way to change it is for some of them to get necklaced.