Poor Scooter Libby needs your money for his defense

[dajoki]

Scooter Libby Wants Your Money
What you can learn about his case from his new Web site.

By John Dickerson
Posted Monday, Feb. 27, 2006, at 3:32 PM ET


Scooter Libby has a Web site http://www.scooterlibby.com. He's not running for office, but the site makes it looks like he is. The lead picture on the front page shows him with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Other snapshots portray him in soft focus and at oblique angles, the kinds of images candidates use to make themselves look more huggable. Fortunately, Libby's Web designers didn't stoop to showing him with dogs and children.

The vice president's former top aide spent his career behind the scenes, which may be laudable from a policy perspective, but it's problematic now that he's in a fix. Americans didn't have much of an image of him before he was indicted on five felony counts of obstruction of justice, perjury, and false statements. The newspaper photos published since have made Libby look like he's stood in line all day at the free clinic.

The Web site is the public face of the Libby Legal Defense Trust, which is raising money for Libby's defense. "Good lawyers are very expensive," says the site. "And Scooter and his family already have made many sacrifices during Scooter's ten years of dedicated public service. Now they need our help to win this fight." There are several remarkable things about the Libby site. The first is the astonishing power of his friends. Despite his troubles, an incredible array of GOP rainmakers and powerbrokers stand with him. The advisory committee would make any GOP candidate salivate. Its chairman, former ambassador to Italy, Mel Sembler, is a former RNC finance chairman as is Lawrence E. Bathgate II. Mercer Reynolds, Sam Fox, and Wayne Berman brought in heaps of cash for George Bush's presidential campaigns. Members of the Republican establishment, including former United Nations Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and former Energy Secretary Spence Abraham and others with the titles "Honorable" or "Ambassador," have also put their reputations behind Libby. The fund hopes to raise $5 million. Visitors can add to the $2 million reportedly already raised without worrying about disclosure. The Libby team is not releasing the names of its donors.

The soft Scooter sell is about more than just raising money. It's also about cleaning up his image for the public, the press, and potential jurors. The Web site offers a page titled "What You Aren't Hearing," with testimonials lined up like movie blurbs. The endorsements, taken from Bush and Cheney's public comments, news articles, and television chat shows, offer hints about Libby's defense that go beyond his legal team's official filings. The Web site suggests three strategies his lawyers may pursue.

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http://www.slate.com//id/2136889

[A K A Stone]

1. libby

Libby needs to go to jail

[dajoki]

4. Along with Rove, Cheney, etc., etc., etc. n/t

[Pam-Moby]

2. I will have my donation out to him

ASAP. My 1 cent penny is in the mail. :rofl:

[waiting for hope]

3. That is just so damn

pathetic....you know when it's all said and done, he's going to turn on someone (he better not go hunting during that time..) and write a book (my good, I forgot, he is a writer! :sarcasm: ) for the millions to be made. Asshole.

[dajoki]

5. i wish i could...

think of a stronger word, but pathetic is about perfect.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

6. Scooter, here ya go...

Money makes the world go around,
the clinking, clanking sound
of Money, money, money, money,
Money, money, money, money,
Get a little, get a little,
Money, money, money, money,
Mark, a yen, a buck or a pound,
That clinking, clanking clunking sound
is all that makes the world go round,
It makes the world go round

Ahem...check's in the mail. :rofl: