With Bush officially implicated, which of these will now ensue?

[saltpoint]

Poll question: With Bush officially implicated, which of these will now ensue?

Nine choices are given and all are necessarily abbreviated owing to limited poll space. Still, most DUers can see the skeleton of a possible news event or future development.

Today's official linking of the president to the Plame leak investigation prompted this poll. If what you think will happen next is not listed in the first nine choices, a tenth slot is marked 'OTHER.'

Comments welcome after you vote.

TIA

[meatloaf]

1. Bushco will spin this as "pResident can declassify anything he wants."

Corporate owned media will repeat this spin ad nauseum for the next week, and this will join the long list of Bushco criminal activities the go unchecked.

[saltpoint]

2. I'm always fearful of that outcome, meatloaf, but I wonder if lately

here critical mass has been achieved -- finally -- and that the accumlative damage Bush has done to hiimself and his administration will be the tipping point.

The media -- hapless and craven as they usually are -- are just not buying it anymore.

[neoblues]

47. About the media... they're still craven and hapless...

They're still taking every opportunity to put Republican spin on everything. However, I do see that here and there, they are, at least, giving a little coverage to unflattering items--things they would previously have buried. Republicans are still in charge, and corporations are still largely owned by Republicans and no doubt still desire the continued deregulation and protections provided by their Republican political purchases... So, why are we seeing a little upturn in the media coverage (and it hasn't got anything to do with what they 'buy'; it's not as though they're just waking up--they've been very deliberately controlled from the beginning of Bush)? Why now? What's in it for them?

[saltpoint]

56. Can't say, except that there is a contant current through media

coverage -- sort of an existential hum -- between their cravenness toward the corporate state on one hand and their desire to actually report something worthy of their time, since my guess is anyway, it's more conservative toward the top than out in the field. It's one thing for a fatcat producer to censor or twist or lean a story but quite another to shut Christiane Amanpour up in Khabul.

Well in any case, I buoyed by the news today and will watch to see how KKKarl and Dick figure out how to extricate themselves from their own tangled webs. Could be kind of entertaining.

[neoblues]

71. It is a delight to see them squirm...

if nothing else (and hopefully alot else).

[mattclearing]

4. Don't think so.

Not after all of that "find the leaker and fire him/her" nonsense. Bush was totally out of line here, and it's really easy to flash up video of him saying it.

[saltpoint]

8. I had forgotten to tabulate in all the clips of Bush and McClellan

talking about finding out who the leaker is, not unlike O J promising to capture the "real killer."

You're right, I think. Bush will have to respond to those man conflicting statements sooner or later.

It will be a fun press conference to watch.

[mattclearing]

53. Reid has them already!

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Dem_leader_ReidBush_must_come_clean_0406.html

President Bush, 9/30/03:

"I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."

President Bush, 9/30/03:

"If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of. . . . I have told our administration, people in my administration to be fully cooperative. I want to know the truth. If anybody has got any information inside our administration or outside our administration, it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business."

President Bush, 10/28/03:

"I'd like to know if somebody in my White House did leak sensitive information."

President Bush, 6/10/04:

Reporter: "Do you stand by your pledge to fire anyone found to have done so?"

President Bush: "Yes. And that's up to the U.S. Attorney to find the facts."

President Bush, 10/28/03:

"I want to know the truth. ... I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is, partially because, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of protecting the leakers."

President Bush, 7/18/05 issue of USA Today:

"If someone committed crime, they will no longer work in my administration."

White House Press Secretary, 9/29/03:

"The President has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration."

White House Press Secretary, 10/7/03:

"Let me answer what the President has said. I speak for the President and I'll talk to you about what he wants . . .If someone leaked classified information, the President wants to know. If someone in this administration leaked classified information, they will no longer be a part of this administration, because that's not the way this White House operates, that's not the way this President expects people in his administration to conduct their business."

[saltpoint]

57. These are getting around, no doubt about it. And are fresh in some

folks' minds anyway.

Bush's next press conference is going to be on the rough side, I believe.

[mike_c]

13. ultimately, that will make him look even worse because he lied...

...so vociferously about NOT knowing anything about the leak. It makes him look like a liar and a devious coward. Oh, wait a minute....

[sable302]

50. or congress gives Bush that authority

........retroactively.

That's the way it's been going lately.

[rurallib]

3. Crazy combination of diversions

including the Iranian bombing, announcing capturing #2 Al-Quieda leader and arrests of so-called terrorist cell in US plus filing of charges against some peace group.
Call it their 'shotgun' plan. Thought up by Dickless Cheney

[saltpoint]

5. Hi, rurallib. You post a plausible scenario. And god knows these

people have done that sort of combo-emergency thing in the past.

I liked your profile description (active for Kerry and other Dems) and say thanks for your post.

[waiting for hope]

6. Snotty McClellan's Head Explodes!

After five minutes into the Press Conference, McClellan's head expanded like a balloon and just burst! The theory is that he couldn't contain the massive amount of bullshit floating around!

[saltpoint]

12. Yep. It's going to put the pressure on Scott McClellan. While he seems

like a likeable chap, I think you're right that this new development will make his head explode.

There was talk that he would be replaced now that Josh Bolten is chief of staff. Scott might want to hasten the process and just leave -- say, this afternoon or tomorrow morning at the latest -- to avoid the din outside the windows calling for Bush's head on a platter.

[waiting for hope]

19. I kinda feel sorry for the guy...

and then I realize that it was his choice to do this job...it would be in his best interest to leave so he can salvage his career. I would love to be a fly on the wall during the pre-press conference briefing....:popcorn:

[saltpoint]

28. Yes. Poor Scotty. He underestimated the tidal wave of lies and

pressure. He looks physically uncomfortable in that press room, doesn't he.

Well. One or two phone calls and he's out the door into other, less stressful work.

[neoblues]

52. to salvage his sanity, humanity and basic

respectability as a person. Then again, if he's anything like the people he works with, the contradictions and loss of integrity that he has to endure doesn't bother him a bit. Remember, we're imagining how it would feel to ourselves to have to lie through our teeth and be called on it regularly; it would bother us a hell of alot more. So, until we know more about him, it may be a bit too soon to conclude he deserves any sympathy.

[ronnykmarshall]

34. Puffy Mc Moonface is gonna blow!

[central scrutinizer]

7. Where is the choice "Nothing"

I can't count how many "Bush is toast" "drip, drip, drip", "the tide has turned", "the dam is breaking", "the camel's back is breaking" , metaphor, metaphor, etc., I have read on DU since 2002. With our corporate media, all Republican presidents are made of solid Teflon, not just Teflon-coated. Soon another pretty blond girl will go missing, Michael Jackson will do something stupid, or Jessica and Nick will patch it up, and the MSM will run off salivating after that much more important story. This, like Enron, like Downing Street, like Katrina incompetence, like the Medicare scam, WMD, Niger uranium, Halliburton theft, hacked and stolen elections, ad infinitum, will sink with nary a ripple.

[saltpoint]

16. I'll betcha a butterscotch pie it doesn't. Events must be gauged in

their accumulative context to get a proper reading.

It never happens as quickly as we want it to, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening at all.

I believe each new wound on the corpus of this diseased administration will reach a deserved and logical conclusion. 'Exactly when' is less the point than 'deservedly so.'

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Not much. A celebrity sex scandal will bury it.

"All politics is local." And the average American doesn't give a rip about political antics in D.C.

[saltpoint]

21. If the implication reads the way I think it does, they may re-evaluate.

I believe some of those locals' own reps are going to be issuing public statements calling for accountability and reform, and pronto, of this current, corrupt White House.

I think we've reached the point of no return for Bush. He either gets in front of the cameras to explain himself, or articles of impeachment will be drawn up, probably by a bipartisan committee.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

42. I hope you're right. But, I doubt it.

Most people don't even know who their rep is and know even less what he/she does for a living. Local rep gets on the local news and says something like, "I believe that the matter should be looked into thoroughly." End of story.

No doubt the Republicans will pay a price for their criminal behavior come November...if the Dems don't screw it up. But, the Plame fiasco has little impact on the average citizen. The cost of gas, the number of local GI's coming home in caskets, and potholes in the road, is more likely to decide their votes..if they vote.

If the Dems manage to take control of congress in '06 and, if the party bosses believe they can safely do so, they might launch an investigation. Then, the public might start to pay attention.

I ain't holding my breath or jumping for joy over this. But, I do see it as another drip in drip, drip, drip, process.

[bush_is_wacko]

10. 1,2,6 then maybe 5. But only 2 is likely to happen before Nov. IMO nt

[leftofthedial]

11. media spin

anything king george does is legal'

nothing to see here and now we have Rita Cosby with breaking news from the Bennigans in Aruba.

[saltpoint]

26. That was the outcome for too long, granted, but now I feel the

game momentum has shifted the other way.

The media will have to cover bipartisan objection to the president's evident lying. They themselves have clips of Bush wanting to "learn the identity of the leaker" and to "punish the person doing this leaking" etc.

Those clips will be piped into every U.S. household on Paula Zahn, Larry King, and so forth. If the craven whores over at FOX News want to compete in the ratings, they're going to have to run coverage that is embarrassing to their champion. Critical mass has been accomplished, and this presidency is not looking hale and hearty at this point.

[ronnykmarshall]

14. Bin Ladin seen in Aruba.

Spotted putting Natalie Holloway's finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili.

[saltpoint]

18. LOL! Good one, ronnykmarshall. I think bin Laden would really dig

Aruba, too.

[pdxmom]

15. Another pretty white girl will go missing. n/t

[saltpoint]

17. Possibly Kay Bailey Hutchison. She'll take one for the team.

She'll engineer her own abduction in a Houston bus station to distract the media from Bush's fetid lies.

Her staff will be interviewed 24/7, thrashing and weeping on the floor of the Senate.

Paula Zahn and Larry King will do live shows from the Greyhound terminal.

[ronnykmarshall]

29. Aqua net stock plunges!!

[saltpoint]

32. LOL! Love it! If this doesn't actually occur, let's you and me FILM it.

[ronnykmarshall]

37. Very John Waters.

We'll have women in beauty salons weeping while gettin a wash and set.

[saltpoint]

41. Excellent. And their husbands and boyfriends under the shadows of

trees in a small park across from the White House, being serviced by Jeff Gannon.

We might as well hit all the issues.

[pdxmom]

51. I said PRETTY white GIRL! n/t

[saltpoint]

59. Sorry, pdxmom. I feel for ya, but the deal is already inked with

Paramount. We start shooting with Kay Bailey in the lead after the Easter recess.

[Ian David]

20. Bush will never leave office peacefully under any circumstance

He'll "pull the trigger" on The Apocalypse if he has to.

One way or another, he's going to see to it that come January 11, 2009 he's still the pResident, or else we're all dead.

[saltpoint]

23. I think Barbara Boxer would charge into the Oval Office and punch

the little turd out first.

There has been significant erosion of personal liberites under this president, but he is still subject to history's card game. I don't personally think he has the high cards left in his hand at this point, and the ship's sinking and the rats are scurrying.

[Ian David]

27. Watch him issue an Executive Order extending his presidency...

due to an "emergency."

Guilliani tried to extend his term as mayor after 9/11, too.

Bush won't leave.

Bush will be like Hitler in his bunker after the November 2008 elections-- if we have elections.

Bush won't leave.

[saltpoint]

35. Then he'll have to be dragged out kicking and screaming.

I envision Barbara Boxer leading that posse and I'd be damned honored to hold the door for her, too.

[giant_robot]

22. Here's what's going to happen:

Some White House correspondent or reporter will muster up the cojones to ask * about Libby's testimony. As per usual, he'll trip over a few words, speak a few incomplete sentences, then ramble on about someting unrelated to the question. The right will call him a brave man for addressing these accusations, the left will call him a clueless asshole, and it will all be mostly forgotten after two weeks.

I'm not saying I like it, I'm just saying that's the way it is.

[saltpoint]

30. What if Fitzgerald calls Bush to testify, under oath, and Bush lies

under oath?

The press's immediate reaction to today is less the urgency than the persuasiveness of Fitz's file. This scenario is a down-the-road scenario, and I think a certain pseudocowboy had better be brushin' up his fibbin' skills.

[giant_robot]

48. I would honestly love to see that. But remember that...

...Fitz's job is to get to the bottom of the Plame leak, and he goes about it rigorously and professionally. His job is not to remove Bush from office before our country goes down the shithole. And that's not going to happen until the Democrats take back Congress.

Sorry, maybe I'm just feeling unusually negative today, but the censure hearing has convinced me that there is *nothing* Dubya can do, no matter how criminal, no matter how immoral, no matter how treasonous, that will be bad enough for the current congress to hold him accountable. The 'pubs will give him a pass, and the democrats, with a few notable exceptions (Conyers, Feingold) will do nothing. Mark my words, it will be about two weeks of hue and cry followed by business as usual.

[cynatnite]

36. terra... 9/11... terra... saddam... 9/11... terra... etc

I think he'll try it, but given what I heard Kerry say a few minutes ago on MSNBC, I'm not so sure.

'It's about as serious as it gets'. Does not bode well. I think we'll be hearing impeachment talk a lot more now.

[salin]

24. In the future... we learn that at this point in time Bush started

hiring occultists to try to Channel Ronald Reagan for advice... and his (jrs) actions became even more erratic (because he was channelling up a dead, old senile man).

[saltpoint]

Salin, that's a priceless entry into this discussion. I mean it --

that is a sensationally good post.

A craven halfwit channeling an embecilic clown.

Bravo to you for that.

[salin]

39. *smooches*

today has just brought out my snarky, but periodically clever side ;-)

[saltpoint]

43. Well, keep up the good work. And by the way, I always like to see

Mr. Conyers in a signature space like that.

Would that we had more of him and many fewer of Jeff Sessions and those 2 dildo-brains from Oklahoma, and Santorum, and Jean Schmidt, etc.

[salin]

54. well those last two appear to be on their way out.

funny little item from Cincy today... repub primary debate event and Jean refuses to agree to appear - so not wanting a single person event... the repub organizers decided to invite the SNL commedienne who has played Mean Jean in a skit on the show to take her place in the event.

Never a good sign when your own party sets the course for your own ridicule - and you are the incumbent.

[saltpoint]

60. True. I heard that the offer had been made to Rachel Dratch. I hope

it goes through. What a hoot that would be.

[ClintonTyree]

25. Wag the Dog.

There's nothing like a good war to satisfy America's bloodlust. It trumps everything else out there. "Strategic" bombing of Iran, without a doubt. Blow some shit up, wave the flag, plaster some more ribbon magnets all over our cars. It's the American way! :patriot:

[saltpoint]

38. When I put that in one of the slots, albeit with decidedly less flash

and excellent description than you described it, I wished that this were not an option, that it would be too inhumane to consider.

Unfortunately you are correct to say that American presidents have it at their disposal as an "American Way" strategy.

I fingers are crossed that it won't happen, but I'm a realist at heart, and I know it could.

[Solly Mack]

31. "Unitary executive...inherent powers of the President...blah blah blah"

"We had been attacked......national security demanded we act and this was the best way....blah blah blah"

Same old shit he's been spouting for years....

[saltpoint]

44. If that is Dubya's response to this story, it will have a dminishing

utility, I feel.

The media --yes, even the media -- is no longer lapping it off the floor every time Rumsfeld or Rice or Cheney or Bush lies to them, lies to them, lies to them, etc. The press is now, finally, standing up to the administration and the same strategy they've always invoked is not taking any more.

The coming weeks will see a new batch of Republicans rising up to demand the president come clean.

This time the president's lies are in the undeniable zone. It's not just a Cindy Sheehan down at the ranch thing. This has become a future of the nation, future of the GOP thing, and I think the big guns will be oiled and ready.

[Solly Mack]

46. I hope you're right

I really do

But, if I may, I think the future of the nation has been at stake for a while now...and the GOP hasn't cared.

However, GOP self-preservation would indeed drive them to abandon Shrub

[saltpoint]

49. Maybe that is a strange, if selfish, part of the overall scenario.

If BushCo could rise to power and take over the GOP (and my god have they stunk up the place doing so), then I suppose another interest could emerge and do the same thing. And I hope next time it would be less onerous than this time.

The Bush family has done no one any favors, including their own damned party. I think a lot of DUers are right to say that Dubya will not enjoy the respect of many historians. I put him in there with Nixon and Harding, and maybe worse.

[0007]

33. Iran better start ducking after the Libby nooz.

[saltpoint]

40. That choice is getting some votes, yes.

I wonder if Iran gets so anxious that a U.S. air strike is imminent that the tension might provoke them to strike pre-emptively on U.S. troops in Iraq.

It would likely catch the Coalition forces completely by surprise.

Hey. If Bush can do pre-emptive war, so can other places, huh?

[0007]

45. 'Tis possible! Iran could catch em all hanging around

the tv watching FAUX Nooz with Brit Hume telling it like it is in a fair and balanced demeanor.

[Bucky]

55. Fuck, I hope I'm wrong. But I'm voting for the Iran bombing

I hope hope hope I'm as wrong as orphan jell-o on this. But it's certainly possible that the guy who told Mickey Herskowitz that great leaders are created by wars before they go on to pass all their legislative agendas has it in his brain (sic) that the initiative can be reclaimed with the right crisis. As the Harriet Miers nomination showed, there are times when they let the boy make his own decisions. What's scary about the Woodward books is that they show quite often these otherwise intelligent, if still evil, people in the White House go to Bush for the final decisions.

Now, with Card packing, Rove and Cheney scrambling to cover their patoots from the Libby rollover, and Rice and Rummy squabbling over whose made the mistakes in Iraq (like there's not enough snafus for us all to share!), the distinct possibility is that no one is minding the baby while he looks at that pretty glowing red button they keep in the Oval Crib.

[saltpoint]

61. Your scenario & reasons to back it up are frighteningly plausible.

Bush is in essence an antiintellectual bully, a backalley punk. There's the lure of the jack in polls and of course the pretense of feeling that rush of power again, knowing you can drop megaton bombs on unarmed civilian populations.

I guess Iran's military is more formidable than Afghanistans, say, or Iraq's, but still, it's not a fair fight and if something is not fair, I expect members of the Bush administration to be on it like flies on you-know-what.

[Bucky]

68. Yeh, Bush should totally listen to me. Sadly, as Poppy said "Na Ga Ha"

"I guess Iran's military is more formidable than Afghanistans, say, or Iraq's, but still, it's not a fair fight and if something is not fair, I expect members of the Bush administration to be on it like flies on you-know-what."

I'm not saying that invading Iran is not a fight we can't win. My view is that it's a fight we can't fight. Besides all the usual geostrategic stupidities (which never stopped Bush anyway) the real problem with invading Iran is that we don't have the available military. 70-80% of our army ground forces are tied down with Iraq--either in country, training to go in for another tour of duty, or recuperating from a recent tour incountry. We got nothing to hit them with.

All we really have is our navy missiles and our Air Force. We can damage and embitter Iran, but we really don't have the ability to stop them from doing squat in the world. As long as our troops are in Iraq, Iran has almost free reign in the region. They're the 900 pound gorilla of the Middle East now. The rule of thumb is this: if you can't fight a 900 pound gorilla, for God's sake don't start flinging your poop on him!

[Neil Lisst]

58. Bush orders limited air strikes

Bush orders limited air strikes on strategic Iranian targets to jack up polls

[saltpoint]

62. Several people believe that's what Bush will do. In another post I

wondered out loud what would happen if iran, sensing that an attack was imminent, decided to launch traditional missiles into the Green Zone in Baghdad, well within its range.

Bush is always crowing about his right to pre-emptive warfare; what if Iran launched the missiles and then as they fell on our troops in Iraq, announced that it, too, endorsed the Bush concept of pre-emption and that they acted accordingly.

That is a bloodthirsty scenario, but not appreciatively different from the one Bush visited upon Iraq. The assault on those sites, if one is being planned, seems to me as if the Pentagon considers Iran a still-life. If Iran's missiles were fired first at the Green Zone, or at concentrations of Coalition troops, or at Israel, the Pentagon would have to scramble to figure out its next step.

[Neil Lisst]

66. I think Bush would love to see that kind of retaliation from Iran.

To whip up the home crowd.

The more Bush's presidency spirals out of the control, the greater the likelihood he foments war with Iran, probably contrived.

[saltpoint]

67. Yes, I see your point. Rove has probably drawn up several scenarios

that cover the range of options and likely outcomes.

God what a dark-spirited bunch these people are.

[Swamp Rat]

63. Other: All of the above in some combination, with political chaos mixed in

First and foremost, there is utter panic in the White House right now. People are getting screamed at and fired, which may cause disgruntled employees to collect more evidence. ;)

Cheney's heart is probably being examined by Imperial Technicians after it reported a malfunction as he passed a Bluetooth-enabled nursing station. I take solace (schadenfreud) in knowing that they are feeling extremely miserable at this very moment. :)

Their legislative initiatives will be blocked, investigations will continue, committees will be held - Bushler will be censured, then he will "wag the dog," then impeachment proceedings will begin... or maybe a military coup will take place after Bushler tries to order nuclear strikes on Iran.

Nevertheless, look for a "Gulf on Tonkin" incident to occur sometime soon.

[saltpoint]

64. Good points all, Swamp Rat, but I like especially the point on

in-house wrangling and backbiting. The panic, as you put it.

Plus that recent little snippy dust-up with Condiliar's "1,000 tactical errors," and then Rumsfeld's "I don't know what she's talking about" follow-up.

It seems to go beyond professional jealousies and common mean-spiritedness into a higher realm of deceit and obsession. I hope I never meet these people and I can't wait until the day when a Democratic president appoints a responsible, cohesive Cabinet.

[Swamp Rat]

65. Well, they are cannibals after all.

Now the feast begins. :)

[Trevelyan]

69. I voted Impeachment because that is what should happen and I am taking the

advice of fellow DUer to Visualize Impeachment.

[saltpoint]

70. It is sound advice, and I'm doing it right now. And I'm liking what

I'm seeing, too!