It's All Libby All The Time In Media

The Skinny: Guilty Verdict Dominates Nation's Major News Outlets, But Does Anybody Else Really Care?

(CBS)  The Skinny is Hillary Profita's take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.

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Volume II of a lengthy Washington saga that captured the media's attention -- and pretty much no one else's -- is over. All of today's front pages (including the top of the Wall Street Journal's newsbox) document the details of yesterday's verdict in which Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted of lying to investigators in the CIA leak investigation.

The New York Times includes the most vivid description of Libby's reaction to the verdict: he "grimaced briefly before resuming his expressionless demeanor."

Everyone takes note of a special historical fun fact: Libby is the highest-ranking White House official to be convicted of a felony since the Iran-contra scandal. Or, as USA Today notes, he is also "the highest-ranking Bush administration official to be convicted of a crime."

And beyond that, each paper also has its own opinions on what this trial and the conviction represented for America.

"The trial highlighted the nation's divisions over the war, the Bush White House's intolerance of critics and the uneasy symbiosis between an elite tier of Washington journalists and their confidential sources inside the government," writes the Washington Post.

Other papers focus on the consequences for the Bush administration. USA Today writes that the conviction "could further burden a White House struggling with a 4-year-old war in Iraq and low poll ratings," and the Los Angeles Times echoes that sentiment, writing that the conviction "was one more setback for the Bush administration, already laboring under low approval ratings, public impatience with the war in Iraq and a new Democratic majority in Congress."

The LAT expends another front-page article discussing the potential of a presidential pardon for Libby, since the verdict "was also seen as an indictment of the White House political operation [Libby] helped design and direct."

The Google Factor

Meanwhile, in the real world, some job applicants are finding that Google searches are having an impact on their job searches.

A few law students interviewed by the Post reported that they were top-tier candidates for law firms, but were having trouble getting hired because of what they thought was "a new form of reputation-maligning: online postings with offensive content and personal attacks that can be stored forever and are easily accessible through a Google search."

The students were the subjects of "derogatory chats on a widely read message board" run by another law student. While it's "difficult to prove a direct link" between the messages' presence and their lack of job offers, the students' stories do raise some questions – especially since, according to the Post, "roughly half" of employers use the Internet to vet job applications and "about one-third of the searches yielded content used to deny a job."

Which means that there is a new service in town: ReputationDefender, "whose mission is to search for damaging content online and destroy it on behalf of clients."

More Fun With Financial Disclosures

After the Washington Post got some good mileage out of Sen. Hillary Clinton's financial disclosures, The New York Times has some questions about Sen. Barack Obama's.

The big question surrounds a $50,000 stock purchase in two companies "whose major investors included some of his biggest political donors."

One was a biotech company that was developing a drug to treat avian flu, and after buying $5,000 in shares, "Mr. Obama took the lead in a legislative push for more federal spending to battle the disease."

But, according to an Obama spokesman, the senator "did not know that he had invested in either company until fall 2005," because his broker purchased them as part of a blind trust. Once Obama learned of the purchase, he sold the shares at a $13,000 loss.

"Even so," writes the Times, "the stock purchases raise questions about how he could unwittingly come to invest in two relatively obscure companies, whose backers happen to include generous contributors to his political committees."

A NOTE TO READERS: The Skinny is now available via e-mail for those of you umbilically attached to your blackberries and whatnot. Click here and follow the directions to register to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.

[perception5]

"Guilty Verdict Dominates Nation's Major News Outlets, But Does Anybody Else Really Care?"

.....is any American surprised by the attention our corrupt liberal MSM wolfpack is giving this story?? Just another reminder of how corrupt and partisan our "free-left wing press" really is.

[terrapin78]

You bet that other people care. They are called citizens/voters! An informed voting public is a GOOD thing.

[dallison7]

"The trial highlighted the nation's divisions over the war, the Bush White House's intolerance of critics and the uneasy symbiosis between an elite tier of Washington journalists and their confidential sources inside the government,"


"The Bush White House's intolerance of critics"

That's certainly a mouthful in these times. This criminal regime will go to any lengths to get what they want. This must be one of the most corrupt and vile groups of people to ever attain a polsition of power in the history of the world.

These people need not only to be removed from power, but also to be handed over to a war crimes tribunal.

[mcvet]

is any American surprised by the attention our corrupt liberal MSM wolfpack is giving this story?? Just another reminder of how corrupt and partisan our "free-left wing press" really is.
Posted by perception5 at 09:59 AM : Mar 07, 2007

Would that be the same "free-left wing press" that exposed the abuses of Walter Reed? You poor small minded fascist just, for some reason, do not get it. The "free-left wing press" did NOT LIE to the American People then out a CIA agent attempting to cover it up. I'm sorry to tell all you rabid "attack the messenger" nazi's but that is EXACTLY what happened and it certainly isn't what those RADICAL LIBERALS who created this great nation intended. Sieg Heil!

[skyk-2009]

If REAL Republican's do not take back their party and soon, it's going to be nothing but a small and insignificant Party of the Radical Southern Fascist and Religious Reich. The people of this nation can not nor will not support any party that is run by these freaks.... just the facts there Republican's... the REAL ones that is.

[theusa1st]

That's certainly a mouthful in these times. This criminal regime will go to any lengths to get what they want. This must be one of the most corrupt and vile groups of people to ever attain a polsition of power in the history of the world.

These people need not only to be removed from power, but also to be handed over to a war crimes tribunal.
Posted by dallison7 at 10:00 AM : Mar 07, 2007

Anybody out there in the far left fringes remember Sandy Berger the burglar. Wasn't he another one from Clinton's Hall of Shame. How easy to forget...I quess stealing and destroying
are o.k. for the Dem's. And I guess it is o.k. for Clinton to lie under oath...but we can also forget about that. And has anybody else out there
heard that a former president of the ACLU was caught with some of the most disgusting form of
child porn ever found...little girls bound and raped and heard screaming. No, you won't hear that from the Main Stream Media...they are to far left...won't hunt one of their own even if they are disgusting pedophiles.

[huskerarmy]

USA1st,

Clinton lied about a head job so I can lie aboout outing a CIA agent? Start really putting USA first and stop trying to run interference for the neo-con thugs in the White House.

[karlimhof]

Just another reminder of how corrupt and partisan our "free-left wing press" really is.
Posted by perception5


blind ? or deaf, dumb and blind ?

[huskerarmy]

"Just another reminder of how corrupt and partisan our "free-left wing press" really is."
Preceptions,
Still blaming the messenger I see... A very antiquated tactic indeed.

[karlimhof]

If REAL Republican's do not take back their party and soon, it's going to be nothing but a small and insignificant Party of the Radical Southern Fascist and Religious Reich.

Posted by skyk


what party is left to take back ? it no longer has any credibility with America - it has proved to us all that it never possessed any "values", just power hungry neocon fascism.

[dallison7]

Anybody out there in the far left fringes remember Sandy Berger the burglar. Wasn't he another one from Clinton's Hall of Shame.
Posted by theUSA1st


WOULD YOU KINDLY EXPLAIN WHAT YOUR COMMENT HAS TO DO WITH THE TOPIC AT HAND.

You need to understand that you right wingnuts have worn out the 'point at Clinton' diversion tactic. No one is interested anymore in listening to you morons try to take attention away from the crimes of the Bush administration. The crimes have gotten too serious and the consequences to grave.

If pointing at Clinton and whining is all you have, you have nothing.

[karlimhof]

The republican party has now the dubious reputation as the most reckless, arrogant, and dishonest party ever -

the worst thing a person can do is to betray the trust another has given -

now imagine betraying the trust of a whole country.

Republicans can thank their neocon wing now in rule for destroying them for 100 years

THE PARTY THAT BETRAYED THE TRUST OF THE NATION - THE REPUBLICAN PARTY !

[huskerarmy]

The lengths to which blindly loyal GOPer lemmings are willing to go to shill for these corrupt neo-cons absolutely boggels the mind. They will go down in history for their hyper orthodoxy. The are truely the "good Germans" of this century.

[houchin21]

HILLARY CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT

[karlimhof]

by the way, we gathering a going-away present for Scooter -

i'm donating the vaseline

anyone have something to contribute ?

let's forget party divisions, this is really serious (scoot's a virgin!)

[karlimhof]

The are truely the "good Germans" of this century.
Posted by huskerarmy

you said it bro - it is so absolutely shameless and somehow hilarious - in my mind's eye I see them like sheep walking one after the other, off a cliff.

[mebrian1-2009]

So as an observer of this thread, what I find disturbing is the so-called 'left wingers' in this discussion choose to resort to nasty name calling rather than a substantive dialog. I find it difficult to handle being called a Nazi. It is sad that some of you so quickly and nonchalantly through that term out at people simple because they are Republican. If you want to discuss the facts and difference of opinions between political views, then why don't you do that? Instead, you choose to reduce your argument to name calling. If you really want people to read your post and consider your views why don't you drop the nonsense? I bet you through a fit though when Coulter used the term f@ggot the other day.

[notblue]

Why is it libby all the time?? Easy, leftwing mainstream media. All the lefties in these comment areas are either stupid or naive to think the media is nit agenda driven and biased and that the dems are not as corrupt politically as the republicans. HELLO!!!!!

[karlimhof]

by seymour hersh, www.newyorker.com ;

US Vice President *** Cheney. Now, instead of launching a war against Iran, Cheney with Bush%u2019s complicity, has pulled the trigger on a covert war of global proportions pitting Sunnis against Shias.

According to Hersh, Cheney%u2019s covert plan involves massive US financial backing for militant Sunni groups that are known to be inimical to the Shia militias of the Badr Brigades, the Mahdi Army, Hamas and Hezbollah all of whom support the revolutionary government of Iran. The US-backed Sunnis include the Muslim Brotherhood, a vast and powerful multinational organization, who are definitely on friendly terms with Al-Qaeda and its allies, including the Taliban. The government of Saudi Arabia is Sunni, although they are deeply despised by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda because of their subservience to their masters in big oil and George Bush%u2019s America.

The Israeli right and a rogue faction of the royal family of Saud who are loyal to Prince Bandar bin Sultan are backing Cheney%u2019s covert plan. The ultimate objective of Cheney%u2019s redirection of US strategy in the region is to redraw the national boundaries of the Middle East and to give an explosive multiple birth to a sprawling litter of new cantons, colonies, domains, enclaves, protectorates, statelets and territories all pledged to American and Israeli dominance of the region and its precious oil, gas and energy reserves.

[actornaught]

i couldn't believe this headline

and who said 'left wing press'? is that the same press that swamped us with the wonderfulness of the 'contract on america'? or the 'endless clinton trials that finally went nowhere' congress?

i'm sure it's the same press that's making a capitalist's wetdream killing (pardon the pun) on Anna Nichole whatsername....

[rpriddy]

The media constantly asserts that the Libby trial is of no interest outside the media or outside Washington. That's simply wrong. The Libby trial has brought to light some of the everyday subterfuge of this administration, particularly that of the vice president. Unfortunately, the media%u2019s constant downplaying of the importance and scope of this story is uncomfortably similar to the backseat approach they took to roll out of the Iraq war. The so called liberal media is so afraid of taking on the neo-conservatives they literally let them get away with%u2026 well what would you call the deaths of 3,000 American service people?

[frankly6]

notblue


So why would Scooter lie and obstruct a FEDERAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION into who outed a COVERT CIA OPERATIVE?


Why would he do that?

[notblue]

Plame and Wilson made millions of a situation they created and were given the ultimate leftwing media smokescreen letting the public hear only part of the truth. Thank CBS and the rest for all the money made. Rest assured this story is not over, Plame and Wilson will eventually be shown for what they truly are. Shame on CBS for enabling there plan.

[us_infidel]

'It's All Libby All The Time In Media'

The only good thing to come from the verdict is that we don't have to listen to any more ANNA NICOLE cr*p!

[lochlan-2009]

Media care about nothing but selling their product. The nation is head over heals that we're seeing atleast miniscule justice from this completly corrupt Administration, so of course we're buying. We're all waiting to see whether there really is justice in this country, or if we're going to get the typical slaughtered goat, before they let the media sweep all the lieing and robbing of the American people by their government under the rug.

[karlimhof]

Plame and Wilson made millions of a situation they created - notblue


not serious, notblue

the real fight was between Cheney and CIA. The Wilsons were collateral damage.

Office of Special Plans was Cheney's preferred intel source - it gave what he wanted.

Reasons to go to War.

[perception5]

Mr. Wilson should be going to jail for consistently lying about the facts of what "really" happened...... from the Washington Post this morning, the facts of this case:


"In conversations with journalists or in a July 6, 2003, op-ed, Wilson claimed to have debunked evidence that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger; suggested that he had been dispatched by Mr. Cheney to look into the matter; and alleged that his report had circulated at the highest levels of the administration.

A bipartisan investigation by the Senate intelligence committee subsequently established that all of these claims were false -- and that Mr. Wilson was recommended for the Niger trip by Ms. Plame, his wife. When this fact, along with Ms. Plame's name, was disclosed in a column by Robert D. Novak, Mr. Wilson advanced yet another sensational charge: that his wife was a covert CIA operative and that senior White House officials had orchestrated the leak of her name to destroy her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson.

The partisan furor over this allegation led to the appointment of special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald. Yet after two years of investigation, Mr. Fitzgerald charged no one with a crime for leaking Ms. Plame's name. The trial has provided convincing evidence that there was no conspiracy to punish Mr. Wilson by leaking Ms. Plame's identity -- and no evidence that she was, in fact, covert."- Washington Post

[rharrin1]

Libby Libby Libby that is how you keep bush and cheney out of this news.

[doc18d]

Thank you perception5

No COVERT CIA Operative was outed.
It is not illigal to disclose the name of an individual simply because they work within the CIA. There never should have been a two year investigation. There was no crime. But, lets go ahead and crucify someone in the Bush admin. Lets blame Libby and this time lets forget that the Clinton administration made it acceptable to lie to a grand jury, Just like they taught our kids that a &*%$ job is not ***. I NEVER HAD *** WITH THAT WOMAN!

[frankly6]

deception5

Wilson NEVER claimed that Cheney sent him anywhere. The talking head pundits you get your info from are paid millions to lie to the American people. Do you do it for free?

You need to get on the gravy train brother.

[tcoleman12]

Just like the libs...selective outrage on most issues. Lying is suddenly wrong? Not recalling events, sloppiness...
Clinton lying under oath: Not wrong
Kennedy lying to cops about car wreck: Not wrong
Burger lying about stolen documents: Not wrong
Burger stealing the documents: Not wrong
Scooter lying about outing a non-covert CIA agent where the real leaker was already known: Hell no we can't have that...Burn Him!!!

[susanhelit]

The CIA says that yes, this was illegal, wrong, and they were so outraged when Bush tried to just ignore this damage to the CIA and their operations that they DEMANDED an investigation. I'll take their word for it.

[frankly6]

tcoleman12


Yawnnnnn............

[susanhelit]

Cheney asked the CIA to look into the uranium story - he says he did, the CIA says he did - there's no dispute of this.

The CIA got it's experts in that area together (including Plame), and decided to send Wilson - no dispute of that either.

And this is the story Wilson has always told, the truth - an unfamiliar and terrifying thing in our White House right now.

For telling the truth, the White House decided to attempt to discredit him, with a feeble lie, and a bit of treason to let slip a formerly covert (and still secret) CIA agent's name and operations!

The CIA is outraged, and their credibility, secrecy, and operations are severely damaged. How do you recruit spies when your government may blow their cover at any time? Everyone Plame ever talked to is now outed - every single person who helped the USA out by giving information is now in danger, and no doubt some have been killed if they didn't run fast enough.

[jebby_one]

Liberal Neo-Commies seem to be conducting their own Kangaroo court on this case.

The Jury said Libby was guilty of lying and obstructing justice. The case had nothing to do with outing a CIA agent. Actually, no one official evet said that a CIA agent was outed.

[notblue]

karlimhof, if what you mean by collateral damage is they got rich off this self created fiasco, then I would love some of that damage myself, don't you just love America!

[scott4261]

Does anyone care? Well, we should all care. This is the worst government scandal since Watergate. But you would never know it, because every news outlet has concentrated on celebrity to guide their newscasts instead of real journalism. The only reason the Scooter Libby trial is now getting the publicity it should have received all along is because of the resulting guilty verdicts. The fact that we were sold a war based on cooked intelligence was made obvious to the world a few years ago through the Downing Street Memo. Yet, nary a peep about this in the U.S. press. Here, the media would rather play it safe with news than not only tries to offend no one, but offers little information.

Ever since Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, media has not focused on real news, but infotainment. I just read a report on Monday morning which stated that one is much more likely to be current on Britney or Anna Nicole than on the war on terror.

"Liberal" media? Ha! What a joke! Not that it ever existed, but it certainly doesn't now. Media is guided by profits here, not ideology. It's the dumbing down of America.

[jebby_one]

"This is the worst government scandal since Watergate."

No. I think that Sandy Burger stealing classified documents from the national archives is a far greater crime.

[perception5]

Mr. Wilson should be going to jail for consistently lying about the facts of what "really" happened...... from the Washington Post this morning, the facts of this case:


"In conversations with journalists or in a July 6, 2003, op-ed, Wilson claimed to have debunked evidence that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger; suggested that he had been dispatched by Mr. Cheney to look into the matter; and alleged that his report had circulated at the highest levels of the administration.

A bipartisan investigation by the Senate intelligence committee subsequently established that all of these claims were false -- and that Mr. Wilson was recommended for the Niger trip by Ms. Plame, his wife. When this fact, along with Ms. Plame's name, was disclosed in a column by Robert D. Novak, Mr. Wilson advanced yet another sensational charge: that his wife was a covert CIA operative and that senior White House officials had orchestrated the leak of her name to destroy her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson.

The partisan furor over this allegation led to the appointment of special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald. Yet after two years of investigation, Mr. Fitzgerald charged no one with a crime for leaking Ms. Plame's name. The trial has provided convincing evidence that there was no conspiracy to punish Mr. Wilson by leaking Ms. Plame's identity -- and no evidence that she was, in fact, covert."- Washington Post

[scott4261]

"This is the worst government scandal since Watergate."

No. I think that Sandy Burger stealing classified documents from the national archives is a far greater crime.

Posted by Jebby_One at 04:42 PM

-------
What Berger did was clearly wrong, but as harmful as this? Surely, you really must be joking! Scooter Libby's actions helped perpetuate a lie that there were WMDs in Iraq, when clearly there were none. A career was ruined. We are approaching 3200 dead American soldiers. Many, many more with wounds from which they will never recover, physically and psychologically.

To me and many other Americans, those are impeachable offenses. Not only should Libby go to jail, but D i c k Cheney and George W. Bush should be impeached!

I swear. You Bush water-bearers never cease to amaze me!

[imprisonbush]

The existing American president deliberately lies to the American public to convince it that a foreign land will use nuclear type weapons to prove that war is justified. An emissary for the CIA discovers and discloses that the President's case is built upon a complete lie. The vice president -- though having to admit that the facts were false -- engages his top aide for damage control, who tries to smear and disclose the identity of a covert CIA agent and her CIA employed spouse because the emissary did his job and disclosed that the President's facts were faulty. A jury convicts the vice president's top aid of felony perjury and obstruction of justice. This presidential deceit and dirty tricks nonetheless result in an illegal war that kills hundreds of thousands of people, including many innocents, injures and uproots hundreds of thousands of more, costs hundreds of millions of dollars that this country must finance as debt. These facts tear the country apart politically, emotionally, financially, resulting in a change of political leadership in Congress and motivating thousands of Americans to demand and initiate impeachment proceedings.

And CBS News asks: does anyone really care????

No morons, nobody cares. Just feed us more BS stories about Paris Hilton, the battles over Nichole Smith's baby and the amazing success of American Idol, and leave us alone. You bunch of idiots. Of course all thinking Americans care. You in the media are supposed to care too.

[imprisonbush]

And you wonder why the media got such a bad reputation, when they publish articles like this???!!!

[jebby_one]

" Scooter Libby's actions helped perpetuate a lie that there were WMDs in Iraq, when clearly there were none... "

are you serious? Bill clinton lobbed bombs at Iraq long before Scooter Libby arrived on the scene. Bill Clinton apparently believed that Saddam was attempting or planning to build WMD's. Who told Bill Clinton all the lies then?

[scott4261]

The PNAC was trying to influence Bill Clinton even back then. They couldn't get a full scale war, but they did manage to get him to drop some bombs. Anyway, don't look to me to defend Clinton in the same way that you defend Bush. Ain't gonna happen. I have plenty of criticism for him as well.

[scott4261]

I cannot think of one good thing that President Bush and his administration have done for this country. Not one d a m n thing.

[waynabq]

To call Bush supporters delusional idiots would be an understatement. These idiots are still blaming Clinton after six years of Republican control of all three branches of government, up until the last Congressional election.

Its obvious to anyone who hasn't lived in a cave, Bushco fabricated lies about non-existent WMDs and ties to Al Quaeda. The Libby trial is just the tip of the iceberg, why would Libby lied? What was his motivation to do so?

Bush supporters are more concerned with Anna Nicole Smith, Natalie Holloway, Flag burning, banning gay marriage then actually trying to figure out why 23,000 U.S. soldiers have been permanently maimed or killed, why under Bushco the national debt has increased by over 3 Trillion dollars and after all the lost lives and treasure, Iraq is more of a hell hole now then before we invaded.

[skyk-2009]

are you serious? Bill clinton lobbed bombs at Iraq long before Scooter Libby arrived on the scene. Bill Clinton apparently believed that Saddam was attempting or planning to build WMD's. Who told Bill Clinton all the lies then?


Posted by Jebby_One at 07:24 PM : Mar 07, 2007

To even compare what Bill Clinton did, targeted the LAST remaining facilities to produce WMD to what Cheney, Bush and the rest of the Magots in the White House is without a doubt beyond belief! Have you people COMPLETELY lost your minds...COMPLETELY. This little man was CONVICTED OF LYING AND OBSTRUCTING an INVESTIGATION of the Bush Administration. HE took the fall for Cheney and ADMITTED it in the TRIAL. HIS ATTORNEY said it in his CLOSING STATEMENT for God's sake. What is WRONG with you people???

[skyk-2009]

The partisan furor over this allegation led to the appointment of special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald. Yet after two years of investigation, Mr. Fitzgerald charged no one with a crime for leaking Ms. Plame's name. The trial has provided convincing evidence that there was no conspiracy to punish Mr. Wilson by leaking Ms. Plame's identity -- and no evidence that she was, in fact, covert."- Washington Post


Posted by perception5 at 04:53 PM : Mar 07, 2007

HUH?? What are you babbling about? Libby was tried in a FEDERAL Court for OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE for God's sake. What difference does it make IF you do not think there was a crime being investigated. Are you saying that EVERYONE who lies in EVERY case where YOU think there is really no crime involved should be able to just lie and Obstruct Justice then walk away? That's INSANE! ABSOLUTELY INSANE!! The INVESTIGATION is supposed to REVEAL if there was a crime.. that's what it's for. You simple minded fascist seem to be saying that because you clowns have determined there was no outing then he should be allowed to lie and obstruct the investigation. Come on!! That's to stupid even for a fascist. Sieg Heil

[skyk-2009]

No. I think that Sandy Burger stealing classified documents from the national archives is a far greater crime.



Posted by Jebby_One at 04:42 PM : Mar 07, 2007
ROFLMAO Now YOU are a real nut case! Here we have a guy who sat in front of a Grand Jury and LIED. He then obstructed Justice and was conviced of it! In his closing he admitted he was covering for and was a fall guy for the White House and you equate that to Burger taking a document that he'd seen and had been in position of several times? Unbelievable... just about as UNBELIEVABLY STUPID AS ANYTHING I've ever heard in my life!!!

[long_rider]

There is a little more to the Libby story than the news media is letting out.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030707A.shtml

GETMO time for the lying sleezzz of a VP.