corrente

The standard GOP gambit when caught in yet another scandal is to define culpability as narrowly and irrelevantly as possible, and then shout vindication when they successfully stonewall investigation on that issue. This was successfully deployed in Iran-contra, where the failure to prove that the demented Regan "knew" of the sale of arms to a terrorist nation was used to paint the entire investigation as a witchhunt and ultimately justify Bush I's pardons. The dodge this time, as Lambert reminds us, is to shift the discussion onto leaks generally to minimize this particular one. So let's keep the big picture in focus here. Someone in the White House:

repeatedly leaked the name of a CIA agent to the press

breaking federal law and jeopardizing national security

to exact political payback

for the exposure of lies

uttered by the President

to the public

to justify putting American lives at risk

in a war that itself was illegal.

It doesn't get much uglier than this. We can't let them get away with reframing the issue.

link to this post - by Potato Head : 9:50 AM |