I'm ProsecutorMan!
By all accounts, the White House is currently bracing for the worst as Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into who leaked the name of Valerie Plame draws to a close. With word coming out of Fitzgerald’s office yesterday that he has no intention of releasing a report, the options are narrowing as to the outcome. Now we’re left with indictments or an end to the investigation with no criminal indictments and no public disclosure of his findings. For a liberal political junkie, this is exciting news indeed! Just imagine the political scrambling and media feeding frenzy that will ensue, you can almost smell the fear and envision perfectly the mug shots that will undoubtedly be leaked to the press. Imagine television screens across the country tuned in to Republican operatives with their rumpled shirts and sweaty foreheads talking non-stop, desperately trying to spin the indictment of a sitting Vice President as “no big deal”. The news is almost too good to be true, and maybe it is.
Before we run out and buy champagne, clear our calendars and plan impromptu parties to celebrate the big day, let’s stop and take a collective breath. What if we’re reading all the signs wrong? What if we’re about to be caught off guard like many of us were on election night 2004? A sobering thought I know. Maybe we’ve turned the Special Prosecutor into a superhero. Perhaps we’ve pinned all our hopes for the redemption of our country on one lone lawyer. We’re holding one man responsible for finally bring these thugs in the White House to justice. We’ve turned Patrick Fitzgerald into ProsecutorMan! Able to bring down corrupt regimes in a single investigation, to restore democracy with his big brain and miraculous ability to practice law! This is not good.
We can hope for the best, but just like the White House, we should brace for the worst. On that dark night in November 2004, the myth of America was shattered. In the ensuing days, many of us cried and raged as the blinders were ripped from our eyes and we were forced to face the fact that our country had been hijacked and that the means to get it back had been ripped away from the people and handed over to private corporations. For many of us, it took months to become functioning members of society again and once we adjusted to life without our rose colored glasses and learned to live with the distracting peripheral vision we were now forced to see 24/7, we vowed never to put ourselves in that position again. We would now look at America both as it is AND as we want it to be.
Let us hope that Patrick Fitzgerald is able to bring about the beginning of the end of this criminal administration, but if he doesn’t, we will still be okay. History is filled with big names and big events, but real and lasting change is brought about by little people doing little things that when added together create a movement. Moving us toward a better way, toward a more perfect union perhaps. A little outrage never hurt either, so regardless of what the news brings next week, let us remember that we the people still hold the power. The trick is to figure out how to use it. Each of us has a role to play. It’s not up to ProsecutorMan alone.
posted by The (liberal)Girl Next Door @ 12:14 AM
22 Comments:
I remember the hard kick in the stomach that was last year's election results, and I am worried as well that we are getting ahead of ourselves in celebrating. It looks like something rather big is happening, but I still don't completely trust that our broken system will work and the legal system (and the Constitution) will triumph. I sincerely hope it does.
Anyone surprised by 2004 was not paying attention in 2000 OR 2002. Remember 2002? Revisit Georgia and Minnesota.
my fear exactly.
i especially liked the part about taking months to become a functioning citizen again.
and i worry about this grand jury business. doesn't this mean that indictments have to be okay'd by a collection of my fellow citizens? again, since last November i've lost faith in people doing the right thing. (ok, and since the OJ trial too)
still, i'm thinking of putting a bumper sticker on the car: "i told you so". but i ask, why is it that this corruption, media scrutiny, and breakdown of republican party unity coming to fruition now...after the election.
I have felt major disappointment in 2000 and 2004 too. It has taught me not to get my hopes up too high. You are absolutely right; we may be reading too much into the little signs that we get from the MSM. Although the suspense is killing us, we can do nothing but WAIT before we pop those champagne corks!!
It is time that justice was served to this arrogant administration, but so far they have got away with everything; so what makes us think they will get their just desserts this time?
Look, even if there's indictments at the end of this month by Fitz, likely nothing will happen.
Unless we get a House of Representatives that truly represent the people (psst, that means get the vote out in 2006), the GOP House will not impeach their own.
The other alternative, Cheney and/or Bush resign? Fat chance. They have a war to run and would prefer not to be bothered.
I for one would like to take a moment to salute the president.
Mr. Bush, I salute you sir,
http://www.voy.com/96883/748.html
Anonymous says why is this all happening now after the election...deja vu for those of us who were there in the early 70's. Nixon won and then went down. It was very depressing when he won in '72. The difference now though is that the Democrats aren't in control of ANYTHING. The 2006 elections are a big deal.
One thing that helped me become "functional" again was reading "The Impossible will take a little while". Like you , Girlnextdoor, it is both hopeful and realistic, like you said, "see the world as it is AND as you want it to be."
I've got to admit, I'm excited and nervously anticipating indictments, and I have to admit I'll become disfunctional if there are none. I'm rooting for Prosecutorman!
Oh, and Anonymous, I saw a good bumper sticker, "Where am I going and what am I doing is this handbasket?"
The indictment(s) will be be determined not by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, but by the members of the Grand Jury.
It sounds as if he is doing a fine job and we can only trust that they will examine the evidence carefully.
Senators and Congress Members are suddenly emboldened to demand answers from the Baboon Palace...
http://gaelicstarover.blogspot.com/2005/10/stay-on-top-of-this-senator.html
...and this is a good thing.
Clinton's Whitewater case turned to focus on what he did with his penis.
I pray that this case will expand to all aspects of the Dubya Adminstration's outrages against this Country and all of humanity!
The hardest kick from last year's election results came not from the Republicans or the MSM, but from John Kerry himself.
By conceeding defeat, it was Kerry who broke his earlier promise only one day after the election to make sure all the votes would be counted and counted fairly. No one can blame that on the Republicans or the MSM.
It was Kerry who went AWOL and left the vote count and voter supression battles in Ohio up to others more concerned about the election results than he was. No one can blame that on the Republicans or the MSM.
Yes, it is Kerry and not the Republicans or the MSM who was the biggest stomach kicker last year.
But no matter what Fitzgerald does now, he has let the cat out of the bag. The Republicans have been mortally wounded and will fail to hold onto the majority in both houses of Congress next year.
Even this year in states that are having elections in November, like my home state of Virginia, the Republicans will not be able to beat the Democrats so easily. And there is nothing the neocon controlled MSM can do about it either.
The fact that a couple of Cheney's staff members are cooperating leads me to believe something will happen. However, as the question was with Downing Street and Jeff Gannon and myriad other controversies, what happens AFTER the indictments are handed down? The only thing that will keep this story "hot" is a Cheney indictment. Otherwise, it will join the long list of Bush crimes which the Media has largely ignored.
Plus, Bush will have another Hurricane to talk about next week. On and on it goes...
What a tremendous focus of our hopes dear ProsecutorMan, Patrick Fitzgerald, has become! The "fate of a nation" rests in his hands.
So, too, Kerry, in '04. But we saw then, and fear now, dark, powerful, political forces reaching behind the scenes to pervert and corrupt the process. Will Cheney "get" to our hero somehow?
This is the biggest and most consequential political drama of my lifetime -- bigger and, as Nixon Counsel, John Dean, has said, "worse than Watergate."
Indictments and exposure of Bush & Co. for what they are will shake the world! Not just all the "bad actors," but our nation will be in for (and rightly so) some very, very serious comeuppance.
Fitzgerald is being mightily counseled from all sides, we can be sure:
"Patrick, bringing down the President will cripple our war on terror! Think about what's best for your country. America shouldn't be dragged through a global scandal!"
Or should it?
Let's continue to hope that Fitzgerald finds the monumental courage he will need, as the history of our country is right now poised to take a monumental turn on the basis of his decision.
He is superman right now. And to one extent or another, he is about to act to save our country -- painful as that is going to be -- or to break our hearts -- painful as we know that can be, as well.
Courage, one and all!
follow-up -- just found this, "The Most Important Criminal Case in American History," here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/the-most-important-crimin_b_9183.html
Thanks for the link manonfyre, I don't know how I missed that one!
Yes, we all must do our part, starting now. Heard a hearty soul claim he would carry these bags of seepage into hell and keep them there for eternity just to make heaven a better place. Now there's a trooper. What will you do?
There's one thing about the Plame leak case that I've never been able to understand (and never seen a good explanation of).
After a few months of (nominally) being in charge of the investigation - sometime in late 2003 - John Ashcroft recused himself, and the Deputy AG at the time appointed Patrick Fitzgerald as special prosecutor. Fitzgerald had a (seemingly deserved) reputation as a smart, honest, and extremely competent investigator and prosecutor, e.g., exactly the sort of person that a (hypothetical) honest and sane administration would want to see in charge of an investigation into an apparently serious matter.
Of course, the real administration has shown few signs of being honest or sane, and it struck me as odd that they didn't just appoint someone less ... honest and competent ... to sweep the whole thing under the rug; appointing someone like Fitzgerald and giving him real investigative authority seems very unlike BushCo.
I'm left wondering whether this was just an oversight (e.g., the Deputy AG didn't get the memo that said "always appoint corrupt Party hacks to pretend to investigate the administration") or whether there's some mind-numbingly devious (Rovian) reason for allowing what has appeared to be a real and potentially damaging investigation. (I can't begin to guess what that Rovian reason would be, and I sincerely hope that the simpler explanation is the correct one in this case.)
be prepared to be disappointed, even though fitzgerald is registered as an independent, he was appointed by bush. Welcome to the banana republic of america
This time, I'm going to be butt naked when the word comes down. In fact, I'm naked right this minute! =D
In 2000 I was furious, no matter what anyone says that election was stolen from us, but at the time I remember telling my Grand children that we will live through this, there was already one crooked Bush in the White House and we lived through it, "It can't Kill Us", I can't say that anymore, this Bush has killed some of us literally,as of today in Iraq alone over 1900, in more ways than our lives, he has taken our belief that the media will look into these people like they did Bill Clinton, the good of our party will not let this happen, well I learned then, that the ones even I depended on in Congress could not be trusted to stop this, so I guess that is the way I feel now about this gentleman, why should he do it, He is a republican, if Democrats and News people won't why would He, this man stands a lot more to gain with his party. If he is truly an Honest Man, maybe he does have the light, but I am afraid to open my eyes and still see the dark.
Now is the time to look back and measure the progress we've made in the past few years. Many of us never thought any ground could be regained from the early days of fighting the silencing of dissent.
Does anyone else remember what a milestone Tim Robbins' speech was? It wasn't that long ago we couldn't even express an opposing opinion.
I still get chills reading that speech and knowing at that time what we were up against.
'A Chill Wind is Blowing in This Nation...'
....A teacher in another nephew's school is fired for wearing a T- shirt with a peace sign on it. And a friend of the family tells of listening to the radio down South as the talk radio host calls for the murder of a prominent anti-war activist. Death threats have appeared on other prominent anti-war activists' doorsteps for their views. Relatives of ours have received threatening e-mails and phone calls. And my 13-year-old boy, who has done nothing to anybody, has recently been embarrassed and humiliated by a sadistic creep who writes -- or, rather, scratches his column with his fingernails in dirt.
Common Dreams
I think we better take a close look at the headlines from Australia, today. "Australian Scientists are protesting the introduction of "Intelligent Design" as an alternate science to Evolution, in that Country," they are also legislating some of the most Draconian laws against Dissent and Terror affiliation there, possibly as a test case, with extremly harsh penalties. We are being assimilated by this New World Order; It is a Nazi World Theocratic State, and Bush and Blair, are working feverishly to bring it to birth; It may already be too late...I hope that we stop them now, because if we don't, it's Bird Flu, Martial Law, repeal of the 22nd amendment, and President for Life!!!!!!!!!! Hide guns and bullets!!!!!!!
I've wanted to ask this question for a while.
Does anyone really think that Cheney's Haliburton stock windfall of 3000 plus % was an accident?
I'd be willing to bet that this whole war was a war of opportunism.
Cheney came out of hiding to sell this unholy act bay scaring the bejesus out of everyone.
I suspect there is a small and politically powerful group of Military Industrial businessmen who have hitched their wagons to the neo-con movement in order to create a war and milk billions from US Tax Payers.
Can you say Vietnam?
It chaps my ass that Cheney is making millions off of this war. My dead brothers and sisters hve traded their lives to make these evil people rich. It is immoral. That money is blood money. We should find a way to block him from ever accessing or leveraging it.
He should not be allowed to walk away from this debacle he worked so hard to create with barrels
of our money.
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