Though the evidence from the Scooter Libby trial revealed much of the same, yesterday Bush was dealt a damning blow when his former Press Secretary released the following excerpt from his upcoming book:
The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White House briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.
There was one problem. It was not true.
I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff, and the president himself.
This is so troubling because of the repeated public pronouncements from the President that nobody in the administration was involved, and looks even worse given the pardon of Scooter Libby by the President. Was the President granting that pardon to protect himself from criminal liability? This is truly a corrupt White House.
As others are reporting, this also creates problems for Republican Candidates who will have to distance themselves from the President on this issue. In the CNN Republican Debate, many of the candidates including your man Romney waffled on the question "Would you give Scooter Libby a pardon?" A video of their answers can be found here. To me this raises serious questions about their ethics. I admit Scooter Libby got a raw deal, but only because the White House made him the fall guy. To even hint at possible support of a subsequent White House pardon is to justify and condone a system where politicians can lie and break the law and not be held accountable. It is a mockery of the justice system and the candidates answers suggest that they have no more respect for the truth and for the law then the current administration.
Peace,
Donkey
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