Dick, Armitage


Hell has a special place for men that let others take the blame for their actions.

Speculation is running rampant over to whom, if anybody, President Bush will issue a last minute pardon as his time in office expires.  It is at least as likely that Bush will not issue any 11th hour reprieves, given that he has issued fewer pardons than any recent two-term president.  But everybody has their favorite candidate.  Even this guy:

“I hope he pardons Scooter [Libby],” Richard Armitage, a former Bush official, told the Financial Times.

How nice that Dick Armitage, former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell and the original source for Robert Novak’s column, which identified Iraq War critic Joe Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, wants to see Libby get a pardon.  Of course, if Armitage had shown as much concern for Libby, or anybody but himself, before the investigation into who leaked Plame’s name to the press, Libby would not need a pardon to begin with.

Novak’s artivcle spurred a media frenzy to determine the identity of the Administration official that revealed Plame’s name to Novak.  The theory was that the White House had conspired to out Plame as punishment for Wilson’s New York Times op-ed claiming that Bush had lied about one of the justifications for invading Iraq.   Armitage knew that theory wasn’t true.  He knew that he was Novak’s source, and that Plame’s name was revealed, “accidently.”  But he said nothing publicly, and let Libby and Rove, not to mention President Bush and Vice-President Cheney twist in the wind.

Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation, not the leak.  Special Prosecutor Partick Fitzgerald never charged Libby with the leak.  That was because from the very first days of the investigation, Fitzgerald knew that the source of the leak was Armitage, and that there was no conspiracy.  In other words, Armitage made sure to cover his backside legally by talking to Fitzgerald, while he protected his reputation in public with his silence.  Fitzgerald, knowing the name the investigation was supposed to uncover, continued his investigation anyway, and ended up convicting a man for having a faulty memory.

Scooter Libby has seen his sentence commuted by President Bush, which makes his outright pardon unlikely, and all the more tragic.  Libby will have to live the rest of his life with the stain of a felony conviction on his record – a fact that could have been prevented if Dick Armitage had the courage and decency to come forward and admit publicly that he was Novak’s source. One would suspect that his hope for a Libby pardon is the product of a guilty conscience. But Armitage’s actions in the Plame affair have shown that he is a man devoid of one.

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23 Comments Leave a comment

How Thoughtful

Bourbeau Sunday, January 18th at 9:10AM EST (link)

Imagine that, Richard Armitage thinks President Bush should pardon Scooter Libby. What a thoughtul idea. It’s beyond my understand how this guy can live with himself. Him and Colin Powell knew enough to derail the Plame investigation from the get go, but didn’t have the stones to stand up and admit it.

 

Would you consider changing the title?

icbm Sunday, January 18th at 9:27AM EST (link)

To refer to him pejoratively in the title using another meaning of his nickname shows a juvenile lack of creativity.

I think the title was entirely fitting and quite apt. n/t

janis Sunday, January 18th at 10:57AM EST (link)

5. The title is perfect. A powerful use of PGP

smagar Sunday, January 18th at 11:49AM EST (link)

Precision Guided Punctuation

icbm, IMO, you’re a bit too full of yourself here. You are entitled to your opinion, and we are entitled to dismiss it.

“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)

thanks, smagar.

icbm Sunday, January 18th at 12:07PM EST (link)
 
 

How utterly fitting for the man, then.

Moe Lane Sunday, January 18th at 3:50PM EST (link)

Because “juvenile” describes Armitage perfectly.

 

Sory, you lose this one

E Pluribus Unum Monday, January 19th at 2:01AM EST (link)

Richard Armitage is entitled to all the vitriol that could be aimed at him.

Actually, a title somewhat more fitting would have used the corresponding part of the opposite gender.

Carthago delenda est
Do your conservative t-shirt Christmas shopping at EPU Gear. Save the conservative muse, save the world.

 
 

Sounds Like Someone has Trouble Sleeping at Night

buckeye Sunday, January 18th at 9:37AM EST (link)

The coward should; he and his over hyped former boss who sat on the evidence while his peers and boss were hung out to dry.

“Honor is self-esteem made visible in action.” - Ayn Rand, West Point, 1974

 

Character and integrity

fisk2521 Sunday, January 18th at 9:42AM EST (link)

I would also include Powell as a man of little integrity - - something we don’t usually expect from career military.

Fitzpatrick has been lauded by the media recently in relation to his pursuit of the Governer in Illinois - - a man of integrity they have said. What nonsense… it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was working with the Obama administration to make certain the case doesn’t taint the new President. An opportunist and lawyer seeking fame, his pursuit of Libby was inexcuseable and transparent. It was just a way of ‘getting’ the Bush Administration.

Libby deserves a pardon ….. Armitage deserves our contempt.

LDavis

 

Correction on Character and integrity

fisk2521 Sunday, January 18th at 9:57AM EST (link)

Meant Fitzgerald, not Fitzpatrick….. you know all us Irsihmen are alike!!

LDavis

 

The criminalization of conservative politics: Cries for justice...

rbdwiggins Sunday, January 18th at 10:31AM EST (link)

could be granted in the simple execution of constitutional authority.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, a full and unconditional pardon is hereby issued as follows:

To: All departments, agencies, officials and administrative personnel.

Re: Any transgressions, perceived or real, that may have resulted from executing the Global War on Terror and the liberation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.” – Ronald Reagan

 

I'm Not Defending Armitage

Joe_Cor Sunday, January 18th at 10:37AM EST (link)

But still, why isn’t President Bush pardoning Libby?

Libby is in this situation because President Bush assigned a political hack of the opposition party to a sensitive position. He then didn’t openly dispute this hack’s allegations, but backed away from administration claims about Saddam’s overtures to Niger when they were true. He didn’t open state why Wilson was assigned this position, but tried to get it into print via backdoor channels in the media. He assigned a special prosecutor to further legitimize Wilson’s claims. Now Libby is still unpardoned. Isn’t he suffering for what are ultimately the President’s mistakes?

5.

icbm Sunday, January 18th at 10:45AM EST (link)

unless the president knows something that we don’t

or perhaps he will pardon him on his very last day in office.

Those of you hoping for last day pardons are going to be disappointed.

NightTwister Sunday, January 18th at 11:37AM EST (link)

The one thing about Bush you can count on is his consistency, and his misplaced trust of liberals.

He won’t want to do any last day pardons because of all the heat Clinton took for it. He also projects his compassion to others, especially liberals, even though they disappoint every time.

I'm not holding my breath - but how about

icbm Sunday, January 18th at 11:46AM EST (link)

a gentleman’s bet?

I expect you will win, but what the heck - I’m going to bet on something good happening in this last weekend of the Bush presidency.

Hey, you’ve got nothing to lose - either you’ll be proven right, or you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

 

I fear you're right, NT. Much as I would like to see Libby, Ramos and Compean,

janis Sunday, January 18th at 12:02PM EST (link)

not to mention all those who worked on the GWOT, my assumption is the same as yours. George Bush won’t do it.

 
 
 
 

But will God pardon "Dick" Fitzgerald,

johnt Sunday, January 18th at 2:24PM EST (link)

hero of the Left. perverse as always & willing to forgive Honey Fitz’s three year lie.

“a man’s admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him”. Tocqueville

 

Dick Armitage is a petty, small minded, pathetic bureaucrat.

itrytobenice Sunday, January 18th at 3:20PM EST (link)

It probably hasn’t occurred to him yet, but he maintained his silence and allowed Scooter Libby to be investigated and prosecuted when the sole purpose for Dick’s silence was trying to keep his own little dirty secret hidden. He’s a disloyal gossip.

But in the end, it was revealed and now the world knows that he is a eunuch. Too cowardly to take responsibility for his own actions. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

The problem with America is stupidity. I’m not saying there should be capital punishment for stupidity, but why don’t we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

5 nt

JadedByPolitics Sunday, January 18th at 3:23PM EST (link)

Whoever has his enemy at his mercy &
does not destroy him is his own enemy

 

Somebody has to draw the line, I guess it's me.

mbecker908 Sunday, January 18th at 3:44PM EST (link)

You’re being TOO nice.

CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.

Well, you're certainly the person I think of first when someone needs to be told that

janis Sunday, January 18th at 3:51PM EST (link)

they’re “too nice.” I consider it much to your credit that no one has had to tell you that, Mike. :-)

 

I was *trying*

itrytobenice Sunday, January 18th at 7:20PM EST (link)

I’m sure if I had let it all hang out, people would have thought I was your sock puppet. :)

The problem with America is stupidity. I’m not saying there should be capital punishment for stupidity, but why don’t we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

Nobody would EVER think that. Trust me on that one.

mbecker908 Sunday, January 18th at 7:28PM EST (link)

From that, you’re forever safe.

CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.

 
 
 
 

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