Category: The Dish

Jamie Kirchick describes the prosecution of Scooter Libby’s perjury as a "show-trial meant to prove a political point." That would be John Ashcroft’s political point? Or James Comey’s? Or Patrick Fitzgerald’s? Alan Dershowitz (another FOL) also asserts that the DC Circuit judges who denied Libby’s appeal were also being political. His evidence? He has none, as Orin Kerr notes. The only political point made by Judge Reggie Walton in the sentencing was that Libby’s privilege, money, connections, friends and supporters should not mean a different system of justice. And Walton was put on the federal bench by … drum-roll … George W. Bush! As Todd Gitlin points out,

so were two of the three Appeals Court judges who sustained that decision …  one of these political dastards, David Sentelle, was a member of the three-judge panel that installed Ken Starr as Special Inquisitor in 1994.

So an entire inquiry initiated by and staffed by and presided over by Republican appointees was a Democratic political operation? The lengths to which some neocons will go to deny the obvious about the rank corruption of their president and the rank perjury of their friend is absurd.

I might also not that when my friend Jamie refers to "Cassandras" with respect to our constitutional order, he might acknowledge that Cassandra, in Greek mythology, predicted disaster, was ignored, and was proven right. Ahem.

No word on Libby yet. But it’s worth recalling what he once professed:

"All of my life, I have been instructed never to swear an oath to my country in vain. In my former profession, those who violated their sworn oath were punished severely and considered outcasts from our society. I do not hold the President to the same standard that I hold military officers to. I hold him to a higher standard."

But this is Scooter Libby. He’s a friend of ours.

Hagel, Smith, Lugar, Voinovich and now Domenici. The Bush "strategy" in Iraq is coming to an end, thanks to sane Republicans:

"I have carefully studied the Iraq situation, and believe we cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress to move its country forward. I do not support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq or a reduction in funding for our troops. But I do support a new strategy that will move our troops out of combat operations and on the path to coming home."

"Well, I guess I don’t know what you mean by equal justice under the law," – Scott Stanzel, White House spokesman today. Well, he got that right, didn’t he?

The latest CBS poll reveals that Republicans really are different than Independents and Democrats. Twice as many GOPers as Dems or Indies think it’s fine for religious leaders explicitly to back political candidates. The same gap appears when voters are asked if it’s important for a candidate to have strong religious beliefs.

A dog, a new outfit, and a promotional stunt by a German zoo. It worked!

Back at last!

Now here’s someone not expecting Christianity to provide a welfare state. Ryan Rodrick Beiler, the Sojourners web editor, calls himself a "freegan" and defends himself from Stephen Colbert. His statement of faith:

Though I’ll occasionally supplement my dumpster bounty with a trip to the natural foods co-op for some local produce or organic oats for homemade granola (bring on the stereotypes), I’ve come to rely mostly on society’s waste for my provision. As Jesus taught, "Do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’… Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things" (Matthew 6:32). In this spirit, dumpstering’s spontaneity is both liberating and satisfying.

Tucson, Arizona, 1 pm.

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Candy versus climate change?