Monday, November 2, 2009

An incredibly bad memory


Republicans, and some Democrats, correctly took President Clinton to task for his prevarications and equivocations during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. I wonder how many from the GOP will be bashing former Vice President Dick Cheney, who it turns out was very Alberto Gonzalez-esque in an FBI interview amid the investigation of the Valerie Plame affair. Plame, as you might recall, was allegedly outed as a CIA agent by the White House after her husband, an American envoy, accused the Bush administration of manipulating evidence to support its push for a war against Iraq. During the probe, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said there was a "cloud over the vice president.” And late last week, the FBI provided some support for that statement by revealing the summary of Cheney’s answers during a May 2004 interview. During that questioning, Cheney relied on the old "I can't recall” approach on 72 occasions. That’s six dozen times. Most notably, Cheney was asked whether he might have revealed the CIA status of Plame, whose married name was Wilson, to his chief of staff, Scooter Libby, who ultimately was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the feds. According to the FBI interview summary, "It is possible Libby may have learned about Valerie Wilson’s employment from the vice president ... but the vice president has no specific recollection of such a conversation." Now, if they asked Cheney what he had for lunch on the Tuesday six weeks earlier, I wouldn't blame him for issuing an "I can’t recall.” But when it comes to a central issue in the outing of a CIA operative, I'm a bit skeptical of Cheney's answer. It's a shame they couldn't have hooked him up to a lie detector when they conducted the interview. I'm guessing the machine would have gone through a lot of ink.

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8 Comments:

Anonymous free guitar lessons said...

I have not really given it that much thought yet. Hope to read other people's opinion about that.

November 2, 2009 at 2:21 PM  
Anonymous x anonymous said...

This post is funny, I mean you're still bringing up Dick Cheney!! Then it hit me, you brought up Lewinsky also.. it's all in the past. You have to learn to let it go. Cheney is no better than Bill Clinton lying to a grand jury about that nonsexual relations he didn't have with that girl. Clinton should be behind bars!

I read a good billboard this weekend. It read:

"Arrested!? Kepp your mouth shut".
then it went into a local number to an attorney...

I guess Cheney could have always took the 5th.

November 2, 2009 at 9:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Reagan paved the way for selective memory with Iran-Contra, but I think in his case he just couldn't remember much at all. Or maybe he really WAS a great actor. All politician, no matter the party, are adept at it. What galled me most about Clinton wasn't that he lied about the Lewinsky thing, but that in trying to rationalize it he pulled out the old saw that anything not involving penetration isn't sex. I used to think that was a male invention until I had a woman use the same logic with me. At least that's how I remember it.

November 3, 2009 at 1:01 PM  
Blogger MJ said...

X,

What I find funny is that Cheney is still trying to insert himself into the policy debate. Meanwhile, ole W is chilling at his new suburban home in Dallas... not a peep from him. Do we need any more evidence about who was "running" the country and who was playing house in the Oval Office?

November 3, 2009 at 2:35 PM  
Anonymous wag the dog said...

most of all vp's still try to keep his name in the game. Look at Al pay me carbon tax Gore! He wants to sell you a earth friendly sports car for 89k!

November 3, 2009 at 4:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Proper protocol dictates that the former president doesn't criticize his successor which is why all presidents keep thier opinions to themselves about the new guy in the oval office. If Cheny had any class he would also keep his opinions to himself.

November 3, 2009 at 5:02 PM  
Anonymous GI JOE said...

If Cheny had any class he would also keep his opinions to himself......

are you for real? if wouldn't have to defend himself from personal attacks from the white house, I doubt you would hear from him.

Proper protocol also dictates the white house not attacking the previous residents.

November 4, 2009 at 12:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not hear from Cheney? Can you stop Vesuvius from erupting?

November 4, 2009 at 12:16 PM  

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