Coulter On The Propaganda Rampage

Free the Fitzgerald One

Conservatives often ask why so many Republicans go native when they get to Washington, D.C. The answer is: Because you don't defend them when they come under relentless attacks from liberal hatchet men.

Only the ultra-conservatives with an entrenched view of the world that never allows facts to interfere with their thought processes are asking these questions and perceive these attacks. While there are reasons to attack the liberal agenda, the ones that Coulter harps on are not among them.

Lewis Libby did what you wanted. He didn't place secret phone calls to reporters revealing classified intelligence programs. He supported the war on Islamic fascists. He didn't try to raise your taxes like James Baker III. And he has loyally served Dick Cheney, the man conservatives secretly wish were president.

Lewis Libby, like Carl Rove, Condaleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzalez, John Ashcroft, and so many others in the Bush administration did whatever Cheney and Bush asked for, serving the personality cult and ultra-conservative, Christian Right agenda before adhering to the parameters set forth in the Constitution.

Lewis Libby committed actions that were contrary to our Constitution and contrary to our national security. He did so at the bidding of Cheney, Rove and Bush. These people put their own agendas and interests--including their ineffective, unconstitutional efforts to attack terrorism--ahead of the interests of the people of the United States.

And now he's on trial for -- at worst -- misremembering who first told him that future reality show contestant Joseph Wilson was sent on a boondoggle to Niger by his wife, Valerie Plame.

No, Ms. Coulter, Libby is not on trial for his faulty memory. He is on trial because our nation needs to hold someone accountable and Libby was chosen to be the patsy, the fall guy and the scapegoat. The people that need to be on trial are Libby's bosses: Cheney, Rove and Bush.

The way Libby remembered it, NBC's Tim Russert was the first one to tell him. But the way Russert remembers it, he didn't tell Libby about Wilson's wife. (And the way Wilson remembers it, he was sent to Niger by Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.)

Fortunately for everyone, journalists keep notes and can attest to the authenticity of their notes. So, what has been said in court is that Rove, Cheney and ultimately Bush were involved in the decision to leak Plame's name, function and identity to the world for political retribution against Plame's husband for speaking his mind... after he left office as an ambassador.

What occurred was patently a form of character assassination and a political smear campaign in the tradition of Richard Nixon. It is nothing less than a scandal and a breach of our laws... one of many that has brought about a constitutional crisis.

Try this: Who told you Wilson was sent to Niger by his wife? Who told you a bipartisan Senate panel concluded that Joe Wilson was lying when he denied that his wife had sent him to Niger? While we're at it, who was the first person to correct you on your pronunciation of "Niger"?

Rather than deal with important matters, Coulter would have us chase down unrelated events and offer nothing but red herring arguments.

I don't remember, either -- and I'm not running a war.

Thank God that Coulter isn't running a war. She would be a bigger war criminal than Bush, Cheney or Rove were she to hold an office high enough to have that authority.

The exact same people who are now demanding prison for Libby for not remembering who told him about Plame are the ones who told us it was perfectly plausible for Bill Clinton to forget that Monica Lewinsky repeatedly performed oral sex on him in the Oval Office. Even if chubby Jewish brunettes aren't your type, be honest: Which of the two events would stand out more in your memory?

The people demanding prison for Libby--or at least hoping for such an outcome--are those that are hiding in the cracks of the walls like useless and filthy cockroaches. If Cheney, Bush or Rove were men of principle, they would come out and speak the truth rather than allowing Libby to take the fall for their actions and orders.

Perjury is intentionally swearing to something you know to be untrue -- not misremembering what later appears, on balance, not to be the truth.

No, perjury is a tool used to browbeat and impeach a sitting president who lied about his personal indiscretions, adultery and receiving fellatio from a young, naive intern that was overwhelmed and awe-struck by being in the White House. Perjury is denying any involvement with this affair when in fact it was orders issued and followed that brought this whole affair to court.

As usual, MS. Coulter hasn't a clue about ethics, facts, history or events. She proclaims to be a lawyer, a legal analyst and editor, an author and a principled person. How should she be sentenced for all of her misrepresentations, lies and propaganda? If I were in charge of sentencing, I would have her isolated at a convent for about a year and require her to meditate and pray about mercy, kindness, a loving God, truth, fairness and being a better person. My only concern would be that she is so far gone--mentally, spiritually and ideologically--that she would require five or six years of deprogramming.