Keith Olbermann's Special Comment: You ceased to be the President of the United States
By Nicole Belle Monday Jul 02, 2007 9:01pm
Keith Olbermann delivers arguably his most pointed and most powerful Special Comment yet on the ramifications of Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence.
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In that moment, Mr. Bush, you broke that fundamental compact between yourself and the majority of this nation's citizens -- the ones who did not cast votes for you.
In that moment, Mr. Bush, you ceased to be the President of the United States.
In that moment, Mr. Bush, you became merely the President... of a rabid and irresponsible corner of the Republican Party.
Transcripts below the fold...
Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on what is, in everything but name, George Bush's pardon of Scooter Libby.
"I didn't vote for him," an American once said, "But he's my president, and I hope he does a good job."
That -- on this eve of the 4th of July -- is the essence of this democracy, in seventeen words.
And that is what President Bush threw away yesterday in commuting the sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
The man who said those seventeen words -- improbably enough -- was the actor John Wayne.
And Wayne, an ultra-conservative, said them, when he learned of the hair's-breadth election of John F. Kennedy instead of his personal favorite, Richard Nixon in 1960.
"I didn't vote for him but he's my president, and I hope he does a good job."
The sentiment was doubtlessly expressed earlier. But there is something especially appropriate about hearing it, now, in Wayne's voice.
The crisp matter-of-fact acknowledgement that we have survived, even though for nearly two centuries now, our Commander-in-Chief has also served, simultaneously, as the head of one political party and often the scourge of all others.
We as citizens must, at some point, ignore a president's partisanship. Not that we may "prosper" as a nation, not that we may "achieve", not that we may "lead the world" -- but merely that we may "function."
But just as essential to the seventeen words of John Wayne is an implicit trust -- a sacred trust:That the president for whom so many did not vote, can in turn suspend his political self long enough, and for matters imperative enough, to conduct himself solely for the benefit of the entire Republic.
Our generation's willingness to state "we didn't vote for him, but he's our president, and we hope he does a good job," was tested in the crucible of history, and far earlier than most. And in circumstances more tragic and threatening.
And we did that with which history tasked us.
We enveloped "our" President in 2001.
And those who did not believe he should have been elected -- indeed, those who did not believe he had been elected -- willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.
And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and sharpened it to a razor-sharp point, and stabbed this nation in the back with it.
Were there any remaining lingering doubt otherwise, or any remaining lingering hope, it ended yesterday when Mr. Bush commuted the prison sentence of one of his own staffers.
Did so even before the appeals process was complete...
Did so without as much as a courtesy consultation with the Department of Justice...
Did so despite what James Madison --at the Constitutional Convention -- said about impeaching any president who pardoned or sheltered those who had committed crimes "advised by" that president...
Did so without the slightest concern that even the most detached of citizens must look at the chain of events and wonder:
To what degree was Mr. Libby told: break the law however you wish -- the President will keep you out of prison?
In that moment, Mr. Bush, you broke that fundamental compact between yourself and the majority of this nation's citizens -- the ones who did not cast votes for you.
In that moment, Mr. Bush, you ceased to be the President of the United States.
In that moment, Mr. Bush, you became merely the President... of a rabid and irresponsible corner of the Republican Party.
And this is too important a time, sir, to have a Commander-in-Chief who puts party over nation.
This has been, of course, the gathering legacy of this Administration. Few of its decisions have escaped the stain of politics.
The extraordinary Karl Rove has spoken of "a permanent Republican majority," as if such a thing -- or a permanent Democratic majority -- is not antithetical to that upon which rests: our country, our history, our revolution, our freedoms.
Yet our democracy has survived shrewder men than Karl Rove.
And it has survived the frequent stain of politics upon the fabric of government.
But this administration, with ever-increasing insistence and almost theocratic zealotry, has turned that stain... into a massive oil spill.
The protection of the environment is turned over to those of one political party, who will financially benefit from the rape of the environment.
The protections of the Constitution are turned over to those of one political party, who believe those protections unnecessary and extravagant and "quaint."
The enforcement of the laws is turned over to those of one political party, who will swear beforehand that they will not enforce those laws.
The choice between war and peace is turned over to those of one political party, who stand to gain vast wealth by ensuring that there is never peace, but only war.
And now, when just one cooked book gets corrected by an honest auditor...
When just one trampling of the inherent and inviolable "fairness" of government is rejected by an impartial judge...
When just one wild-eyed partisan is stopped by the figure of blind justice...
This President decides that he, and not the law, must prevail.
I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war.
I accuse you of fabricating in the minds of your own people, a false implied link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.
I accuse you of firing the generals who told you that the plans for Iraq were disastrously insufficient.
I accuse you of causing in Iraq the needless deaths of 3,586 of our brothers and sons, and sisters and daughters, and friends and neighbors.
I accuse you of subverting the Constitution, not in some misguided but sincerely-motivated struggle to combat terrorists, but instead to stifle dissent.
I accuse you of fomenting fear among your own people, of creating the very terror you claim to have fought.
I accuse you of exploiting that unreasoning fear, the natural fear of your own people who just want to live their lives in peace, as a political tool to slander your critics and libel your opponents.
I accuse you of handing part of this republic over to a Vice President who is without conscience, and letting him run roughshod over it.
And I accuse you now, Mr. Bush, of giving, through that Vice President, carte blanche to Mr. Libby, to help defame Ambassador Joseph Wilson by any means necessary, to lie to Grand Juries and Special Counsel and before a court, in order to protect the mechanisms and particulars of that defamation, with your guarantee that Libby would never see prison, and, in so doing, as Ambassador Wilson himself phrased it here last night, of you becoming an accessory to the obstruction of justice.
When President Nixon ordered the firing of the Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the infamous "Saturday Night Massacre" on October 20th, 1973, Mr. Cox initially responded tersely, and ominously:
"Whether ours shall be a government of laws and not of men, is now for Congress, and ultimately, the American people."
President Nixon did not understand how he had crystallized the issue of Watergate for the American people.
It had been about the obscure meaning behind an attempt to break in to a rival party's headquarters; and the labyrinthine effort to cover-up that break-in and the related crimes.
But in one night, Nixon transformed it.
Watergate -- instantaneously -- became a simpler issue: a President overruling the inexorable march of the law. Of insisting -- in a way that resonated viscerally with millions who had not previously understood -- that he was the law.
Not the Constitution.
Not the Congress.
Not the Courts.
Just him.
Just - Mr. Bush - as you did, yesterday.
The twists and turns of Plame-Gate, your precise and intricate lies that sent us into this bottomless pit of Iraq; your lies upon the lies to discredit Joe Wilson; your lies upon the lies upon the lies to throw the sand at the "referee" of Prosecutor Fitzgerald's analogy... these are complex and often painful to follow, and too much, perhaps, for the average citizen.
But when other citizens render a verdict against your man, Mr. Bush -- and then you spit in the faces of those jurors and that judge and the judges who were yet to hear the appeal -- the average citizen understands that, sir.
It's the fixed ballgame and the rigged casino and the pre-arranged lottery all rolled into one -- and it stinks. And they know it.
Nixon's mistake, the last and most fatal of them, the firing of Archibald Cox, was enough to cost him the presidency.
And in the end, even Richard Nixon could say he could not put this nation through an impeachment.
It was far too late for it to matter then, but as the decades unfold, that single final gesture of non-partisanship, of acknowledged responsibility not to self, not to party, not to "base," but to country, echoes loudly into history.
Even Richard Nixon knew it was time to resign
Would that you could say that, Mr. Bush.
And that you could say it for Mr. Cheney.
You both crossed the Rubicon yesterday.
Which one of you chose the route, no longer matters.
Which is the ventriloquist, and which the dummy, is irrelevant.
But that you have twisted the machinery of government into nothing more than a tawdry machine of politics, is the only fact that remains relevant.
It is nearly July 4th, Mr. Bush, the commemoration of the moment we Americans decided that rather than live under a King who made up the laws, or erased them, or ignored them -- or commuted the sentences of those rightly convicted under them -- we would force our independence, and regain our sacred freedoms.
We of this time -- and our leaders in Congress, of both parties -- must now live up to those standards which echo through our history:
Pressure, negotiate, impeach -- get you, Mr. Bush, and Mr. Cheney, two men who are now perilous to our Democracy, away from its helm.
And for you, Mr. Bush, and for Mr. Cheney, there is a lesser task.
You need merely achieve a very low threshold indeed.
Display just that iota of patriotism which Richard Nixon showed, on August 9th, 1974.
Resign.
And give us someone -- anyone -- about whom all of us might yet be able to quote John Wayne, and say, "I didn't vote for him, but he's my president, and I hope he does a good job."
Good night, and good luck.
John Amato: I missed the last few seconds of the video...And it looks like Bush bypassed the legal requirements fro a commutation...Who's surprised?
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I sure am glad someone has a newly minted contract. ;-)
Thank you Keith for again putting words to the anger that leaves me mute and short of intelligent words.
Thank you for posting this!
President Bush may have commuted Scooter Libby's sentence, but the blogosphere already handed down its own punishment.
Here are the results from:
"The Sentence Scooter Contest."
In the words of the great Dave Neihaus: It's Grand Salami Time! Way to go Keith. You hit a grand slam that time.
Pax.
J'accuse!
Well done, Keith!
That f**ker was never my President.
Keith did what not ONE DEM running for office did.
Spoke the truth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND for that i say,, obama,, and hillary,, your sloppy seconds and thirds bigtime.
Again, I LOVE KO!
Best Special Comment yet. Keith did an excellent job tonight. You could really sense the anger.
.
.
.
What is it going to take to get Americans angry enough to actually hold a mass demonstration like never before in Washington?
There should be 10 million people in Washington this weekend -- surrounding the White House.
.
.
.
Keith reminds me of science teacher i had. a mr bloomfield. guy was a peach but when pissed off due to students being morons, disrupting class etc,, he had a talent of dealing with them. i think keith is our mr.bloomfield.
when he got mad,, the school shook. and it took alot to piss him off i mean alot!
Awesome. He'd better check his brake cables before he drives off anywhere.
Go Keith! That was one for the ages.
Come by and say thanks to Keith!
Friar Tuck @ 12:
You know, I would love it if the United States of America "shook" when KO spoke. That would be sweet, indeed.
I think I will send him a big thank you card from a fellow patriot. And, because it's almost the 4th of July, I think I will add a little American flag to the envelope.
When history writes the story of this time, America's survival will be due, in no small measure, to the journalistic excellence of Mr. Olbermann. Thank you, Keith.
Since our Congress critter, Marty Meehan, abandoned his office and ran to the public feeding troth of U Mass to become "Chancellor", we up here in west central Massachusetts have no one to speak for us in Congress. Thanks, Marty, but come to think of it you're gone and *no difference*.
Keith just took care of my needs and did more in 10 minutes than Marty Meehan has done in his entire pathetic career.
Any one else want to get together this weekend?
The Drunken Monkey never was!
This is a Republic.
In a republic, the Head of State elected by citizens.
Not by a candidate's brother.
Not by court justices appointed by his father.
Not by partisan operative goons sent in to stop a legal recount of votes.
No by tinkered Diebold machines.
The Monkey was NOT elected in 2000.
Neither was he elected in 2004.
It is TREASON to put "President" before this Monkey's abominable name, either in speech or in writing.
Tomorrow, is our Nation's Birthday.
Take time to re-read her Declaration of Independence.
Resolve to study her Constitution.
Demand "impeachment" (Although you can't really impeach someone who was never really a Government Official!).
Clean up your Country and restore her honor!
Edwin @ 13:
Lucky, then, that he doesn't drive, isn't it?
Phew. He said it all, for those who cannot speak.
This is off topic, but a worth a look. It's very appropriate for Washington and the right-wing nuts. It's Bertrand Russell's dictionary.
http://designobserver.com/goodcitizen/goodcitizen1.html
I've never seen KO this angry before. He was tripping over his words throughout the broadcast, and his tone got pinched and shaky during his special comment. It wasn't artifice; this man is LIVID.
I've written to Pelosi, demanding she bring articles of impeachment, tried to call the White House, and checked out airfares to DC. I don't know what else I can do to help. It's so fucking frustrating.
*OUCH* Thats gotta hurt the Bush worshippers.
Thank you kieth Thank you!
Keith you were right on target. You are the Edward R. Morrow of our generation. Keep the pressure on. Hope they aren't going to audit you on your taxes this year. Be carefull.
Keith has just earned himself another envelope with white powder in it.
That's it! If the SOB's in congress don't start the IMPEACHMENT now ,they are guilty of treason also!!
Is this the Rubicon? It just might be. The commutation returned the whole Plame affair back to lying this country into war, back to manufacturing the evidence, back to the discrediting and punishing of any who showed the claims to be false, back to Bush. Bush listened to Cheney that the commutation was owed to Scooter and would shut down further investigations. But he might just have screwed the pooch with this one.
This really was his best special comment yet.
He left me shaking with anger, just as, he too, was shaking with anger by the end of it.
Things need to be done about this. Stat.
There were times during this that I started clapping and was all 'mmhmm girl!'
Massive kudos to Keith, and a hearty THANK YOU. Truth is refreshing, especially to folks deprived of it, and thirsty for it, after almost seven long, biblical years of drought.
When Bush goes to his 'Maker' (the little imp with the horns and the fork), we should all take up a collection to make sure Olbermann's words are chiseled on his tombstone.
And won't that be a happy day.
Wow. The way it started, I did not think Keith would lead up to the demand to resign. He started softly and built up to a crescendo. Very powerful.
Now it's your turn, Congress. Keith has showed you the way.
[...] GO WATCH OR READ THIS. Our generation’s willingness to state “we didn’t vote for him, but he’s our president, and we hope he does a good job,” was tested in the crucible of history, and far earlier than most. And in circumstances more tragic and threatening. [...]
Olbermann. What an extraordiinary American.
To Traitors of this nation: You will never be able to commute our memories of your henious crimes against this nation and the world and we will never let you forget it either.
The scooters, bushes and cheneys and their complicite media friends don't have an inkling what suffering is. They are responsible for their deeds and we're going to see you in court again if necessary but we're going to convict ypu with the evidence that you have tried to hide. The game is not over until we see and applaud your incaceration and its coming.
Thank you Keith Olberman.
the rage i have been feeling since shit-for-brains took(stole)the presidency in 2000 and 2004 is only matched by your eloquent truth this evening. it's time this asshole presicent and asshole vicepresident either step down or be removed from office.
i hope that a national outrage is heard around the world as WE the rightful and HONEST citizens organize ourselves thru out this country and march on Washington demanding these two fascists leave office or else.................
[Still nothing, I see-Sitemonitor]
No no no no..... don't resign!!! We need to impeach this F***ker, hold him and his staff accountable by law! No way this man should get off that easy. Remember Katrina! Remember 9/11, Remember IRAQ! He was not elected (EVER)! Folks this man needs to go to JAIL! Wake up Republicans, this Can NOT be what you wanted!! I still have faith in democracy, don't let your people down, we ARE your Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sister, Sons, and Daughters! We were here before this man, and God help you, we will be here when he is gone!!!
HillCountryGal @ 9:
haha! isn't it kind of funny how his initials are K.O.? think about it, won't you?...
also, i did a little bit of research to be able to back up the last little blip on the post (the one about Bush going over lots of legal stuff to get the sentence commuted), and it seems to me that that is very true. according to the DOJ website, in the section on commutation of sentences, it is typically done when said person is serving the prison sentence, not before they ever see the inside of a jail cell. there seems to be a lot of legal stuff that he would've had to go through and had approved by certain officials, but which seem to be something that would take a long time. i have included a link to the website, just in case anyone needs to clarify anything for me, but i feel that i have a firm grasp on the basics of this aspect of federal policy, based on the reading that i've done (it's very simple to follow).
Dave up above said it all. Chicken George was NEVER legally elected. He should NEVER be referred to as "president," and Dickless should NEVER be referred to as VP.
Forget subpoenas. Forget contempt of Congress. Forget impeachment. Congress should be hauled back to D.C. at midnight tonight, to do the job for which they were elected, and charged by oath: ISSUE ARREST WARRANTS FOR BUSH, CHENEY, ROVE, LIBBY, GONZALEZ, and every single one of the whiners begging the wartime-deserter (who shouldn't even be allowed to vote, much less hold office) to let Scooties off the hook before he rolled on them.
Put the National Guard to the use for which it was intended: protecting America from the Enemies Within.
I dislike Bush. But Clinton pardoned his cronies as well. Plenty of them.
It is just politics as usual. At least Libby still has that $250,000 fine he has to pay. But I am sure some rich neocon donor will pay that off for him.
Bush's approval rating is lower than Nixon's and Carter's. He's the worst President ever.
Keith rocks but Bush ceased being President a long time before this. All he ever was was a figurehead and idiot boy king for corporate America who lucked out winning a stolen election in 2000.
That was awesome!
[...] (link to Crooks & Liars) [...]
WHAT ABOUT pardons for RAMOS AND COMPEAN? Oh, Boosh said, they have to "use regular channels..."
WHAT A SHAME!!!
Chaos @ 352:
Yes, Mr. Irrelevent....now crawl back in your cave and hide your head under your tatty blanket.
Chaos @ 352:
Ah, some voice of reason here. /applaud
Mike in Chicago @ 350:
STFU and support your country you character flawed Bush traitor.
Liberal grandstanding and crap!! If a Democrat is elected president you will hear the same kind of crap about him or her. The political system is just plain broke! Democrats hate everything a Republican says and does and vice versa about for the Republicans. This democracy is nearing its end. It has already lasted longer than democracies tend to. I personally am just plain sick of politics. Maybe an independent can rise from the "ashes" and save this country....lol
Chaos @ 352:
Revealing the identity of a covert agent IS a crime. You need to stop making excuses for the worst administration in history. Put America before your sad little ego.
An Open Letter to My Fellow Americans and Our Distressed Friends and Allies across the World:
I am deeply ashamed and angered by the perversion of the fascist criminals who have taken over the American government, and by my countrymen men who voted for this two times, with great arrogance, zeal, and ignorance of the world around us.
The time has now arrived in our once great country, for the People to decide whether or not to allow the end of the Republic and declare the fascist empire, or to demand the Restoration of our Constitution.
My forefathers didn't fight King George's troops, slave owners, and nazi's for us to allow this to happen. If some blood must be shed in the streets, let it be in Washington D.C.
As a true patriotic American, a lover of liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness, I offer my own blood to my country in this fight, if it must be. It is time for us to march on Washington in the millions. It is time to lock arms brothers and sisters.
John-Thanks for making Keith Olbermann's special comment available. I e-mailed my family to recommend they watch it. Keith Olbermann ROCKS! He is the only media person saying what is obvious to everyone who's aware.
Keith deserves to be the NBC Nightly News anchor. MSNBC should fire Tucker and Scarborough and give David Shuster a show. Wishful thinking I know...
Keith Olberman is my hero.
This "Clinton did it" argument piss me off. I had someone send me a link of the worst people Clinton pardon to make a case, and there was no case, of all of them they all at least serve 2/3 of the sentence before being pardon. A man was pardon for and serve his sentence for selling fake hair treatment for baldness, another for refusing to disclosed Clinton sex life, and still another for Tax Fraud for which he serve and paid a penalty for. None of the people he pardon contribute to the death of 3,000 of our soldier nor the death of Plame contact when she was undercover, and threaten our national security for which Bush Sr said was the most insidious act to out an secret agent. None of them that were pardon ever work in the executive office.
Stick to the topic, Bush commutes within his own executive branch. If Bush was caught eating babies, would you say Clinton did some eating of stuff as well? It is not the fact that Bush Pardons or commute, but who he commutes.
[...] Olbermann says it best. [Crooks and Liars
[...] Olberman has been one of the sharper voices opposing Bush’s reign of error, and this last outrage has him especially pissed off: The twists and turns of Plamegate, of your precise and intricate lies that sent us into this [...]
Sinto writes:
The difference, and perhaps this is subtle to some, is that Clinton did not (to my knowledge) pardon someone inside his maladministration who was convicted of a crime while in that position.
There are two things at play. (a) conflict of interests and (b) basic morals.
The first was violated totally and the second is lacking. (a)+(b)==obstruction of justice.
Get it now?
[...] From Countdown with Keith Olbermann: Special Comment on Scooter Libby Commutation (7/3/07) via YouTube, with the usual h/t to Crooks and Liars) [...]
mediacritic @ 374:
Apparently it isn't because the people who did it are walking free..
Anon:
It kind of makes you wonder if it's all one big sick conspiracy, doesn't it? Excuse my while I adjust my tin-foil hat.
Yes an excellent comment as usual. But is anyone listening? How is that such a travesty, such a blatantly dangerous and for our military, deadly farce can be allowed to continue for as many years as it has? How is it that our government and our country, my country could be allowed to become so broken? How is it that those whom are elected to keep the executive branch in check do NOTHING except talk about it? Something is terribly, terribly wrong. Is this the United States of America, or some third-world dictatorship?
With all due respect, Bush is irrelevant.
We need to focus on the right-wing thugs seeking the '08 nomination. Get THEIR reaction to Bush's latest insult to our democracy, and hammer away at THEIR connection to him.
It's about '08, it has to be.
[...] Americans to celebrate, but I make a salient exception for Keith Olbermann in general and for this installment in particular, and I whole-heartedly commend it to you on this particular day as reassurance that [...]
Keith is the one clear voice displacing the lies and white noise that will re-envelope the media as soon as this Masterpiece of Comment fades to black.
Keith is OUR voice, our one and only voice we must back with ACTION. Keith's voice, our actions ENDING this nightmare. This living nightmare has already lost and we CAN shove aside the fascist right AND left standing in the way of our peace and sanity.
Wrench goodness from these oh, so WRONG HANDS and do it ourselves, TAKE THIS REGIME DOWN! Words are nothing without action, Keith needs us to revolt our way back to peace. THIS is the time!
Mark Richards @ 383:
The proper comparison would be the Susan McDougal case. She was directly involved in an investigation involving the president. She refused to testify because, she alleges, they were requiring her to either embellish or manufacture testimony. She instead went to jail for 18 months for contempt of court. Could Bill Clinton not have pardoned her immediately to spare her the jail time? Yes, he pardoned her upon his exit from office. But she had already served time; and the Starr investigation had been exposed as a farce.
Had Bill Clinton pardoned Susan McDougal to spare her going to jail, these same defenders of Bush would have hung President Clinton in the town square.
Let the Eagle soarrrrrrrr....
Let the Beagle lift his leg.......
Let Bush reign o'er the flagggg....
Let Cheney rule the dayyyyyy
Let the Eagle Soarrrrrrr....soar so high and mighty....
We are the kings of the world and we fly highhhhhh.....
Anything goes....there's no consequence for fraud or corruptness......cause we're the elite.....of der verld......
Let the eagle soarrrrr..
Lady Liberty: birdy, birdy in the sky, why'd you do that in my eye????
Great commentary but why does Keith never acknowledge the hundreds of thousands of dead iraqis caused by Bush's invasion?
I am getting more and more annoyed by that omission.
When do the buses for DC leave? Hey Dems...had enough? WE AMERICANS HAVE! If you don't impeach these criminals, then don't act surprised when a Beltway outsider runs as an Independent and wins.
"Had Bill Clinton pardoned Susan McDougal to spare her going to jail, these same defenders of Bush would have hung President Clinton in the town square."
How many of us feel this sleep paralysis, this dead hypnotic reaching for life and reality. Like getting a novocained hypodermic plunged into our heads in a quiet elevator on the 63rd floor...
EXACTLY THE AIM OF THE BOUGHT and SOLD MEDIA. Repetition WORKS on the subconscious collective.
EXCEPT for KEITH! How about we keep this going so he doesn't have to sacrifice himself?
Um Earth to Keith Olbermann:
[Deleted. You are a fine one to talk about 'Earth to ANYONE.' Inaccurate to the point of flaming. I have little patience for this today, Pvt FreeMarket. If you can't behave, I'll have all your comments flipped into the moderation queue, so a mod has to approve it-when we get around to it-Sitemonitor]
You're joking, right? You don't think he stole that election in Chicago? Pretty much established fact that he did...
** Look on U.S. Ye Mighty, and despair! **
In the U.S. we don't require terrorists, foreign or domestic, to undermine our secular state and institute religious law. We have Bush/Cheney/5 Supremes well on their way to ending what little remains of the Republic.
Those wretched ephemeral babblers lusting for the purple in '08 notwithstanding, a slide into the abyss can only be slowed, not reversed. No political force exists which can not be enslaved or aborted by MIXR -- the military industrial Xian right.
De facto dictator Cheney, a postmodern Sejanus, does more to catalyze the rot of Empire than any jihadist could fervently pray for.
This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Since . . . Carthago delenda est.
eye-of-horus
copyright asserted 2007
The best yet for KO. A true journalistic commentary, the likes of which we rarely see in our current MSM.
Would that this could be seen by every American - and would that it make the "comfortable" feel downright uncomfortable about what this government has done and is doing to our republic.
If we don't act now, either by impeachment, or by our own actions, it may be too late - once the anticipated "event" has been staged that would allow the cheney/bush government to assume open, rather than covert, dictatorial powers.
[...] Crooks and Liars has the video here. [...]
If Bush won't resign, he must be fired.
There is no acceptable excuse for not taking Impeachment forward.
Keith, you're my hero!
You, sir, have said what 95% of Americans, including myself, are thinking inside.
This president will not only go down as one of the worst in American history, but as one of the worst leaders in world history. Cheney and Bush can go straight to hell for all I care.
/Conservative Christian
25
asdefgaheckel Says:
This really was his best special comment yet.
He left me shaking with anger, just as, he too, was shaking with anger by the end of it.
Things need to be done about this. Stat.
There were times during this that I started clapping and was all ‘mmhmm girl!’
All Americans with common sense were shaking as well. This administration is a joke.
Keith rocked with authority tonight! And indeed, if Bush and Cheney were truly patriots, they would resign. If the Republicans truly loved this country, they would demand that their leaders resigned. And, more than anything, if the Democrats want to prove to us that they are worthy of leading this country, it is time for them to do more than bark. It is time for them to show teeth. Nancy Pelosi! It's time to impeach the president and vice president of this country. I don't give a hoot if there aren't enough votes in the Senate for a conviction. Bush and Cheney are guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors! Impeach, impeach, impeach! I've put my money where my mouth is, by writing letters to the editor and donating to votetoimpeach.org. (more than once, by the way). It is now time for those with power, as in the Democrats, to to do their jobs! IMPEACHMENT NOW!
NOT ANOTHER SECOND...IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY!!!
Perhaps the most fitting way to celebrate July 4th tomorrow is for us all to hang our flags upside down, the traditional signal of distress. Our democracy is imperiled by King George. IMPEACH! REMOVE! INDICT! IMPRISON! Bush, Cheney, Rove, Libby, and their entire cabal of fascist pigs.
[...] it is: Olbermann’s ultimate rant, linked at Crooks and [...]
Shouldn't there be at least a couple of dozens of KOs out there in a free country like this, once great, US of A?
THis latest travesty proves, beyond a doubt, the ONLY valid reaction is to hate ALL republicans.
I am SO ANGRY, I feel a white-hot HATRED burning within me that will only be squelched with the utter destruction of all republicans.
Please, PLEASE repost this--the end is cut off. It's too important not to get that last statement.
Powerful stuff--thank you, KO!
Quite brilliant.
As an anarchist, a Brit, a Gweiloh and a social libertine - not to forget a father - that was a why I still believe that the USA has the best (though not perfect) democracy in the world.
Thank you.
Marc Rich served time? Bwa-hahahahahaha!
Reug @ 392:
Reug, from my experience, all you have to do is ask him. This particular commentary on this 4th of July was between us and this administration, focusing on our unprecedented predicament as a people.
I wrote Keith just after Katrina about Bush's wanting to wrest the National Guard from the states. He did a story on it a week later (whether or not my letter had anything to do with it).
Keith Olbermann,
You are a true son of America.
Captain America @ 210:
What crime did Libby committed aside from lying under oath which was the same crime that Bill Clinton did. It was Armitage who told the press about Plame. Fitzgerald could not even charged Armitage because he knew Valerie was not outed at all.
Norm @ 402:
Wrong. Fitzgerald has been on record many times stating that Plame was a covert agent that was outed. Please try to use facts. Fitzgerald was lied to by Libby and couldn't conduct a proper investigation because of those lies by Libby. Please try to use facts.
Plame was ‘covert’ agent at time of name leak
Doing What I Can
From the jest of the many comments outraged at Bush commuting Scooter Libby, there seems to be a shared feeling of "we have been through this and this administration always prevails." Enough is enough. I thought of one thing I could do, and that was to ask Patrick Fitzgerald to resume his investigation. I sent him this letter:
I am not of a legal degree, but I have plenty of commonsense. Crimes are sometimes of a complex nature, and the crime Scooter Libby committed is no exception to this rule. My previous statements are related to Bush commuting Libby’s jail sentence and the following questions:
1. Would this be an ongoing investigation if you found out Scooter Libby agreed to limit information, concerning the outing of Valerie Plame, he had involving George W. Bush and Dick Chaney for a promise he would not serve one day in jail and/or other considerations?
2. Has it occurred to you the commuting of Libby may be one of the ending phases of an ongoing crime? Many Americans, including myself, believe your investigation is not over. Commuting Libby is a slap in the face but I know you suspected it. Can you release a statement clarifying what your intentions are in this matter, and, if you can disclose such information, release portions or all documents covering this possible outcome involving a pardon like option?
Mr. Fitzgerald I know you are abreast of all the sensitivities this case demands. I also know you are aware of the outrage Americans have regarding President Bush’s actions. No partisan Republican felt you would go as fare as you did go to get to the truth. To be honest with, no Democrat expected you to go as far as you did either. You have really showed America what objectivity really means. You are now in the position to rule out any additional complicity involving this vicious act of revenge. I thank you for your time and considerations to this matter.
Sincerely,
Joseph
My hope is that a flood of letters would get Fitzgerald to resume the Libby investigation and release information as to what has been considered. I have come to the conclusion there is too much power in these comments to keep among ourselves. We can be active from this forum and can request C&L act as a supporting element to that activism. I think it would provide a wonder sense of accomplishment should are actions make a difference. Write a letter to Fitzgerald stating a similar request or adjust this one to reflect who you are and what you would like.
Joseph
Chaos @ 352:
You gotta admit Chaos presents a compelling argument ... to justify forced sterilization
[...] or watch here [...]
Chaos @ 352:
I doubt you'll read this as people like you are like stealth posters, but if you had been paying attention, Scooter was convicted on four counts for perjury (lying to the prosecutor and grand jury) and obstruction of justice...which is why Rove didn't get an indictment because Rove changed his story about the Plame investigation and saved himself. Scooter was found guilty by a jury, sentenced by a Bush appointee, and a three member appeals court didn't find it likely his appeal would be successful. The sentence was well within federal sentencing guidelines, which as a side note, Congress just passed a law enforcing sentencing minimums (signed by Bush). Now prison is commuted and a full pardon has not been ruled out. Rule of law, indeed.
I'm wondering who's blind here...or who's head is up who's ass.
Oh, and if we're talking about perjury, Clinton was impeached because he lied about an extra-marital affair...also not a crime.
drshatterhand @ 7:
It's stuff like this which eats away at Olbermann's argument. Despite "No Child Left Behind", with Tedly Kennedy and Immigration Reform, again with Uncle Tedly... and the biggest growth in an entitlement program... Mr. Bush tosses bones to liberals, and they still don't want to play nice.
Liberals have been calling for Bush's impeachment since his election. Because he was never "really" elected. And then the vacation. They wanted him impeached for 9/11. It grows from there. The sentiment is nice, but even Keith Olbermann has been railing against this president for over 5 years now. How can he say (with a straight face) - "We enveloped him, and believed 'we hope he does a good job'". Remember all of the liberals who said we couldn't win in Afghanistan?
I don't buy that anyone on the left seriously contended "He's our president, let's hope he does well." The 2004 election "fomented" this. With the great economic numbers, the left kept decrying how bad things were. They kept looking for those dips in unemployment, so they could say "A-HA! The economy sucks!" and stroll into the white house on the economy. Well, they were right. It *was* the economy, stupid.
I feel insulted reading Olbermann's rabid foaming-at-the-mouth. No mention of Richard Armitage. Half-truths throughout the article, and this unbelievable notion that everyone was behind the President... until now.
Great biting commentary. It really is a great piece of cutting monologue. I am envious of his style, and insulted by his premise. You ask the president to look around and see he should resign. I say, look around you and acknowledge that the people you claim he lost overnight - were already lost, years and years ago.
PurplePatriot @ 390:
Once incarcerated, birds sometimes sing, particularly if they know the score. The risk to the current maladministrator is that Libby may have abandoned them, throwing a severe monkeywrench into the workings.
This accomplice was likely offered immunity long ago, hence the confident smirk of this convicted felon when approaching various hearings, etc.
Dr. Matt @ 403:
So why FITZ did not charge Armitage who outed (acc to you) Plame? Even Joe Wilson said in his interview that his wife was not covert.
"Wilson made in an interview on the July 14, 2005, edition of CNN's Wolf Blitzer Reports. In the interview, Wilson stated: "My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity.""
Chaos @ 352:
You mean outing a covert CIA agent isn't a crime under a reich-wing administration? How amazingly anti-American.
Friar Tuck @ 62:
Try checking out Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich D-Ohio. he has balls, and is not with the big money guys. That is who I am voting for.
And yes, I LOVE K. O. he is the best voice in America, keep it up Keith!
Norm @ 410:
Fitz couldn't conduct a proper investigation because Libby was lying to him like a typical reich-winger. How can anyone investigate a crime when reich-wing scum are lying to a prosecutor?
Again, please use facts you twit: Plame was ‘covert’ agent at time of name leak LOL. Reich-wingers really are the anti-fact party. You are living proof.
This is not complicated. The corruption of the congress and senate and the voting records of each need to be exposed to get on with our RIGHT to Impeachment.
Take up residence in their offices. Get in their faces! threaten both houses and members with job loss. Be a constant pain in the ass and purge the basement of corruption.
Let's IDENTIFY each member and nail them without mercy.
It is our right to Impeach. It is our right to Impeach. It is our right to Impeach.
I Don't care about this pathetic adminstration, I Don't care about them and never cared about them assholes, either way, they should be indicted for treason and be on death row for good.
Yes Forth of July is a national holiday and should be about freedom, but even that right now is at risk.
Bush Regime=The Most incompetent, most disastrous and most mean-spirited adminstration in not only america's history, the world's history, but the history of mankind.
Norm, you twit, from the interview:
WILSON: That's not anything that I can talk about. And, indeed, I'll go back to what I said earlier, the CIA believed that a possible crime had been committed, and that's why they referred it to the Justice Department.
She was not a clandestine officer at the time that that article in "Vanity Fair" appeared. And I have every right to have the American public know who I am and not to have myself defined by those who would write the sorts of things that are coming out, being spewed out of the mouths of the RNC...
Norm, get your FACTS straight you reich-wing loon. She was ALREADY outed by the reich-wing SCUM when she appeared on Vanity Fair. Jebus, you people are idiot.s
With all due respect, Bush is irrelevant.
We need to focus on the right-wing thugs seeking the ‘08 nomination. Get THEIR reaction to Bush’s latest insult to our democracy, and hammer away at THEIR connection to him.
It’s about ‘08, it has to be.
2008 would be too late to think about it, this bastard could attack iran and restart the illegal immigration aka north american union, if those happen, america is officially dead.
Afi K. James @ 418:
Flood the Speaker of the House with email demanding impeachment.
http://speaker.gov/contact/
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of the United States [George W] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Happy Independence day America
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/04/unpardonable.politics.ap/index.html
Seriously--who thinks politicians should be in charge of giving pardons? They are some of the most corrupt and morally bankrupt people on the planet. I think we should remove their right--it is clear they abuse it. This isn't an isolated incident.
Dr. Matt @ 417:
It is clear that the moron with whom you're going back and forth is a disciple of Rush Limbaugh. These people blow my mind. Inconsistency. Misquoting. Misinformation. Disinformation. They all propogate each other's lies and ignorance. Some of them lie. Others are ignorantly willing to accept the lies, then regurgitate them.
As disheartening as it is that this goes on, I find it moreso that there seems to be no cure for it. Stupid is as stupid does. If those of us who see the criminality of the Cheney/Bush machine, and malignancy of the GOP, would just stick together, the 2008 election would be a landslide. I just pray the loony left doesn't pull a 2000 and waste their votes on a third party impossiblility and hand the GOP another term in the white house. If that happens, I'm moving to Canada.
This is an utter travesty of justice. He needs to go. Where are the protests?
HJ
John Galt @ 409:
Great biting commentary. It really is a great piece of cutting monologue. I am envious of his style, and insulted by his premise. You ask the president to look around and see he should resign. I say, look around you and acknowledge that the people you claim he lost overnight - were already lost, years and years ago.
I thought he made clear that the people he was talking about were the people who hadn't seen it clearly yet, and that Bush's behaviour has been constantly eroding the support he was given at 9/11 (see Patriot Act and Iraq War votes). You seem to have taken his premise as "Everybody supported you until now", which I didn't hear at all. It was a straight attack on crooked behaviour, which you haven't addressed in your comment - perhaps because you don't have an answer for it.
I thought this was justified outrage at the Libby thing, and I'm glad someone was able to write and deliver it so eloquently, and at such length. But I'm not an American, so it doesn't really matter what I think.
There's not much we can do about the reich-wing school of Lording It Over All and Everything, they're already shitting where they eat on all levels. The environment in particular. Let them rave about how great the stock market is and how padded their butts from the concrete. This administration is betraying them too in their sound-proofed cars blocking the chaos and despair around them. It doesn't matter what they think as they too have a black cloud low over them. They are nothing but dead meat to this administration, and what befalls us befalls them.
So, it doesn't matter how they string their concepts together. They're as good as done.
Take heart.
God damn, KO's speech gave me goosebumps over and over!
Funny that the only journalist speaking truth to power is a former sportscaster.
Can any of you be honest and realize that Drshatterhand put the lie to Olberman's five minute rant with one sentance?
"That f**ker was never my President."
Olberman nor most of you ever gave our president any benefit of the doubt. To most of you he has been evil from day one.
Dr. Matt @ 414:
What a communists you, Kieth and MSNBC? Why you are disregarding what Wilson said: “Wilson made in an interview on the July 14, 2005, edition of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Reports. In the interview, Wilson stated: “My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity.”"
We will not be celebrating Independence Day at our house this year. Instead we will spend the day in mourning for a nation and an ideal lost. I cannot believe the utter indifference of the American people toward this administration. My God in Heaven, WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?!?!?
Dr. Matt @ 417:
Hey Twat, i am not talking about the girly Vanity Fair interview. I am talking about the Communists New Network interview. Here... print it and read the transcript... http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/14/wbr.01.html
Joe @ 430:
Blame the enemy. Any president could have done what this administration did after 9/11.
Bernie @ 420:
Madame Speaker,
The Bush commutation of Lewis Libby is only the latest in a preponderance of examples where the president has shown utter contempt for the American people.
I had to sit by and watch a flawed, but excellent, president in Bill Clinton be attacked and destroyed by hateful partisans over far less egregious and offensive behavior. All the while, those same partisans sit smugly by and pretend that president Bush is a saint who can do no wrong.
Please, in the name of justice, begin now to expose the criminiality of this administration. Yes they are brutally effective at avoiding accountability. But please at least start getting them on record by subpoenaing them.
Little more matters to me than to know that this administration does not get off scott free for it's behavior.
At Wal-Mart the other day, I saw a vehicle with a bumper sticker, "My Daddy fights for our freedom." I walked on shaking my head and feeling a few things: I feel for that child whose father is out of the home. I honor that child's father's sacrifice. Because, indeed if our freedom were under attack, he'd be one of the first responders. But the last thing I thought was: Sadly he is not fighting for our freedom right now. Nor is he fighting to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice. He's fighting for Haliburton's balance sheet, and for the egoes of those who betrayed him by sending him into battle on a lie.
Please, madame speaker, do not let Cheney/Bush skate by for the next 18 months simply because they've been fortunate enough to make it so close to the end of their eight years.
My mind is having a hard time imagining a flicker of nobility in Richard Nixon. I am horrified to accept that I have lived to see a day when this can be even vaguely acknowledged.
As a Canadian observer, I applaud the great debate in which our dear friend and neighboiur, America, is now engaged.
Incredible.
People, send this link to as many friends and family and colleagues that you can.
Keith Olbermann, you are a true patriot.
Way to go Keith. This is one for the ages!
If you're so inclined, Stop by my blog to say thanks to Keith!
I appreciate Olberman's sentiments. Small problem: After Olberman's comments, guess who is still President: Bush.
The only thing Congress can do is: Shut down money -- which it refuses to do; or it can impeach -- which it will not do; or it can let prosecutors do the work -- which the President refuses to let do.
See a pattern here? It's a bunch of people talking about what's not going to change: This abuse of power.
There is an option: You can get off your rear end, talk to your State AGs, and let's get this sitting President prosecuted. It can be done. Even if the President is prosecuted, he can -- while he is sitting in jail -- still be called "President," his duties will go to Cheney; and then Cheney can be prosecuted. Fine: Prosecute Cheney First, then Bush. Whatever.
The point is: Rather than sit around and whine as Olberman about this "you ceased to be President" -- when the House refuses to consider impeachment -- is meaningless. What would be unprecedented? For the House to impeach the same sitting President multiple times; and forcing the GOP Senators to refuse to convict despite overwhelming evidence the President was guilty.
Make the GOP respond; make the GOP explain their refusal to act; make the GOP Senators respond to the House., Quit playing the Presidents-GOP-game of reacting to the GOP. If the DNC is really nto happy with the Libby, they can change things by making the GOP unhappy with the DNC's impeachment action: Without warning, shocking, and out of the blue.
It's not a popularity contest. This is something different: power. The DNC already has the majority support and "popularity" of impeachment should not enter the minds of anyone. IT is only a ruse by the GOP to pretend that "lack of popularity of impeachment" is something the DNC should "worry" about. Huh? Who in the DNC is foolish enough to listen to the GOP give them advice? Get real. The GOP isn't telling the DNC to help the DNC; but to help the GOP. IT is a ruse by the GOP to get the DNC to think "There will be a backlash if there is impeachment." Ask yourself: Why, if there is a "guaranteed backlash against the DNC" isn't the GOP pressing for the very thing that they could blame on the DNC: Impeachment? Answer: The GOP isn't putting any action behind their words, which means the GOP 'concern' isn't real, but a smokescreen.
Once the DNC impeaches any of the witnesses -- as it could -- that will send shockwaves. The DNC will send a clear signal: "We don't care if you cooperate with us -- you will not get a pardon for your illegal activity. Ever."
Read over the words the DNC is spewing forth about "moderation" and "considered investigations" -- this is the same non-sense CHeney in re Iran-Contra was spewing forth. It's not real. The DNC isn't serous about investigations: They already know the answers: They refuse to send a clear signal they're going to do anything with this information. What are they going to do -- take a poll, and ask the GOP, "Wow, are you going to be happy if we impeach you?" Get real. Of course the DNC is reluctant: They've been whipped into believing that if they dared block an illegal bill like the MCA, that they would be called traitors.
Does anyone care about this claim today? Look at Libby and Rove and the others who had something to do with leaking Plames name --arguably treason -- is anyone talking about Treason against LIbby? No.
Contrast that A vs B contrast: A. Real crimes are not getting the label treason; but the attention is on the "label of treason against the DNC" not the "real" treason of the GOP; so, . . .B. Why would anyone n the DNC --the majority party with power --care if others do or do not have a "favorable" opinion? That's non-sense. Again: IN 2006, the voters voted for the DNC. The DNC has the majority. Right now. The Majority, masses are with the DNC. That can only improve as the DNC further asserts power and does what the DNC promised: Challenge, check, and confront this illegal abuse of power.
Way to go Keith!
(standing and applauding)
I wish everyone had the reasoning ability and intelligence of Keith Olbermann, instead of being willful subjects to the "dumbing down" of America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xozYFUIvHQM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Edaily...
Youtube link, which has the missing end piece.
KO--such a great speech. Why don't our Dems say such truths!
Best line: "it doesn't matter who is the ventriloquist and who is the dummy."
I sure hope you are not rounded up. wouldn't put it past these fascists.
As Benjamin Franklin said coming out of the Constitutional Congress, and asked what form of government had been formed, "A republic, if you can keep it."
It isn't going to save itself.
Like W's going anywhere. He's squeezed so far up is own ass he can see Condi's high heels.
Thanks Keith, for the momentary vent, but only unmentionable misfortune will drop early curtain on this sorry act.
As Keith Olbermann was delivering this damning indictment, guess what the dildo was doing?
Running a repeat of his show from june 5th!
I am grateful to crooks and liars for posting Olbermann's special comments from here in the UK as Rupert Murdoch's Sky Subscription package decides to give us Brits Fox News and not MSNBC.
This was absolutely brilliant. Well done Keith Olbermann.
Keith is unbelievable!!!! We should be sooo thankful to have a man like him on our side. He is the best journalist on any of the networks. He is respected by everyone. Although Republicans will never admit this, they respect Keith Olberman becuase he's an honest guy, and they know it! We are very lucky to Have Keith out there speaking up for us and stating what we all wish we had the chance to do! Thanks Keith. You are my hero! If the Dems ever win the presidency again, they should give Keith a medal for bravery, and honesty!
God Bless Keith! And thank God there are still true patriots like him out there and on the air!
Bug@37, upside down flag is a brilliant idea. I've been saying it since yesterdays news.
Tell me when to bring the tar and feathers.
Impeachment trials today, war crimes tribunals tomorrow!
It's time for the people to lead. Our leaders will surely have to follow.
Your congresscritters are home this week, contact them , visit their offices, find them at the parade or BBQ on Wed.
Act fellow citizens and patriots!
And yet not ONE DEM running for prez has the balls to say the same about GWB?
sloppy seconds and drippy thirds, those folks will NOT get my vote, untill they take the same stance as KO!
BTW,
Thank YOU, Mr Amato. THANK YOU for your work, and the work of your SM and contributors, that you do every day.
That was stunning. Marvelous. Inspiring. I don't know if Olbermann writes his own Special Comments, but he and his staff at MSNBC deserve national recognition and thanks.
The Dems will not push for impeachment because they want the same privilege to pardon their own if and when the time comes...It is all about self interest for the MAIN STREAM PARTIES as it is for the MSM...the country no longer matters to EITHER party!
"Olbermann. What an extraordiinary American."
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Olbermann puts most news people working today to absolute shame.
I'm almost embarrassed for them.Such a pack of soul sucking limpets.
Edward R Murrow is proud tonight! My husband says three's no calendar time to impeach, but I think we would do SO much to repair our standing in the world by starting proceedings in the House-it's not just for blow-jobs anymore!
Keith's commentary needs to be sent to every member of the House and Senate, especially the leadership of the Democratic Party and everyone of its candidates running for president. No sense in including the Republican Party; they've already abdicated any constitutional responsibility that attaches to public office. That's not to say that the Democratic Party is not far behind if it doesn't get its constitutional shit together.
John Amato,
Thank you for the transcript. I noticed this: "And it looks like Bush bypassed the legal requirements for a commutation. .."
If you are referring to the DoJ guidelines, they are just that. The CFR is not a requirement on the President on this matter. Here is the language.
I agree, concur, understand, and share your frustration -- something is wrong, but let it go. There is nothing that can be done to change this commutation. The option is to work to get Congress to impeach; or get the States to prosecute this sitting President outside Congress and outside impeachment.
Here it is:
In so many words: The DOJ Guidelines are just that -- guidelines. The President can use his power without restraint in this area. He can ignore the DOJ and the CFR. If you can find a mandatory rule which he President must follow, I'm all ears.
I've never trusted Jr, I always knew, based off of the lies and hypocrisies of people like Rush Limbaugh (fat boy) that the next republican elected president would be untrustworthy and I was right. I did not hear about the commutation until late this day, I never figured the bastard would be so stupid as to pardon Scooter if only to keep his polls from competing with Darth Cheney's. But an earlier article I read here today from Glenn Greenwald points out that Jr doesn't care what anyone thinks as long as he thinks God is happy with him. That one piece of news shows this man to be an utter loss, he is not worth dealing with, I myself feel a great deal of shame and resentment knowing that because I am an American soldier, I must salute and show this lowlife a level of respect he does not deserve and could never earn on his own.
I can't even begin to express my dislike of this walking rat-turd and his worthless president, and I will not stain this site with my true feelings about the two chief criminals in charge.
If this was shown on BC during the same time slot, I'm convinced there would be calls for impeach by Thursday! GOP=American Nazis.
[...] Crooks and Liars has your patriotic message for this Fourth of July, straight from the mouth of Keith Olberman. [...]
John Amato: Thanks so much for posting the clip and a transcript. You have done us all an invaluable service.
Keith Olbermann: What can I say but, once again, thanks.
I'm writing-in Keith Olbermann for president in the primaries and 2008 general election. I don't give a damn what party, if any, he would be affiliated with. To speak the truth so powerfully, against a backdrop of a police state whose power is growing daily, in an environment in which he could be easily silenced and and subjected to retribution, represents the kind of ethical courage, clear vision and grasp of enduring principles that I equate with ultimate trustworthiness. There is nobody yet, who is making a bid for the office, that comes even remotely close to what Olbermann is showing. They're not even in the same ballpark, or the city that contains the ballpark, or the same planet wherein lies the city...
By comparison all the existing candidates look pretty cheap and tawdry, shabby imitations of the real thing.
Lastly, Nancy Pelosi has no Constitutional authority to arbitrarily remove impeachment from the table. In doing so, she is, at best, betraying principle and duty in favor of serving mere political expedient, and at worst, she is weakening the Constitution and serving the purposes and agenda of the unworthy. Regardless the outcome of any attempt to live up to and execute her duties, if she continues to refuse to do her duty, it's time to impeach her or remove her from her position. Since the day she refused to consider the option of impeachment - of refusing to hold Bush and Company accountable for their numerous high crimes and misdemeanors, she has become the person responsibile for every crime since committed by this rogue and criminal White House; she can no longer be qualitatively differentiated from Bush and Cheney. Her actions in this regard are unjustifiable and intolerable. Nancy Pelosi: Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.
Bernie @ 420:
Pelosi is trapped. As stated in quote 375 go after house members whose voting records are against and stalling the possibility of a successful impeachment. The impeachment vote to oust Cheney last week failed in the house. WHO VOTED AGAINST THIS????????
That is where we need to set fire to the curtains.
PurplePatriot @ 434:
Clinton should be in prison for lying under oath. And Sandy Berger as well!!!
Rick, I think it's dishonest of you to ascribe feelings to anyone other than yourself.
I did not vote for Bush. I was skeptical of his intelligence, his competence and of his qualifications for the job from the beginnning, I freely admit.
However, I did take some comfort in his bringing on board some people that I did recognize as competent and not overtly-partisan into his cabinet, Powell, Rice (that was before I saw her in her job), etc.
When 9/11 occurred, which was the catalyzing event of which Olbermann spoke, I did push down my own personal reservations for the sake of the country. I did give him the benefit of the doubt, as did 92% of the country (so take your dishonest assessment of liberals and put it where it belongs; the polls prove me right and you talking out of your ass).
But Bush took that political capital which he did not rightly earn, but was freely given because liberals DO care more about the country than their party and PISSED it away.
He has rightfully earned the piddly approval rating he currently has for being the Worst. President. Ever.
Next talking point, Rick?
man what a nice speech. i thought at the end he would say "i am running for president" LOL.
As was certain, the trolls are out in force today. Reminds me of that scene from 1984 where Big Brother decides a major revison of history is required and the rewriters are living and sleeping at their work stations in order to get the job done.
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