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Lawrence O'Donnell took his turn filling in for Keith on Countdown and Rachel Maddow called out the Cheney's for their continual lying on her show the next hour. CREW's Melanie Sloan joined Rachel later in the segment to discuss the newly released interview by the FBI which did not reveal much--other than his willingness to throw Scooter Libby under the bus. More on that from Marcy Wheeler:

Hung Out to Dry: One Former VP Chief of Staff

If I were Scooter Libby right now, I’d be seething. I’d be utterly disgusted with the way Dick Cheney hung me out to dry, over and over and over, in his interview with Fitzgerald. Cheney denies any knowledge of issues he and Libby worked on together repeatedly and he denies that his own orders and instructions had anything to do with activities that ultimately (though Cheney of course didn’t admit this) ended up outing Valerie Wilson.

There are three general categories of information about which Cheney hangs Libby out to dry.

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Transcript from Lexis Nexis below the fold.

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There really wasn't a lot of substance to Alan Grayson's appearance on Hardball yesterday, but it is always pretty delightful to watch Grayson in action anyway. He just says what he thinks and lets the chips fall where they may.

The end got a little over the top, in fact:

Matthews: Dick Cheney—and that‘s how you pronounce his name—was out last night in black tie, along with his—well, his felon former chief of staff, who I think took the bullet for him in that whole matter, perjury and obstruction of justice.

And he wasn‘t out robbing gas stations. His behavior was right there in the office under Cheney‘s leadership. Anyway, the prosecutor in that case said there was a cloud over Cheney‘s head. The—the prosecutor obviously brought the justice to that guy Scooter Libby. He got convicted of a number of counts of perjury and obstruction of justice.

The president even held his nose and would not pardon these guys, wouldn‘t pardon Scooter Libby. Here‘s this guy, with all his inglorious background, out trashing the president of the United States for dithering.

Your response?

GRAYSON: Well, my response is—and, by the way, I have trouble listening to what he says sometimes because of the blood that drips from his teeth while he‘s talking.

But—but my response is this. He's just angry because the president doesn't shoot old men in the face. Oh, by the way, when he was done speaking, did he just then turn into a bat and fly away?

MATTHEWS: Oh, God. We have got to keep a level here.

Even if this kind of talk horrifies you, the fact that it's coming from a Democrat is actually a relief for those of us who've watched the party perfect its Village-approved Harvey Milquetoast routine the past couple of decades.

It's one of the traits that has really harmed the Democratic brand over that time, because it's led people to believe that they don't really have the courage of their convictions, that they won't stand up and fight for anything, that they don't really believe in anything.

Alan Grayson leaves no such impression. Even if other Democrats go fleeing in horror, he's doing them -- and us -- a real service.

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Frank Gaffney finishes up this shout-fest on Hardball by telling Ron Reagan Jr. that his father would have been ashamed of him. Can't win an argument, resort to personal attacks and name calling. Classy there Gaffney. About as classy as Matthews who can't come up for air for five seconds and quit talking long enough allow the man a chance to respond without being talked over.

And why is neo-con Frank Gaffney who just held an "awards dinner" for the likes of Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby treated like someone credible we should pay any attention to? Or Cheney for that matter? Dick Cheney speaks and these idiots all rush to cover him, like anyone cares what Dick Cheney thinks about anything. Can't he just go back to shooting his friends in the face on hunting trips and leave the rest of us alone?

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July 23, 2009 MSNBC

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW.

Dick Cheney pleaded, cajoled, and even pestered President Bush to pardon convicted former chief of staff Scooter Libby. Cheney argued, "We don`t want to leave anyone on the battlefield."

The president wouldn`t do it. "TIME" magazine has an explosive front- cover story showing just how much Dick Cheney put on the line for Scooter.

It was "... a crusade for Cheney, who seemed prepared to push his nine-year-old relationship with Bush to the breaking point and perhaps past it."

Joining me now is Michael Weisskopf. He co-wrote the story and is a senior correspondent for "TIME" magazine.

Mr. Weisskopf, good to have you with us tonight.

As a journalist, this had to be kind of a fun story to do, wasn`t it?

MICHAEL WEISSKOPF, SR. CORRESPONDENT, "TIME": Dealing with the Bush administration has always been like chipping rock, Ed. And so it was a hard story to get, and -- but it was gratifying.

SCHULTZ: What was the most startling piece of information that you came across that you think is going to be a real interesting point for the American people who are fascinated with exactly how that administration was run, the nuts and bolts of it?

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I didn't need the CJR to do a report on the CNBCs of our media to tell me what results they found on the coverage of the financial collapse, but it's good so see it in print.
Bruce Watson:

Columbia Journalism Review this month took the first steps toward transforming the ghost stories and urban legends of America's current recession into the formalized analysis of history. In "The List," a table of 727 stories from the business media, CJR tracks the history of the recession's coverage from its first rumbles and murmurs in 2000 to the cataclysms of 2007. In the process, the publication explores whether the media did, in fact, do everything that it could to protect its readers.

In its final analysis, the answer seems to be a resounding "no."...read on

Are you shocked? I found this report over at Digby's place so I'll let her explain what this means:

In all the navel gazing about the future of journalism, it seems to me that one of the most important is consideration of the cracking of the insider culture. The media's failures of the past decade can be at least partially explained by its insular nature and class based identification with those they cover. (As James Wolcott so pithily illustrated with his description of Judy Miller and Scooter Libby "buttering each others' toast" at the St. Regis.)

Good journalism requires something that is in short supply among many establishment journalists: a healthy skepticism toward power, money, celebrity and elite opinion. Unfortunately, all too many elite journalists swim in the same social and professional pool as the people they cover. I thought it was bad in politics, but when you watch the financial media it's almost dizzyingly cozy and self-reinforcing.

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Facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees over her myriad ethics woes, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced she may launch a legal defense fund. Decrying "the political blood sport" including the "the politically motivated Troopergate probe" which have engulfed her over the past year, Palin may turn to supporters to pay off the half-million dollar debt she has incurred. Luckily, there's already a proven model for bankrolling the legal fights of Republican wrongdoers. As Scooter Libby showed, it's as easy as 1-2-3.

The first step, of course, is to tap into the deep pockets of well-heeled Republican faithful. On the day of his Plamegate indictment, former Cheney chief-of-staff Libby received a check, courtesy of former U.S. ambassador Richard Carlson. He was just one of the GOP who's who backing Libby, a conservative all-star list featuring Mary Matalin, Barbara Comstock, Steve Forbes, Jack Kemp, Alan Simpson and many more. Having already launched her obligatory political action committee (SarahPAC) to endear her to Republican candidates nationwide, Sarah Palin is well on her way to asking right-wingers nationwide to pay back the favor. (Of course, one would think her rumored multimillion dollar book deal would be sufficient to cover her costs.)

Second, Palin should follow Scooter Libby's lead in securing the allegiance of a prominent member of the media to plead her case. For Libby, this faithful mouthpiece was failed CNN and MSNBC host Tucker Carlson. From Libby's indictment and conviction through the commutation (but not full pardon) by President Bush, Carlson declared Scooter's innocence while savaging prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. (At no time, of course, did Tucker inform viewers that his father Richard was a key adviser to the Libby legal defense fund.)

Happily, it appears Palin can cross this item off her to do list as well. As ThinkProgress noted earlier this week, Fox News' Greta Van Susteren has made a cottage industry of fawning interviews with the Alaska Governor. That Van Susteren's husband Joan Coale also happens to be the man "guiding Palin's political image in Washington" (if not actually a paid adviser) is yet another serendipity.

The third and final step in mounting a successful and lucrative right-wing legal defense is to recruit a Republican presidential contender to your cause. For Scooter Libby, that role was played by former Tennessee Senator and TV star Fred Thompson. Another member of the Scooter Libby Legal Defense Trust, Thompson spoke publicly on Libby's behalf, including his May 12, 2007 tear-jerker:

"After years of sacrifice and service to his country, he sits at home with his wife and two children awaiting a prison sentence. His name is Scooter Libby."

Here, too, Palin already has a check mark: herself.

(This piece also appears at Perrspectives.)

Daily News:

In the waning days of the Bush administration, Vice President Dick Cheney launched a last-ditch campaign to persuade his boss to pardon Lewis (Scooter) Libby - and was furious when President George W. Bush wouldn't budge.

Sources close to Cheney told the Daily News the former vice president repeatedly pressed Bush to pardon Libby, arguing his ex-chief of staff and longtime alter ego deserved a full exoneration - even though Bush had already kept Libby out of jail by commuting his 30-month prison sentence.

"He tried to make it happen right up until the very end," one Cheney associate said.

The craziest thing of all is that, despite a conviction by his peers on four felony counts, Dick Cheney still doesn't believe he did anything wrong. Stunning indeed. Perrspectives has more...

Update: And whenever you talk about these guys, another story about the DOJ firings comes out.

The Big Stone Wall: Nine Bush-Era Officials Refused To Cooperate With DOJ Probes

Wow. What parallel universe does Dick Cheney reside in? "A serious miscarriage of justice"? Are you kidding me?!

Weekly Standard:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney disagreed publicly with his boss just four times in the eight years they served together. Yesterday, however, on the first day after the official end of the Bush administration, Cheney disagreed with George W. Bush once more.

Asked for his reaction to Bush's decision Cheney said: "Scooter Libby is one of the most capable and honorable men I've ever known. He's been an outstanding public servant throughout his career. He was the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice, and I strongly believe that he deserved a presidential pardon. Obviously, I disagree with President Bush's decision."

When President Bush issued holiday pardons for 19 miscreants past and present on Tuesday, former Cheney chief-of-staff Scooter Libby wasn't among them. But with the two year campaign by right-wing pundits, GOP politicos and even Republican White House hopefuls now reaching a crescendo, Libby may yet get his slate wiped clean by the outgoing President. And to be sure, nothing in George W. Bush's past statements would suggest the Plamegate felon won't get the same Weinberger treatment the President's father offered the Iran-Contra crowd this week 16 years ago.

The drumbeat to save Scooter started anew on the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal. While Libby was convicted for perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation into the retaliatory outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, the Journal portrayed the criminal as martyr and the President's July 2007 commutation of Libby's sentence as a "half measure." Bush, the WSJ argued, should undo the "injustice inflicted" on Libby:

The judgment by a Washington, D.C. jury was more a verdict on the Bush Administration than it was about the confusing facts of Mr. Libby's alleged deceit. The Plame affair was a proxy for the larger political dispute over Iraq, and Mr. Libby became the Beltway sacrifice. By trumpeting his guilt, critics were able to impugn Mr. Bush's policies by insisting the President had "lied us into war"...

...In this dark episode, an honest man became the fall guy in a larger political war over the war. Mr. Libby deserved better -- and Mr. Bush owes it to Mr. Libby, and to future occupants of the White House, to give him a full pardon.

Writing in U.S. News, reliable Republican mouthpiece Michael Barone regurgitated the Journal's dishonest plea to rehabilitate Libby from the taint of his own law-breaking.

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Murray Waas has uncovered a major piece of evidence tying Vice President Dick Cheney to the efforts to attack Joe Wilson by exposing his wife as a CIA operative:

Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a still-highly confidential FBI report, admitted to federal investigators that he rewrote talking points for the press in July 2003 that made it much more likely that the role of then-covert CIA-officer Valerie Plame in sending her husband on a CIA-sponsored mission to Africa would come to light.

Cheney conceded during his interview with federal investigators that in drawing attention to Plame’s role in arranging her husband’s Africa trip reporters might also unmask her role as CIA officer.

Cheney denied to the investigators, however, that he had done anything on purpose that would lead to the outing of Plame as a covert CIA operative. But the investigators came away from their interview with Cheney believing that he had not given them a plausible explanation as to how he could focus attention on Plame’s role in arranging her husband’s trip without her CIA status also possibly publicly exposed. At the time, Plame was a covert CIA officer involved in preventing Iran from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, and Cheney’s office played a central role in exposing her and nullifying much of her work.

Cheney revised the talking points on July 8, 2003– the very same day that his then-chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller and told Miller that Plame was a CIA officer and that Plame had also played a central role in sending her husband on his CIA sponsored trip to the African nation of Niger.

Go read it all. Cheney may believe he got off the hook in the Plame affair, but it may not be over yet.

From The Onion:

The pardon assures that Libby will not face any more repercussions for his role in the Valerie Plame scandal or be eaten on Thanksgiving.