Post by Moses on Oct 25, 2005 0:36:36 GMT -5
Keeping in mind that the Chicago Tribune is a Hollinger paper:
Parties Develop Spin Strategies As Conclusion of Leak Probe Nears
Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON - A high-stakes game of spin control is unfolding in and around the White House as a special prosecutor probing the leak of a CIA agent's identity concludes his investigation this week.
For the Bush administration and its Republican allies, girding for the possible indictment of one or more administration officials, the challenge is to minimize whatever accusations may be leveled against any members of an administration that has prided itself on discipline and clean conduct.
For Democrats, approaching mid-term congressional elections next year with a goal of regaining control of Congress, the mission will be to paint the administration's new problem as part of a greater picture of misleading the American public. That also means connecting this case with legal problems of other Republicans such as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas.
At the heart of it, Democratic strategists say, Chicago-based prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's two-year investigation of who revealed the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame in 2003 should be viewed as a question of national security for a president who has promised protection at a time of war. [?!?]
Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had investigated and publicly criticized the administration's claims that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein attempted to obtain uranium from the African nation of Niger for nuclear weapons, one of the contentions Bush made before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The federal grand jury's investigation has shown that Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, and Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, served as sources for reporters who wrote about or at least knew that Plame worked at the CIA. Rove and Libby have maintained that they did not identify Plame by name, their lawyers say.
As the grand jury's term ends Friday and court-watchers await possible charges as soon as mid-week, Democrats are poised to make whatever comes of the investigation a political problem for Bush.
"There should be a concerted effort to remind people that what Libby and Rove were doing, if they are in fact indicted, was related to the shifting reasons that this administration used to take us to war and are directly tied to this administration's credibility in keeping the nation safe at a time of war," said Jenny Backus, a Washington-based Democratic consultant.
Democrats also will be ready to remind voters that DeLay faces money-laundering charges in Texas for steering political contributions to his party, and that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., faces questions about selling stocks before they lost value.
"They talked about a realignment of the government," Backus said Monday. "But it looks like it's a total arraignment of the government."
The Republican Party already is pointing to a continuing lack of agenda among Democrats who criticize the war in Iraq but offer no alternative to the president's plan for securing the country and its fledgling democracy before American troops can start to withdraw.
"Democrats will use any excuse to avoid offering the American people an actual agenda," Republican National Committee spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said Monday. "They will go to great lengths to avoid talking about the substantive issues."
Republicans are less forthcoming about how they would handle matters, should any significant member of the administration face protracted legal problems for involvement in the CIA leak case.
"We've prepared for various scenarios," one Republican official said.
One scenario could involve charges for something less than identifying a CIA agent, legal analysts say. That could involve obstruction of justice in the grand jury's probe or making false statements to federal officials.
One of Bush's fellow Texas Republicans, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, already has prepared for that scenario with Sunday comments on NBC's "Meet the Press." If there is an indictment, she said, it should say "something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime." [Let's hope the prosecutor obliges Ms. Hutchinson. ]
However, Democrats are reminding Republicans that they were ready to impeach President Clinton for obstruction of justice in an investigation of his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
"In fact," a memo circulated Monday by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee notes, "when a Democrat was in the White House just a few short years ago, the seriousness of perjury and obstruction was pretty much all Republicans would talk about."
That memo cites Frist as saying: "There is no serious question that perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes and misdemeanors."
As Democrats seek to capitalize on any problems that Rove, Libby or any other member of the administration might face, Republicans continue to challenge Wilson's credibility. [Dana Milbank of The Washington Post obligingly took this tack.]
In a series of "talking points" prepared for Republicans taking part in television interviews as Wilson makes speeches, the RNC has prepared a list of "Joe Wilson's Top Ten Worst Inaccuracies and misstatements." Among them: press accounts that Wilson claimed his report on uranium was "conclusive and significant" but government officials called Wilson's report "thin" and "shoddy."
But there's at least one key figure who isn't saying anything at all before the grand jury's work is finished.
"This may be the fourth time I've been asked about this, which I appreciate, you're doing your job," Bush told a reporter on Monday. "This is a very serious investigation, and I haven't changed my mind about whether or not I'm going to comment on it publicly."
With that, the president stayed publicly mum on the issue.
Photo Copyright Getty Images
© YellowBrix, Inc. Copyright 1997-2005
Parties Develop Spin Strategies As Conclusion of Leak Probe Nears
Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON - A high-stakes game of spin control is unfolding in and around the White House as a special prosecutor probing the leak of a CIA agent's identity concludes his investigation this week.
For the Bush administration and its Republican allies, girding for the possible indictment of one or more administration officials, the challenge is to minimize whatever accusations may be leveled against any members of an administration that has prided itself on discipline and clean conduct.
For Democrats, approaching mid-term congressional elections next year with a goal of regaining control of Congress, the mission will be to paint the administration's new problem as part of a greater picture of misleading the American public. That also means connecting this case with legal problems of other Republicans such as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas.
At the heart of it, Democratic strategists say, Chicago-based prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's two-year investigation of who revealed the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame in 2003 should be viewed as a question of national security for a president who has promised protection at a time of war. [?!?]
Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had investigated and publicly criticized the administration's claims that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein attempted to obtain uranium from the African nation of Niger for nuclear weapons, one of the contentions Bush made before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The federal grand jury's investigation has shown that Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, and Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, served as sources for reporters who wrote about or at least knew that Plame worked at the CIA. Rove and Libby have maintained that they did not identify Plame by name, their lawyers say.
As the grand jury's term ends Friday and court-watchers await possible charges as soon as mid-week, Democrats are poised to make whatever comes of the investigation a political problem for Bush.
"There should be a concerted effort to remind people that what Libby and Rove were doing, if they are in fact indicted, was related to the shifting reasons that this administration used to take us to war and are directly tied to this administration's credibility in keeping the nation safe at a time of war," said Jenny Backus, a Washington-based Democratic consultant.
Democrats also will be ready to remind voters that DeLay faces money-laundering charges in Texas for steering political contributions to his party, and that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., faces questions about selling stocks before they lost value.
"They talked about a realignment of the government," Backus said Monday. "But it looks like it's a total arraignment of the government."
The Republican Party already is pointing to a continuing lack of agenda among Democrats who criticize the war in Iraq but offer no alternative to the president's plan for securing the country and its fledgling democracy before American troops can start to withdraw.
"Democrats will use any excuse to avoid offering the American people an actual agenda," Republican National Committee spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said Monday. "They will go to great lengths to avoid talking about the substantive issues."
Republicans are less forthcoming about how they would handle matters, should any significant member of the administration face protracted legal problems for involvement in the CIA leak case.
"We've prepared for various scenarios," one Republican official said.
One scenario could involve charges for something less than identifying a CIA agent, legal analysts say. That could involve obstruction of justice in the grand jury's probe or making false statements to federal officials.
One of Bush's fellow Texas Republicans, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, already has prepared for that scenario with Sunday comments on NBC's "Meet the Press." If there is an indictment, she said, it should say "something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime." [Let's hope the prosecutor obliges Ms. Hutchinson. ]
However, Democrats are reminding Republicans that they were ready to impeach President Clinton for obstruction of justice in an investigation of his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
"In fact," a memo circulated Monday by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee notes, "when a Democrat was in the White House just a few short years ago, the seriousness of perjury and obstruction was pretty much all Republicans would talk about."
That memo cites Frist as saying: "There is no serious question that perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes and misdemeanors."
As Democrats seek to capitalize on any problems that Rove, Libby or any other member of the administration might face, Republicans continue to challenge Wilson's credibility. [Dana Milbank of The Washington Post obligingly took this tack.]
In a series of "talking points" prepared for Republicans taking part in television interviews as Wilson makes speeches, the RNC has prepared a list of "Joe Wilson's Top Ten Worst Inaccuracies and misstatements." Among them: press accounts that Wilson claimed his report on uranium was "conclusive and significant" but government officials called Wilson's report "thin" and "shoddy."
But there's at least one key figure who isn't saying anything at all before the grand jury's work is finished.
"This may be the fourth time I've been asked about this, which I appreciate, you're doing your job," Bush told a reporter on Monday. "This is a very serious investigation, and I haven't changed my mind about whether or not I'm going to comment on it publicly."
With that, the president stayed publicly mum on the issue.
Photo Copyright Getty Images
© YellowBrix, Inc. Copyright 1997-2005