Is there a statute of limitations on treason?
I hope not, because in light of “revelations” by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan that, yes, the White House inner circle did indeed out our own covert spy Valerie Plame, that leaves plenty of time to press charges against Rove, Libby, Card, and yes, if possible, Bush and Cheney.
And, is there something we can do about McClellan as well (other than just not buy the book he’s beginning to promote with this “revelation”)? During Watergate, Attorney General Elliot Richardson resigned rather than comply with Richard Nixon’s order to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Then Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus also resigned rather than comply. McClellan sat quiet for years, finding his voice only in time for book promotion. Fealty to country comes before loyalty to a president, and the practice of conscience overrides all other considerations. Those are the principles the nation was founded on. It’s shameful that no one in the White House seems to know this. Since we can’t rely on their conscience, perhaps we should actually prosecute and punish perpetrators of treason.
Update: Since this story broke, McClellan’s publisher has issued a statement that the book will not say that Bush knowingly misled him about the Plame leak. Evidently, it took only a few hours for forgetfulness and obfuscation to resume, no doubt prodded by threat. Here’s an update on the story, and here’s Salon’s piece, which ends with an entreaty to Congress to pursue an investigation. Good luck on that one.
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:06 am
Here’s a line from the Salon article that I find more disturbing than Bush lying.
“According to Peter Osnos of Public Affairs, McClellan didn’t mean to say that Bush deliberately lied to him about Libby’s and Rove’s involvement in the Plame leak.
“[Bush] told him something that wasn’t true, but the president didn’t know it wasn’t true,” said Osnos. “The president told him what he thought to be the case.” How McClellan knows what Bush knew at that time — let alone how Osnos knows — remains to be explained.”
The disturbing part is that Bush passed on false information that his toadies had given him. That means his underlings lied to the president. If the real world lying to the boss will get you fired. In the Bush world they get told good job.
Lord save us from this incompetent administration.
Paul