Swopa of the blog Needlenose had a very useful set of bullet points on Libby a few days ago which I copy here:

http://www.needlenose.com/index.php

Bogus Spin #1: Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald went after Libby even after learning that Richard Armitage had been Bob Novak's "primary source" for his column outing Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA employee.

Wrong. Armitage made his admission in early October 2003, nearly three months before Fitzgerald was appointed. So it should be clear that Fitzgerald wasn't appointed just to find out who leaked to Novak. In fact, this means that -- even with Armitage's confession in hand -- there was so much evidence of wrongdoing that a longtime GOP loyalist like John Ashcroft felt he had no choice but to recuse himself and allow the appointment of a special counsel.

Bogus Spin #2: Even so, Libby wasn't the only one who leaked about Plame.

Maybe not, but it turns out that every other Bush administration who leaked did so as a result of information they got as a result of Libby's actions. Ari Fleischer testified during Scooter's trial that Libby told him over lunch about Plame working for the CIA, and Karl Rove reportedly told a similar story to the grand jury that indicted Libby. Meanwhile, Armitage and Bushite press flack Dan Bartlett both found out through a State Department memo that was produced in response to questions that Libby had asked a top department official about Wilson's trip to Niger. If Libby (and his boss, Dick Cheney) had been content to reply to Wilson's criticisms on their merits rather than by rattling cages in search of fodder for personal attacks, none of the other officials would ever have been able to leak about Plame.

Bogus Spin #3: The trial was just Libby's word against that of a bunch of reporters.

Although three reporters did testify, they were preceded on the stand by six different government officials who each testified to having conversations with Libby about Joe Wilson's wife before the date when Libby first claimed to have heard it from a reporter. It was these officials' testimony, more than that of the reporters, that convicted Libby.

Bogus Spin #4: Libby was convicted for having a faulty memory.

It's never mentioned in the mainstream media, but Scooter didn't just "forget" telling reporters about Joe Wilson's wife working for the CIA, and deny it when he really had told them.

No, Libby's "faulty memory" caused him not only to deny where he had learned about Plame -- a note produced in the trial showed Vice President Cheney had told him she worked in the Counterproliferation Department of the CIA (where the majority of employees are covert) -- but to invent stories saying he HAD leaked to reporters when he hadn't. He claimed to have been the first to tell Matt Cooper about Wilson's wife, thereby covering up the fact that Karl Rove had done so. And he shielded Fleischer by falsely claiming to have told the Post's Glenn Kessler as well, apparently trying to cover for the Post's October 12, 2003 report that a journalist for the Post (who turned out to be Walter Pincus) had been leaked to -- a news story that was found, with key passages underlined, in Libby's files.

Thus Libby was convicted not just of perjury but of intentionally lying in order to obstruct the investigation, and rightly so.

If big MSM sources like the NYT will not treat Administration propaganda with skepticism in June of 2007, after 4 years of continual propaganda, continually exposed as such, then the only conclusion is that they are willing channels of the propagandization of the American public. That makes the media our enemies.

I know that sounds extreme, but THEY'RE the ones with the extreme behavior. I'm merely giving an honest description of it.

Davis should be court-martialed and imprisoned in Gitmo.

There they go again. The NYT editorial page is finally beginning to awaken from their years long slumber, but the news reporters still haven't heard the news. That's because they aren't news reporters, they are stenographers to power.

We live in a society that is driven by propaganda. We are not propaganda driven to the same degree as the USSR, but it is, sadly, a difference of degree, not kind.

So many of the Republican extremists are on the record making blanket statements that withdrawal is surrender, would be morally evil, etc. I don't know if many of them CAN embrace the ISG even if they want to.

Does the ISG report actually allow them to save face after making those kinds of statements? Can anything?

And another thing: any politician who reverses their position on the war/ISG report based on poll results, has the blood of the 500+ American soldiers who have died since then on their hands. All over their hands. Dripping with blood.

Seriously. I'm an atheist, but if I were one of them, I'd be seriously worried about going to Hell.

Hypocrites, Lunatics, Liars, and Thieves.

Of course, there's a lot of overlap between categories...

Wow. I've been out of the internet loop for a few weeks on vacation and this is the first I've seen of Digby on Salon. First Salon snapped up Glenn Greenwald and now Digby. Brilliant! Already the best on-line magazine there is, if Salon keeps snatching up the best bloggers they will only get better and better. Slate is eating your dust, Salon.

Hail Digby, Queen of the blogosphere!

Joe "Uberputz" Lieberman said, "Pastor Hagee, I pray that God will bless you with all that you pray for"

Hmm. One of the things Hagee and other fundamentalist nutcases pray for is the Rapture, in which two-thirds of the Jews supposedly will be thrown into the Lake of Fire to suffer eternal torment.

Hey Putzboy: Are you quite sure you want ALL of your buddy's prayers answered?