Cheney Said To Be Furious, Threatens To Expose Shadow Presidency If Pardon Doesn't Come Through
Sources tell The Garlic this morning that there are new, hostile divisions deep inside the White House.
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, commuted from his felony conviction in the Plame Leak Case, was said to be "despondent and crushed" after seeing the list of Medal of Freedom recipients released by the President yesterday.
Libby, according to a West Wing staffer, called Vice President Dick Cheney, and in tears, expressed his disappointment to his former boss, of not being awarded one.
Cheney was said to be furious, reacting angrily and threatened to expose the Shadow Presidency he has been conducting.
Cheney reportedly called the President, "barking at him" and demanded to know, if Libby was not receiving a Medal of Freedom award, when was his pardon coming through.
"We were sure Scooter was going to get one." whined Mary Matalin (Editor's Note: Whining is Ms. Matalins' natural way of speaking), a Libby friend and former colleague, as well as one of the chief fundraisers for Libby's defense.
"I mean, he gave one to Tenet, for God sakes!"
When asked for comment, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino indicated she didn't know anything about the Medal of Freedom awards, or how the list was developed.
"However," she added, "I believe that there are certain health benefits to not receiving one."
Libby is, reportedly, in talks with the Fox News Network as to developing a new show, tentatively titled "Are You Smarter Than a Convicted, But Commuted, Former White House Official?"
Bonus Scooter Links
Libby Trial Update - The Scooter and Cheney Show Theme Song
Top Ten Cloves: Reasons Tim Russert Didn't Ask Scooter Libby About Joe Wilson and His Wife
Miller To Leave 'Times' With Movie Deal In Hand; Signs On To Star In Memento Sequel; Not Sure If She Will Continue Freelancing For Bush Admn.
Letters Cast Light on Cheney's Inner Circle; Dozens of Prominent Figures and Insiders Praise Libby as Fundamentally Decent
"We were sure Scooter was going to get one,." whined Mary Matalin. "I mean, he gave one to Tenet, for Godsakes!"
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Left Off Medal of Freedom Recipient List, Libby Said To Be "Crushed"
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
It Will Make A Nice, Keepsake, Photograph ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll
In at least one way, our poll last week was too easy.
As our Garlic Poll Voters discerned, The Decider/The Commander/The Shakespeare Guy almost always (well, Donald Rumsfeld might still be sitting by the telephone) gives his biggest flunkies and fuck-ups the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award.
The way to succeed in the Bush Grindhouse is to fail. Fail miserably.
Perhaps Chertoff knew, in his gut, all along, that he wouldn't be fired, hence, allowing him to offer his "gut feelings" about the terror threat facing the country, not fully understanding the confusion he would cause by doing so.
After all, we have the Color-Coded Terror Alert Chart, with the occassionally-accompanying Duct Tape and Plastic warning added ... And now we have a "Who's On First" routine being played out by the Bush Grindhouse on just who Al Qaeda is and which Al Qaeda were fighting, based on the lasted NIE report released last week.
So, Michael Chertoff, "gut away" as you will, and know that at the end of the rainbow, a nice, shiney medal awaits your meritorious service.
When you get that medal hung around your neck, it will make for such a nice, keepsake, photograph, all those people down in New Orleans can hang on the wall of their toxic, FEMA-provided trailer.
(The Garlic wants to let the NBA, and investigating authorities, that referee Tim Donaghy has had no dealings or connections to the Garlic Weekly Poll and, to the best of your knowledge, has never gambled on the outcome of any of our polls).
The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll July 15 - July 22, 2007
The reason President Bush didn't fire Michael Chertoff was ...
1. Already promised him he'll be getting a Presidential Medal of Freedom Award Tally 31%
2. Can't divulge reason, invoking Executive Privilege Tally 30%
3. Had his own gut feeling that Chertoff would follow him home Tally 24%
4. Still in the middle of Hurricane Season; Needs someone to blame in case U.S. hit big again Tally 14%
This week’s Poll - Where's Condi Rice? Is she ...
Scroll up to the top right corner to place your vote
Monday, July 09, 2007
For All We Know, Maybe Scooter Did Throw A Hissy Fit ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll
Move over Tenet, there's another lackey that's going to get his ...
At least, that is, if our Garlic Poll voters were advising The Commander Guy.
But wouldn't have been so sweet, to see the Scooter Man, tears running down his cheeks, slumped down in the back of the limo, crying out for his "Cheney, Cheney" ... And scaring the bejeezes out of television viewers, Mary Matalin with a screeching tirade on how unfair it was that Scooter had to go to jail ...
Ahhh, but that could only be a thought ... The reality came thundering down in the Quid Pro Quo delivered last week.
Who knows ... The Medal of Freedom could still be in the cards for Libby ...Some of the other guys who hatched this thing - now up to 4,000 casualties - already got one ... I mean, why should he be singled out as one of the only screw-ups not to get it?
Underlying Crime? ... Take Your Pick ...
The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll July 2 - July 8 2007
Instead of giving Scooter Libby clemency, President Bush Should Have ...
1. Treated him like others and award Libby the Medal of Freedom Tally 38%
2. Told him to throw a hissy fit, like Paris Hilton, so he could get House Detention Tally 26%
3. Handed him a Presidential Toothbrush for his prison stay Tally 23%
4. Pull some strings and let him serve his time in same prison as Jack Abramoff Tally 13%
This week’s Poll - President Bush believes that Executive Privilege is ...
Scroll up to the top right corner to place your vote
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Breaking News! Bush Counting On New Controversy To Bury Iraq, Woodward News
New White House Bombshell: Bush Considering Medal of Freedom Award For Foley
Cites Scandalized Congressman’s Loyalty In House And “Foley’s Attention and Support of Page Program”
New discord has erupted in the White House, a senior government official has told The Garlic, as President Bush, barring a late change of heart, is planning on presenting the Medal of Freedom Award to the scandalized ex-Congressman Mark Foley, the epicenter of growing Congressional scandal.
Foley resigned last Friday, after ABC News reporter Brian Ross broke the story of Foley’s sexually-charged emails and instant messages to Congressional Pages.
Ironically, Foley was the co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, and a leading figure in the fight against on-line sexual exploitation of children.
Fueling this scandal is charges that the Republican Congressional Leadership was aware, from a few months, up to, possibly, a year, of Foley’s inappropriate - and potentially criminal - contacts with pages. House Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL) coming under fire, with calls for his resignation, for, seemingly, sweeping the issue under the proverbial rug.
Additionally, Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and National Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (R-NY) are also being implicated in the possible cover-up of Foley’s behavior. Coming under additional scrutiny is a $100,000 donation Foley made to the NRCC, chaired by Reynolds, just weeks after House Leader Boehner was advised of Foley’s “inappropriate contact” with a Congressional Page.
For the White House, the Foley Scandal may be the best thing to come along for them over the past week
Under heavy fire, first from a leaked National Intelligence Estimate report that depicts growing violence in Iraq, due to the U.S. invasion and occupation of the country, and then, over the weekend, the release of the Bob Woodward book, ‘State of Denial” which goes to back up the reports that the President and his administration have misled the public on the true state of War in Iraq.
“Boy, you couldn’t have order a better scandal than this Foley thing,” offered Dix Whitcomb, editor of the newsletter Our Laws Are Different "They can send everyone in the Cabinet out on the talkshow circuit, to throw dirt on Woodward and all that does is increase the talk, and probably the book sales.”
“This can take the whole issue,” continued Whitcomb, “of Woodward’s book and
On the surface, the White House is giving the appearance of distancing themselves from the Foley Scandal, that it is a problem for Congress to clean up. On Monday, in an interview with CNN, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow displayed an indifference to the scandal, saying that the sexually-graphic emails sent by Foley, to a number of teenage pages were "simply naughty e-mails."
Behind the doors of the West Wing, a very different scene has been playing out.
In a staff meeting yesterday, President Bush announced to the group that he is considering presenting to Foley, who has checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation clinic, and now claims he was molested by a clergyman in his youth the Medal of Freedom Award, for his years of service in Congress.
“Bush said,” confirmed the senior government official source, “Foley’s loyalty to the party deserves to be recognized” and that “his support of the Congressional Page Program is exemplary and should be adopted by others.”
The meeting, according to the source, became very contentious at that point, with Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley backing the President, while Chief of Staff Josh Bolton and Special Councilor Dan Bartlett weighed in against it.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chose to excuse herself from the discussion, indicating she didn’t want to be put into the position of having to deny she was in meeting, that she knew of some action being requested or discussed, at some later Senate or special committee inquiry.
“If It Takes The Heat Off Of Us, Any Controversy Is Good Controversy”
‘I think,” offered David Aaronson, editor of 'What Color Is My Coat Today?', the Capital Hill Newsletter that tracks politicians who turn on their own party, “is that the White is remembering the hornets nest they stirred up a few years ago, when they gave Tenet and Bremer the Medal of Freedom Award.”
“The President,” continued Aaronson, “or, more likely Rove or Cheney, is thinking that “if it takes the heat off of us, any controversy is good controversy.”
Back in 2004, President Bush awarded the Medal of Freedom to former CIA Director George Tenet, former Iraqi administrator L. Paul Bremer , and also retired Gen. Tommy Franks, saying "This honor goes to three men who have played pivotal roles in great events, and whose efforts have made our country more secure and advanced the cause of human liberty."
The awards earned the President a firestorm of criticism, being that it Mr. Tenet’s Iraq legacy is centered on telling President Bush it would be a “slam dunk” and Bremer, upon his return from Iraq, criticized the President’s policy, offering in a speech that the U.S. didn’t have enough troops on the ground in Iraq.
“Right now, said Aaronson, “it all about getting the N.I.E assessments and Woodward’s book out of the headlines, the news ... The Foley scandal is providing some cover but it won’t do it by itself ...They can gauge pretty well the outcry that will raise ... For the RNC, and all those sitting-duck candidates, giving this guy the Medal Award may be the big Rove October Surprise they have to settle for ...”
President Bush, and the White House, is expecting as much of an uproar regarding awarding disgraced ex-Congressmen Mark Foley the Medal of Freedom Award, as they did two-years ago, in presenting it to former CIA Director George "Slam Dunk" Tenet
