Gordo Plays Dumb on Scooter, Claims to Support "Majority" in OR
Hat tip to DailyKos' mcjoan for finding some great Gordo video from this week in the wake of the Scooter Libby commutation scandal--boos to us for not seeing it. I probably don't troll the local TV websites as much as I should, but it's discouraging to wade through the dreck to find the good nuggets.
In the vid, Smith repeatedly says he can't understand why Scooter perjured himself, when "he wasn't charged in the case." He also fails to offer any insight on whether he thinks the commutation OR the sentence were justified, saying only of the former that the President has the Constitutional right, and of the latter that perjury "is a very serious thing." He also mentions that he wishes the case could have run its course, legally speaking. Does that mean he thinks that the case was wrongly decided, or that you shouldn't interject a commutation or pardon before all appeals are exhausted (which would potentially have taken us past Bush's term and thus made action on his part impossible)? Say it with me now--Smith doesn't make his position clear.
Smith says he spoke with the President a couple of days ago "for almost a half hour, about our differences, but also our common purpose to get it right for America, and hopefully get us in a different spot in Iraq come September." Parse that one if you can--what does getting it right entail? What "different spot" in Iraq will come in September, and how do Smith and Bush share that hope when Smith seems to be implying they have different expectations for September?
The best part of the interview may be when Smith describes how he will run next year. From my own transcription:
But it kills me that a US Senator pretends to be that clueless when it comes to the details of the Plame/Libby story. But perhaps there's a chance that he's not actually playing, and actually DOESN'T understand the story. That's why we've bought a copy of Marcy Wheeler's Anatomy of Deceit: How the Bush Administration Used the Media to Sell the Iraq War and Out a Spy, the definitive current work on the entire scandal, to send to Gordon's DC office. Maybe he'll pretend to have read it.
In the vid, Smith repeatedly says he can't understand why Scooter perjured himself, when "he wasn't charged in the case." He also fails to offer any insight on whether he thinks the commutation OR the sentence were justified, saying only of the former that the President has the Constitutional right, and of the latter that perjury "is a very serious thing." He also mentions that he wishes the case could have run its course, legally speaking. Does that mean he thinks that the case was wrongly decided, or that you shouldn't interject a commutation or pardon before all appeals are exhausted (which would potentially have taken us past Bush's term and thus made action on his part impossible)? Say it with me now--Smith doesn't make his position clear.
Smith says he spoke with the President a couple of days ago "for almost a half hour, about our differences, but also our common purpose to get it right for America, and hopefully get us in a different spot in Iraq come September." Parse that one if you can--what does getting it right entail? What "different spot" in Iraq will come in September, and how do Smith and Bush share that hope when Smith seems to be implying they have different expectations for September?
The best part of the interview may be when Smith describes how he will run next year. From my own transcription:
I believe in health care reform, I believe in low taxes, I believe in a government that promotes individual freedom, I believe in a strong national defense but I think we need to focus on the real enemy, and not on policing an Iraqi civil war between Sunnis and Shias, which isn't our fight and not something we can fix. But we have the war on terror from which we cannot retreat, for our own safety's sake. And so I'm committed to those things. I think Oregonians understand pretty well how I vote, why I vote that way, and my heart is to try to represent majorities in Oregon as much as possible.How on earth can Oregonians understand how you vote, when your votes don't match the rhetoric--or you don't supply any rhetoric at all until the vote comes? Can you understand how he may vote on the next Iraq bill, based on the paragraph above? I sure can't.
But it kills me that a US Senator pretends to be that clueless when it comes to the details of the Plame/Libby story. But perhaps there's a chance that he's not actually playing, and actually DOESN'T understand the story. That's why we've bought a copy of Marcy Wheeler's Anatomy of Deceit: How the Bush Administration Used the Media to Sell the Iraq War and Out a Spy, the definitive current work on the entire scandal, to send to Gordon's DC office. Maybe he'll pretend to have read it.
posted by Anonymous at 12:00 PM
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