Apoplectic...

We have a bit of a saying in our house. It has become so routine that when every I ask the question, my son gets quiet, usually slumps his shoulders, and gives me the standard answer. Whenever my boy is pouting or crying in an attempt to get his way, his mom or I look right at him, and ask him -

Question - What do you get in this family when you whine and cry and complain?

Answer - Nothing.

Nothing. In our family, whining, crying, and complaining gets you nothing. If Noah wants something that at any other time I would gladly do for him, or get him, or provide him - if he goes about trying to get it with pouting or whining - the answer is an automatic no. Very simply, crying gets you nothing in our family.

I think that conservatives and republicans need to learn that lesson today. I don't care how much they whine and cry and complain about the Libby verdict, and why it was unfair, and how they want the American people to believe that it really says nothing about Bush, or Cheney or Iraq - they are not going to get their way.

This verdict says a lot about this Administration. It says a lot about how Dick Cheney runs (ran) the White House. It says a lot about how scared the Administration was about their fabrications and cherry-picking of the evidence about Iraq becoming public. And, today, it says a LOT about conservatives and republicans who like to talk tough about the moral majority, and family values - but ignore it when their own are those committing such violations.

Listen to the wingers going absolutely apoplectic about this verdict, and defending the actions of this administration would be comical if not sad. Limbaugh almost had a stroke today when two callers in a row suggested that although they don't think the Administration did anything wrong - conservatives should not defend lying to a grand jury or law enforcement at any time - that this was just like Clinton, and they should have the intellectual honesty to call out Libby the same as they had Clinton. Limbaugh absolutely lost it on both callers - saying instead that regardless of the lies, the issue is the liberal media, or the Democrats, or the Clintons. No responsibility.

I think that the effects of this conviction will be lasting. I think Bill Clinton was a good President. But - regardless of that view of his Presidency - he made horrendously poor decisions, he lied when he shouldn't have, and his legacy will be forever tainted because of it. The story is similar here with Bush. Regardless of the ultimate outcome in Iraq, Bush's legacy will be forever tainted by how his Administration managed the public relations campaign in the run up to war, and how they covered up their actions afterward.

Although there were only four charges Libby was convicted of, this trial was indeed much bigger, and its impact will last much longer than the time Libby spends in jail.

For Cheney, Political Toll May Follow Libby Verdict
Libby Guilty of Lying in C.I.A. Leak Case
Libby's Lies