Libby Lied But . . . ?

So the Republican Talking Point remains "no underlying crime" on Libby and Plamegate. To wit, they argue that because Libby was not charged on any claim of illegally disclosing classified information the Bush Administration has been exonerated. Of course this is nonsense -- the Indictment outlines in very clear terms that in fact the Bush Administration did purposefully and concertedly engage in a campaign to make sure the Media knew Valerie Plame was a CIA agent. The Indictment makes clear that Vice President Cheney was at the head of this concerted action. So why no charges?

Fitzgerald told us:

In this case, it's a lot more serious than baseball. And the damage wasn't to one person. It wasn't just Valerie Wilson. It was done to all of us.

And as you sit back, you want to learn: Why was this information going out? Why were people taking this information about Valerie Wilson and giving it to reporters? Why did Mr. Libby say what he did? Why did he tell Judith Miller three times? Why did he tell the press secretary on Monday? Why did he tell Mr. Cooper? And was this something where he intended to cause whatever damage was caused?

Or did they intend to do something else and where are the shades of gray? And what we have when someone charges obstruction of justice, the umpire gets sand thrown in his eyes. He's trying to figure what happened and somebody blocked their view.

As you sit here now, if you're asking me what his motives were, I can't tell you; we haven't charged it. So what you were saying is the harm in an obstruction investigation is it prevents us from making the fine judgments we want to make.

I also want to take away from the notion that somehow we should take an obstruction charge less seriously than a leak charge. This is a very serious matter and compromising national security information is a very serious matter. But the need to get to the bottom of what happened and whether national security was compromised by inadvertence, by recklessness, by maliciousness is extremely important. We need to know the truth. And anyone who would go into a grand jury and lie, obstruct and impede the investigation has committed a serious crime.

What Fitzgerald is saying is that Libby's lies, his obstruction of justice, have prevented Fitzgerald from being able to answer these questions:

Why was this information going out? Why were people taking this information about Valerie Wilson and giving it to reporters? Why did Mr. Libby say what he did? Why did he tell Judith Miller three times? Why did he tell the press secretary on Monday? Why did he tell Mr. Cooper? And was this something where he intended to cause whatever damage was caused?

More on the flip.

Politically, I think the Republican Talking Points are a nonstarter. People aren't stupid. They understand lying and  motives for lying.

They understood Bill Clinton lied about his interactions with Monica Lewisnky because he did not want people to know what he had done with her. They decided that it was not important to Clinton's performance as President.

Here, the American People understand that Scotter Libby lied about the Bush Administration actions to cover up the fact that Vice President Cheney spearheaded and ordered these attacks on Joe Wilson and ordered the disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent.

What can be proved for the purpose of a criminal prosection is NOT the same as what the American People can easily understand.

Libby lied to protect his boss - Vice President Cheney. And that is the essential truth of the story. No spin will change that.