As an attorney, I would never disparage Libby's right to a fair trial.
And that includes a fair-minded jury.
But, come on.
First, it's a little bit odd for juror selection to be based on a witness, rather than either a victim or a defendant.
Secondly, well I hope his lawyers are getting paid by the hour.
Cheney's credibility has emerged as a key issue in the jury selection phase of the
CIA leak trial. He is expected to be called as a witness on behalf of his former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, who is accused of lying to investigators about his conversations with journalists regarding an outed CIA officer.
Why Libby hasn't taken a plea yet is beyond me. But, on to the potential jurors.
"I don't have the highest opinion of him," a young financial analyst said. "If I had to rank people as to credibility, I wouldn't put him at the top of the list."
He was dismissed, as was a young woman who said she was "completely without objectivity" about Bush administration officials who might be called to testify.
"There is nothing they could say or do that would make me think anything positive about them," the woman said moments before she was excused from the jury pool by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton.
Who on earth thinks Dick Cheney does have credibility?
Here are some questions jurors have to answer:
Do any of you have feelings or opinions about the Bush administration or any of its policies or actions, whether positive or negative, that might affect your ability to give a former member of the Bush administration a fair trial?
Would the fact that former or present members of the Bush administration will be witnesses in this case impair your ability to be a totally fair and impartial juror?
Would any of you have any difficulty fairly judging the believability of former or present members of the Bush administration?
Do any of you have any feelings or opinions about Vice President Cheney, whether positive or negative, that might affect your ability to fairly judge Vice President Cheney's believability?
Yikes. Looks like he's screwed. Cheney approval ratings:
CNN Dec 15-17 2006: 39% Approve, 55% disapprove
Newsweek Nov 910 2006: 31% Approve, 56% disapprove
And Washington D.C. is perhaps the most Democratic/liberal area in the entire country.
However, Libby does have one chance, as hinted by this question for jurors:
Several witnesses who will testify in this case are members of the news media. Would any of you have any difficulty fairly judging the believability of a person who is a member of the news media?
Bush hacks vs. media hacks in a test of credibility.
At least we can't go to war because of this trial.
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