WASHINGTON (AP) — Former top White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was banned Thursday from practicing law in the nation's capital following his perjury conviction in the case of a CIA operative's leaked identity. The disbarment order of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals had been expected.

[ap.google.com]

Just one incompetent lawyer out of thousands

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SoCal for now.

Maybe Eliott Spitzer would argue Libby's case???

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bradsdad
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bradsdad
Maybe Eliott Spitzer would argue Libby's case???

Depends on what he is convicted of.

So far arrogance and stupidity are at the top of the list and once they sort out the rest it
(charges pending) it depends on whether Spitzer still has a license.

Scooter on the other hand was convicted of perjury and obstructing justice which under the law
as I understand it are automatic grounds for loss of of his license , so this was just a formality.

Sadly for him he was most likely just a fall guy ... falling on his sword for doing what he was
probably told to do ...being a good soldier etc ....

Just like the mafia he got figuratively whacked in the end.

Oh well - there's always K Street. Not like he was going to actual legal work.

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Did he have a real Law Degree? Or one of those you can order on the internet?

Wasn't Mr. Clinton disbarred for that exact reason? For most lawyers its the end of their financial road but not for the politically connected.

Mr. Libby will have no problem paying HIS mortgage.

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"Who's more foolish - the fool or the fool that follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2008 11:44PM by RgrF.

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guitarist
Did he have a real Law Degree? Or one of those you can order on the internet?

Wouldn't surprise me if he got it in a Crackerjack box, or the bushco equivalent, which is from here:

[www.regent.edu]

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guitarist
Did he have a real Law Degree? Or one of those you can order on the internet?

Yale .... go figure

Also was vice president of the Yale College Democrats ... yep - you read that right.


[en.wikipedia.org]

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lafinfil

Also was vice president of the Yale College Democrats ... yep - you read that right.

And Hillary was a Goldwater girl.

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freeradical

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lafinfil

Also was vice president of the Yale College Democrats ... yep - you read that right.

And Hillary was a Goldwater girl.

Yep - lots of college age kids of that generation were but many became disillusioned when
he didn't support the civil rights act.

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Reminds me Valerie didn't do much with her fifteen minutes of fame. Couple pictures in the papers but no book and movie deals that I heard about and it is not like she can go on the lecture circuit telling secrets.

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Da Good Life

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lafinfil

Yep - lots of college age kids of that generation were but many became disillusioned when
he didn't support the civil rights act.

What actually happened was that Johnson was able to successfully portray Goldwater as a warmonger.

Fearmongering...

And then Johnson, well we all know what he did...

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freeradical

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lafinfil

Yep - lots of college age kids of that generation were but many became disillusioned when
he didn't support the civil rights act.

What actually happened was that Johnson was able to successfully portray Goldwater as a warmonger.

Fearmongering...

And then Johnson, well we all know what he did...

Interesting - is that personal experience ?

I was still a bit too young - so I was basing my comments based on a roundtable discussion
and comments made by a few of the generation I heard recently. The abandoning him
because of his reluctance to support civil rights came directly from Clarence Page
and his personal experience. Since I'm not pushing 60 yet (for a few years) I took him at
his word based on his personal experience.

Out of curiosity - what was yours ?

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You must have seen the famous Daisy ad. [www.youtube.com] Actually Barry Goldwater was so marginalized he was never really a threat to unseat Johnson. Lyndon was from the Texas school of scorched earth campaigns and "nuked' Barry just to be sure.

At that time, Goldwater was to the right what McGovern later became to the left.

Johnson did indeed paint Goldwater as an extremist and Barry went along for the ride. ...extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue! ...

Johnson then turned to the military for guidance in pursuit of the Vietnam War, the rest is history.

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"Who's more foolish - the fool or the fool that follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi

Goldwater was memorialized in a documentary about two years ago, insightful stuff, a lot of contemporary political figures from both sides admire him almost equally. They don't make 'em like that anymore. He was on the wrong side of history with civil rights, which made him irrelevant, but as a central figure for the conservative viewpoint, he was refreshingly pure and honest and blunt, and funny, more rational-sounding than many of his counterparts in current politics.

It's well known that Ronald Reagan rehabilitated the core ideas of Goldwater, but Universalized them, was able to connect and communicate with the electorate in a populist voice, where Barry was too partisan and inflexible. Goldwater was Mr Frown, Reagan gave the same ideas a radiant and optimistic smile. He repackaged and sold the ideas better.

Ironic to see him as such an "extremist" or polarizing figure, because compared to today's red-meat Republicans and starry-eyed neo-cons, he'd look like a centrist, or moderate. The whole line has moved since he was in public life. Also admirable was his complete disregard for Religious Conservatives. Barry was outspoken about his unwillingness to mix politics and religion. There was no Religious Right yet, as we know it, that would come later. Traditionalist Christian Republicans got no respect from Barry.

He wasn't afraid to take unpopular positions, and was regarded as principled. When Lyndon Johnson's campaign took him down in defeat, it set back the Conservative movement almost twenty years, it wouldn't find a unifying voice again until the 80s. Barry would probably look at today's (militarily adventurous, big government, evangelical) Republican party, and wouldn't even recognize it.

At the end of his public career Goldwater made a number of notable reversals as did William F. Buckley. They came from a similar school but Goldwater was first in disavowing the attempt to politicize gays.

He later came to say the "war on drugs" caused more damage than it could ever correct and was itself more destructive to the social fabric than could ever be justified. Unfortunately by then both he and Buckley were irrelevant to the cause and the "war" had been institutionalized.

It was now an economic force to be dealt with, witness the California Correctional Officers Association. They became powerful enough to dominate a governor who then paid the price. He's gone, they aren't.

None of these were goals of original conservative thinkers. The laws of unintended consequence saddle both sides but none more so than the free marketeers who turn them into something perverse for profit sake.

Conservatism has had it's true nature dragged through the mud by neocon radicals who were never conservative. It'll be some time before anyone will see the word conservative and understand what it originally meant.

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"Who's more foolish - the fool or the fool that follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi

Were Buckley or Goldwater ever advocates of a "war on drugs", to be in a position to "reverse" their position later on? Or did you just mean their position on politicizing gays. Probably the latter.

It's true, the anti-drug campaign did not have roots in Conservative thought. The Nixon White House (Republican but not a Conservative) initiated The War on Drugs, the Reagan Administration amplified it. Reagan was a Conservative, but one who welcomed Christian moralists into the fold. Nixon reportedly thought of Conservatives as "those other people". Pat Buchannan (at that time a young speechwriter) likes to tell the story that Nixon used to ask him "what do those Conservatives think?" Because Pat was in a better position to know than he was.

Liberalism has had it's true nature dragged through the mud by progressives and radicals who challenged the establishment in 1968 and came to institutional power as the baby boom matured (in academia, policy, media) leaving the labor unions, blue collar workers, Christians, and moderates in southern, rural, and suburban America up for grabs. It'll be some time before anyone will see the word Liberal and understand what it originally meant.

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spearmint
Reminds me Valerie didn't do much with her fifteen minutes of fame. Couple pictures in the papers but no book and movie deals that I heard about and it is not like she can go on the lecture circuit telling secrets.

Wrong about book, just came from bookstore. Jumping off the shelves.