* since when are politicians entitled to court protection from political ridicule?
Posted by Lew Weinstein on June 19, 2009
Lew’s new novel CASE CLOSED
explores the FBI’s failed investigation of the 2001 anthrax case …
* see CASE CLOSED VIDEO on YouTube
* purchase CASE CLOSED (paperback)
read about CASE CLOSED at http://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/
* since when are politicians entitled to
court protection from political ridicule?
Nedra Pickler writes for AP (6-18-09)
- A federal judge said Thursday that he wants to look at notes from the FBI’s interview with former Vice President
Dick Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative. - U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan’s decision to review the documents followed arguments by Obama administration lawyers that sounded much like the reasons the Bush administration provided for keeping Cheney’s interview from the public.
- Justice Department lawyers told the judge that future presidents and vice presidents may not cooperate with criminal investigations if they know what they say could become available to their political opponents and late-night comics who would ridicule them.
- “If we become a fact-finder for political enemies, they aren’t going to cooperate,” Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Smith said during a 90-minute hearing. “I don’t want a future vice president to say, `I’m not going to cooperate with you because I don’t want to be fodder for ‘The Daily Show.’”
read the entire article at … http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090619/ap_on_go_ot/us_cheney_cia_leak_8
LMW COMMENT … Since when do politicians need court protection to save them from political ridicule? That is indeed a ridiculous argument, whether offered by the Bush or Obama administration.
