Memory Lane II: The Imperial Presidency

by DemFromCT

The New York Times has more details on the State Department memo sent to Colin Powell on July 7, 2003 revealing Valerie Wilson's profession (not Plame, mind you). It is, of course, the subject of intense speculation as to whether it is the source of Novak's column. It may also be more of the media blitz to 'clear' Karl, but Rove was never the main target. Whether it's Rove or Ari Fleisher who's the messenger, or whether it was Libby or  Armitage who came up with the name, the issue remains the same. The Bush WH was acting postively Nixonian in trying to use the power of the president to screw a political opponent.

For those who don't remember, Charles Colson compiled a list of payback candidates (including CT's own Paul Newman) which became known as the Nixon 'enemies list'. From Wikipedia:

Nixon's Enemies List is the informal name of what started as a list of the Nixon administration's major political opponents compiled by Charles Colson and sent in memorandum form to John Dean on September 9, 1971. The list was part of a campaign officially known as "Opponents List" and "Political Enemies Project." The official purpose, as described by the White House Counsel's Office, was to "screw" Nixon's political enemies, by means of tax audits from the IRS, and by manipulating "grant availability, federal contracts, litigation, prosecution, etc."

In a memorandum from John Dean to Lawrence Higby, (August 16, 1971), Dean explained the purpose of the list succinctly:

"This memorandum addresses the matter of how we can maximize the fact of our incumbency in dealing with persons known to be active in their opposition to our Administration, Stated a bit more bluntly —how we can use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies."

...

It has been written that there were as many as 490 names on the list, or that there were 600 names on the list and that the names changed constantly. Paul Newman has said that his inclusion on the list is one of his greatest accomplishments. The full list includes many notable people and publications, including Jane Fonda, Steve McQueen, Barbra Streisand, The New York Times, and the Washington Post.

For Karl to be fingered as one of the sources is frontier justice... it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. But it's the pattern of the big picture that matters. The above was the Nixon enemies list, not the Colson or Dean list.

This is George Bush's problem. He set the tenor. He allowed it it happen. Hell, the scene of Colin Powell walking around with the suspicious memo in the NY Times article happened on his damn plane. Rove's not the issue. The issue is that all the President's men were emboldened and empowered to do this in the first place. Read more about Richard Nixon, the Republican model for how to play hardball. Been there, done that, America. Looks like there's more than Vietnam-Iraq parallels to play out.

Comments

[KdmFromPhila]

Dear DeminCT,

The parallels to the Nixon administration are becoming more striking by the day, as you write. Yet with respect to the investigation, I think a change in the administration’s (or Rove’s) strategy took place on Friday. It seems to me that through Thursday, they were treating Joe Wilson as numero uno on the enemy’s list. I might be getting off topic here, but did anyone else notice that the leaks to the media on Friday contained relatively fewer attacks on Wilson and more attempts to defend Rove? Billmon has an analysis of the latest leak to the AP. He raises the possibility that Rove and co. have heard that a damaging story is coming out in Time. We won’t know for a while if that’s true, but it does seem to me that the change in strategy is either an admission that the attacks on Wilson aren’t working or that something else about Plamegate might be coming out.

[DemFromCT]

that's Swopa's theory via Billmon. And I guess we find out Sunday.

[emptywheel]

KdmfromPhila

Ever since Isikoff's article came out (the article oddly quoted a "lawyer sympathetic to the White House that they're worried about a Rove indictment," which makes no sense, since it makes it CW that Rove is guilty), I've suspected one of two things. Either Rove intentionally accepted the blame for this week (in an attempt to draw the attention away from Libby and the larger conspiracy) or Libby/Cheney were trying to cast blame on Rove to avoid speculation on their own role. I still don't know which of those is most likely (I do know that Wilson was told there was real animosity between Rove and Libby over this). But in any case, we may be seeing Rove regaining the upperhand in a PR battle against Libby.

[Mike S]

Streisand makes both Nixon's and Goldberg's enemy lists. A star was born.

[DemFromCT]

But in any case, we may be seeing Rove regaining the upperhand in a PR battle against Libby.

For a day, maybe. No more than that. Still too much being leaked.

[emptywheel]

True, to a degree. Rove's PR assault will be drastically changed after Cooper's story comes out tomorrow.

[Ben Masel]

Later incarnations of the Nixon list contained groups, as well as individuals, so the actual included number was several thousand. I got on at 17, for activities in the runup to protests outside the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami.

[DemFromCT]

see, it's still a badge of honor ;-)

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