Has Chris Matthews watched one too many episodes of "Oz," the hyper-graphic HBO original series about prison life?Discussing the Scooter Libby trial on the 7 PM ET edition of this evening's Hardball, Chris spun a sanguine scenario in which Libby, facing the prospect of a long prison sentence in a vulnerable environment, might turn on Vice-President Cheney.
Matthews: "If Scooter's convicted, if you're looking at the number of counts facing him. If that jury really does go to town -- and I hope they're not watching -- and hits him with four or five counts, they add up to big time in some federal penitentiary, not necessarily Allenwood [known as the country club of federal prisons]. Someplace where a guy like Scooter Libby would not be very protected from the fellow prisoners. If he faces 20 years somewhere in maximum security, he's going to think again about his situation, isn't he?"
View video here.
Former special prosecutor Sol Wisenberg dashed Chris' Big House fantasies. "I don't think so. He's not going to face 20 years. It's going to be a guideline sentence, it's probably going to be two to three years, something like that."Chris tried to keep hope alive: "with all these counts facing him?"
Wisenberg: "Doesn't matter in the guideline system. They cumulate the counts. He'll probably be in a minimum-security camp."
Matthews had to face the disappointing reality: "So he'll be playing tennis somewhere."
Wisenberg drove a final stake into Chris' fondest hopes: "Yeah. I don't think he's going to be the kind of person who's going to flip anyway."
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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Oh Mark....You've taken thing
February 7, 2007 - 21:28 ET by BlondeOh Mark....
You've taken things from the sublime to the rediculous (sp?...sorry, tired).
Scooter Libby won't be convicted of anything....well, maybe of having a bad comb-over.
The whole thing is political theatre. And I truly feel bad for Mr. Libby. To have his life raked over the coals for some idiotic "touchy-feely" payback.
This is pathetic.
As for Chris Matthews....he's a joke. And I suspect by now he knows it. But it is the only thing he has going....so he keeps on going like the energizer bunny.
And, since I've gone on record here as a fan of "Nip/Tuck"...I also liked "Oz".
Whacked televison shows...for whacked times.
ROTFLMAO: True Facts
February 7, 2007 - 21:30 ET by CGattonWisenberg ..."Yeah. I don't think he's going to be the kind of person who's going to flip anyway"
ROTFLMAO
Guess everyone can see that these two have their own version of reality, in which only their beliefs are 'truth'. Both are convinced they know the 'truth' and in that fantasy world Libby can somehow damage Dick Cheney, "if only he told the 'truth'!"
This whole exchange brings to mind the oft stated, idiotic phrase, "true fact(s)," as if a 'fact' can be anything other than true. Facts simply are, only the use to which we put them can have associated with it truth or falsehood.
R/
Clyde
"...the aspirants to tyranny are either the...men of the state, who in democracies are demagogues,... or those who hold great offices, and have a long tenure.." - Aristotle, Politics, c350BC
Clyde,True facts....I am impl
February 7, 2007 - 21:38 ET by BlondeClyde,
True facts....I am imploding by the liberal interpretation of that phrase.
Have you ever heard any "false" facts?
Didn't think so.
I think I need some "false facts" for my next arguement with my boss....he'd laugh my ass back to Brazil!
Fantasy Island
February 7, 2007 - 21:33 ET by acumenMore like 'Fantasy Island' Matthews style.
Meanwhile, as Chris ruminates on national TV Libby's possible future cellmate Ratso, in a posh Georgetown condo somewhere south of realityville, Sandy Berger marks another day off his probation calender.
I can just see Tattoo now, lo
February 7, 2007 - 21:34 ET by saw the lightI can just see Tattoo now, looking skyward, pointing, and saying, "Da Plame! Da Plame!"
That was just too easy!
"People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news." - A.J. Liebling
Just too Funny STL
February 7, 2007 - 21:45 ET by acumenJust too Funny STL - Camera pans - Entering out of the jungle stage left, Chris Matthews leading a gaggle of reporters; Did Rove or Cheney give you that line Tattoo?
Despite Matthew's fantasy, Li
February 7, 2007 - 21:57 ET by GalvanicDespite Matthew's fantasy, Libby won't get slammed if found guilty, because his testimony had absolutely no impact on the Plame investigation --- Fitzgerald the prosecutor already had his answer (Armitage told Novak the fact) before he questioned Libby.
Gal...I have been following t
February 7, 2007 - 22:15 ET by Clear thinkerGal...
I have been following this trial and so far I see Libby being found 'not guilty'. Maybe it's Chris that needs a few years with a few hundred butt buddies.
And, when Chrissy returns fro
February 7, 2007 - 22:38 ET by MikeBAnd, when Chrissy returns from prison a drooling idiot ... absolutely nothing would have changed: he went in a drooling idiot.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
Mike...Chrissy could come out
February 7, 2007 - 22:41 ET by Clear thinkerMike...
Chrissy could come out with a smile on his face, if ya know what I mean.
Ah Hell, let's just hang him!
Thanks, CT. I guess poor Ch
February 8, 2007 - 08:27 ET by GalvanicThanks, CT. I guess poor Chrissy may well be disappointed, and (as convict Martha Stewart might say) "That's a good thing."
I don't see what the big de
February 7, 2007 - 23:06 ET by OIFveteranI don't see what the big deal about this whole perjury thing is. Even if Libby did commit perjury who cares? Afterall, if a sitting president can do it, shouldn't everyone else be allowed to do it.
I mean, come on, it isn't like he removed documents from the National Archives and then destroyed them.
<insert something clever>
Matthews should be hung.I say
February 7, 2007 - 23:46 ET by bigtimerMatthews should be hung.
I say 'should'.... they way he blathers on....you would think he was.
Libby's sentence
February 7, 2007 - 23:54 ET by nkviking75Even if you accept the lame premise that Libby is really guilty of something, it would hardly merit either a long sentence or doing really hard time. Matthews is just giving into hate again.
If that jury really does go to town -- and I hope they're not wa
February 8, 2007 - 00:48 ET by misterbill"If that jury really does go to town -- and I hope they're not watching" Not to worry Chris. I don't think your audience is that big. As a matter of fact, it may be that if so many right-minded people weren't monitoring you, your audience would be cut in half.
As a matter of fact, it may b
February 8, 2007 - 00:52 ET by bigtimerAs a matter of fact, it may be that if so many right-minded people weren't monitoring you, your audience would be cut in half.
No truer words spoken!
I have seen this before, and
February 8, 2007 - 02:53 ET by old croI have seen this before, and it is highly disturbing.
That is, the propensity of the left to have thier "enemies"
do hard time in jail to get thier "salad tossed" by a hardened criminal, if you know what I mean, for purposes of getting "information" from them. Make no mistake about it, that is what Matthews wishes for. It is disgraceful that our prisons (most of, I do not want to say all) operate this way, but that is another subject.
These are the people that abhore Abu Graib BTW.
These are the people that wish to close down Gittmo.
....and since is February,BHM......
"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."
- Booker T. Washington
Impact
February 8, 2007 - 09:30 ET by cvgbuckeyeI don't think, with the exception of the staffers at Newsbusters, that our contributers appreciate the scope of the impact that Newsbusters has had on people like Matthews, Olbermann, etc.
I have an acquaintance who "claims" to know an insider at msnbc. Said insider claims that Newsbusters is "THE" source of constant irritation by ALL at msnbc. He says it has such an intense impact as to actually drive Matthews and especially Olbemann to a point of TOTAL PARANOIA.
He says that they have gone so far as to DEMAND that the security people at NBC actually try to track some of the contributers here and try to pin some charge on them that has to do with some vague section of the stalkers law. It is even rumored that Olbermann has hired private investigators and special security with Mathews only opting for the security.
I only heard about this after Olbermann took on Mark Levin and I don't know of it's accuracy but in viewing the personalities, it is quite believable.
The part I don't question is their outright paranoia and how Olbermann has been known to go into screaming rages after having viewed some of the things that have been said about him on Newsbusters.
Forgive me Lord but I love it so.