Quotes of the Morning: Merry Fitzmas

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”
- Clement C. Moore , The Night Before Christmas

“The prosecutor in the CIA leak case was preparing to outline possible charges before a federal grand jury as early as today, even as the FBI conducted last-minute interviews in the high-profile investigation, according to people familiar with the case.
Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald was seen in Washington yesterday with lawyers in the case, and some White House officials braced for at least one indictment when the grand jury meets today. I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, is said by several people in the case to be a main focus, but not the only one.”
-Washington Post, October 26, 2005

“The children were nestled all snug in their bed,
While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads,
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap...
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.”
- Clement C. Moore, The Night Before Christmas

“The news of the eleventh-hour moves came on the same day that Cheney himself was implicated in the chain of events that led to Plame's being revealed. In a report in the New York Times that the White House pointedly did not dispute, Fitzgerald was said to have notes taken by Libby showing that he learned about Plame from the vice president a month before she was identified by columnist Robert D. Novak.
There is no indication Cheney did anything illegal or improper, but this is the first evidence to surface that shows he knew of Plame well before she became a household name.”
-Washington Post, October 26, 2005

“Mr. Libby's notes indicate that Mr. Cheney had gotten his information about Ms. Wilson from George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, in response to questions from the vice president about Mr. Wilson. But they contain no suggestion that either Mr. Cheney or Mr. Libby knew at the time of Ms. Wilson's undercover status or that her identity was classified. Disclosing a covert agent's identity can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent's undercover status.”
-New York Times, October 25, 2005

“No. I don’t know Joe Wilson. I’ve never met Joe Wilson.”
-Vice President Dick Cheney, September 14, 2003

“Apparently he meant ‘know’ in the Biblical sense. There’s an image that will be seared into my brain all afternoon.. ew…”
-Skippy

“A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his teams gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
‘Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!’"
- Clement C. Moore, The Night Before Christmas

“The trail has often led to Cheney's office, which officials describe as ground zero in the effort in promote, execute and defend the Iraq war and the campaign to convince the American people and the world that Saddam Hussein had amassed a stockpile of the most dangerous kinds of weapons. According to the report in yesterday's Times, the investigation also led to Cheney himself.”
-Washington Post, October 26, 2005

“This year I’m hoping Christmas comes early. We should find out today (if the news is to be believed).”
-Skippy