Lies Are Just a Normal Part of the Job for a Vice President

Carol Leonnig in Wapo reports on arguments made to the judge in the lawsuit filed by Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson against Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove and Richard Armitage. "So you're arguing there is nothing -- absolutely nothing - these officials could have said to reporters that would have been beyond the scope of their employment [whether it was] true or false?," U.S. District Judge John D. Bates asked. "That's true, your honor. Mr. Wilson was criticizing government policy," said Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's civil division. "These officials were responding to that criticism." Erwin Chemerinsky, a Duke University law professor who represents Wilson and Plame, said the leak was no typical policy debate. President Bush himself said that revealing Plame's identity could be illegal conduct and a firing offense, he told Bates.