Attorney Wells for Libby:
Attorneys for former White House aide ``Scooter'' Libby said Tuesday that Bush administration officials tried to blame him for the leak of a CIA operative's name to cover up for Bush political adviser Karl Rove's own disclosures.
Attorney Theodore Wells, in the opening statements of I. Lewis Libby's perjury trial, said Libby went to Vice President Dick Cheney in 2003 and complained that the White House was subtly blaming him for leaking Valerie Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak.
``They're trying to set me up. They want me to be the sacrificial lamb,'' Wells said, recalling the conversation between Libby and Cheney. ``I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected.''
4 comments:
The irony in this "defense" is that it is probably true... but it is not a defense against the charge Libby faces, which if I recall correctly is perjury.
The only thing I can imagine is that maybe this is revenge by Libby for being tossed under the bus. (Where did that colorful phrase originate, anyway? Is there a movie reference I don't know?) It won't prevent him from being convicted.
Bush may as well pardon Libby now. What bad effect can it possibly have... damage Bush's soaring job approval ratings?
He's going to pardon everybody down to the White House janitoral staff. But who will pardon Georgie?
As to throwing or tossing under the bus, Urban Dictionary.com suggests:
'to put the heat on somebody or to put them in a tough position', or 'To reveal information damaging to another's character as to a boss or girlfriend'.
Found this theory in the NYT:
'He says he believes it to be back-formed from a baseball team’s clubhouse man, who called for the ballplayers to board the team bus with “Bus leaving. Be on it or under it.” The slanguicographer backs this up with a citation from a 1980 Washington Post article and offers another usage that extends beyond sports: the rocker Cyndi Lauper in 1984 was quoted as saying: “In the rock ’n’ roll business you are either on the bus or under it. Playing ‘Feelings’ with Eddie and the Condos in a buffet bar in Butte is under the bus.”'
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/magazine/19wwln_safire.html?ex=1321592400&en=a21ab052f4bda85e&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Someone else suggested it was a city variation on being thrown to the wolves.
It defines the Bus(h) mentality to be sure.
Wow. Now I know who can really research questions of usage! Thanks!
uh oh... now I really have to fake it!
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