RawStory: Cheney Chief Spokeman Leaves Country

[dave29]

now there's a link

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Cheney_spokesman_departs_country_as_CIA_1011.html

The chief spokesman for Vice President Dick Cheney, Steve Schmidt, left the United States Oct. 3 and won't return until Oct. 26, well after the investigation into who outed a covert CIA agent wraps up, RAW STORY has confirmed.

Schmidt's departure coincides with the final days of federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's inquiry into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. Fitzgerald's grand jury ends its session Oct. 15.

----

A RAW STORY email sent to Schmidt's private White House address Tuesday yielded this reply: "I will be out of the country from October 3rd through October 26th and will have VERY limited email access. For assistance, please contact Jon Berrier at 202-XXX-XXXX. Thank you."

[Habibi]

1. Wonder where he went . . .

[Greyskye]

6. One of Cheney's "undisclosed locations" no doubt.

[NYCGirl]

10. If you read the story, he's in Iraq. NT

[tx_dem41]

16. Its right in the link....

Iraq.

[dave29]

22. when I posted the link, the Iraq info was not in the story

it appeared shortly afterward.

[lumpy]

41. Read the news story OK ?

v

[bridgit]

2. ratz fleeing sinking ship gambit...

:thumbsup:

[Sparkle]

3. He;s probably not that important to the case.

I'm sure if they needed to talk to him, they'd go and find his azz.

[McKenzie]

4. any detective will tell you

if a suspect does a runner then that's the man to concentrate on. Might be a valid reason for his sudden departure, of course,...it does look a tad suspicious though.

I try not to indulge in schadenfreude because it's bad karma. In this case I'm willing to work up a little more karmic debt. Actually, I'm watching this like a voyeur!

[shance]

32. There's a valid reason for his depature....its called trouble is brewing

on the horizon, and the heat is on a criminal and corrupt Vice Presidency.

It will be interesting to see who else takes off on "official business", or tries to.

What would be interesting would be to see how many in the Vice Presidents office (and even the Presidents cabinet) have dual citizenship.

That could be interesting.

[HereSince1628]

5. I don't think this is newsworthy. If he left in defiance of a subpoena

it might be something.

If he disappeared with evidence that would be a story.

It looks like another developing RawStory that isn't a story, at least not yet.

[Im with Rosey]

17. I have been thinking the same thing

Big deal? I will await to be corrected.

[NashVegas]

7. What Is Schmidt Accused Of?

I don't recall seeing his name come up very much in the reports of the investigation.

[Connie_Corleone]

8. I don't even think this is breaking news

He'll be back Oct. 26th. I don't see much of a story.

[katty]

9. October 14 , d-day

[DemsUnited]

11. Umm, Grand Jury expires on October 28, not October 15.

Honestly don't expect any indictments until then. Believe Fitzgerald will make use of every second he has left to make things as rock solid as possible.

[Connie_Corleone]

12. I wonder where they got October 15th from. nt

[The Witch]

13. the Iraqi constitution deadline!

getting our dates mixed up!

[tx_dem41]

14. They got it from the school of poor reporting...

Its next door to the school of disingenuous teases which is next door to the school of stretching a story to the breaking point.

[Connie_Corleone]

18. You can say that again.

I think I'll just wait for Fitzgerald to come out with indictments and avoid these overhype stories.

[rawstory]

19. Thanks for your criticisms...

We had difficulty with the teaser b/c we didn't want to give away the story. As re: the date -- that's my mistake.

[cosmik debris]

23. All of whom are endowed

By the tinfoil hat industry.

[napi21]

15. He went to Iraq.

Schmidt has left for Iraq. A RAW STORY email sent to Schmidt's private White House address Tuesday yielded this reply: "I will be out of the country from October 3rd through October 26th and will have VERY limited email access. For assistance, please contact Jon Berrier at 202-XXX-XXXX. Thank you."

Time Magazine recently described him as "one of the White House's most aggressive strategists." Officials told the magazine in a largely unnoticed piece last week Schmidt planned to fly to Iraq to shore up the communications team there, and said he was sent at the request of the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalizad. Reporter Mike Allen said the trip "is supported at the highest levels of the White House."

http://news.google.com/news?q=Steve%20Schmidt%20cheney&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-26,GGLG:en&sa=N&tab=wn

[Demoiselle]

20. Is he setting up cover for the wmd "plant" plans that didn't work out?

Hey, if you're going to plant evidence you need people on site to do the planting. And if it doesn't work out, you still don't want anybody talking about it. (I have taken to wearing my tin foil hat 24 hours a day.)

[Logiola]

21. haha, maybe he was the tipster for the whole new york

subway thingy..

[alcibiades_mystery]

24. Pffffffft

Not of the slightest interest.

Talk about shooting your own credibility with a useless story...

[VolcanoJen]

27. I agree. Pfffffffft.

Nothing there, really.

Getting an auto-reply in your email inbox doesn't exactly equate investigative journalism.

[enid602]

36. out of office

I would think that if you were too flee the country (to avoid subpoenas, retribution, lynchmobs or whatever), you probably would not think to turn on your 'out of office assistant' on your computer. Especially if you were trying to leave in cognito!

[OKNancy]

30. Agree- trying to make a story out of nothing

Typical.

This is not news. It was already covered by MSM.

[spooked]

34. It's hurtful to read this kind of criticism here at DU

We're all in this together...don't forget who the REAL Enemy is...

[OKNancy]

37. I know who the bad guy is, and this has nothing to do with

good or bad people in the administration

Just because a website is called "liberal" doesn't mean that they are not subject to the same critique as any other. One of the most important aspects of good news is to be accurate and not act like a tabloid.

[lyonn]

38. Agree, besides

the story was interesting, why send a Cheney strategist/aid to Iraq for a month to work on their communications, media, propaganda?

[tx_dem41]

42. Ultimately...the REAL enemy is cynicism....

and stories like this foster such cynicism.

[savemefromdumbya]

25. One can read into these things too much but

it is strange how they (the Cheney team)are being conspicious by their absence?

[oneold1-4u]

26. undisclosed locations

That is just down the road from WA,DC and may have to be repaved, before long, from overuse!

[tx_dem41]

29. The link says he is going to Iraq. n/t

[lovuian]

28. Dick's chief spokesman is leaving his master to talk for himself!!!

I think Schmidt has found his job to hot to handle in DC!!!

Cheney's aides are jumping the sinking ship!!!

Can ya feel it!!! Lets Go!!!

[spooked]

31. The INTERESTING Story is WHY Schmidt went to Iraq

http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/1306

The White House Looks To Improve Iraq News
Submitted by editor5 on October 5, 2005 - 2:32pm.

By MIKE ALLEN/WASHINGTON
Source: Time

The White House is embarking on a new effort to try to leaven the bleak accounts emerging from Iraq. Administration officials tell TIME that Steve Schmidt, counselor to Vice President Cheney and one of the White House's most aggressive strategists, will leave for Baghdad early this week to spend up to a month assessing media relations in the war zone. Back home, Cheney and President Bush will give major speeches this week on Iraq's Oct. 15 constitutional referendum...

One of Schmidt's missions, administration officials say, is to determine whether the White House can take any logistical steps to help American reporters and other journalists to gather news at a time when it is often too dangerous for them to leave their compounds. The officials say Schmidt's trip is at the request of the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalizad, but is supported at the highest levels of the White House. "We want to see if there's a disconnect between what people in the United States are seeing on their televisions and in their newspapers, and the reality on the ground," a senior administration official said.


Makes me wonder if Schmidt is there to CONTROL what we will see in the news as violence increases.

[lyonn]

40. Do ya think? Control of the media

Sure works here.

[qanda]

33. I don't get it

What does this have to do with anything? Could someone be reading way too much into this?

[OKNancy]

35. Here is the Oct 5th story from Time

on this bogus piece by RawStooooooie

---------
The White House Looks To Improve Iraq News
Submitted by editor5 on October 5, 2005 - 2:32pm.
By MIKE ALLEN/WASHINGTON
Source: Time

The White House is embarking on a new effort to try to leaven the bleak accounts emerging from Iraq. Administration officials tell TIME that Steve Schmidt, counselor to Vice President Cheney and one of the White House's most aggressive strategists, will leave for Baghdad early this week to spend up to a month assessing media relations in the war zone. Back home, Cheney and President Bush will give major speeches this week on Iraq's Oct. 15 constitutional referendum. Administration officials say the addresses aim to define the terrorist insurgency as an enemy with a clear strategy, and to portray dire consequences if the U.S. were to withdraw. Vice President Cheney flies to Camp Lejeune, N.C., for a Monday rally with Marines, while President Bush motorcades to the Ronald Reagan Building on Thursday.

One of Schmidt's missions, administration officials say, is to determine whether the White House can take any logistical steps to help American reporters and other journalists to gather news at a time when it is often too dangerous for them to leave their compounds. The officials say Schmidt's trip is at the request of the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalizad, but is supported at the highest levels of the White House. "We want to see if there's a disconnect between what people in the United States are seeing on their televisions and in their newspapers, and the reality on the ground," a senior administration official said.

http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/1306

[spooked]

39. Already posted in reply #31

Just making sure everything's perfect around here...

[maddezmom]

43. locking

Not Latest Breaking News...Time link from Oct. 3 here:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1112866,00.html?promoid=rss_top