DEAN: Yes, there's a big question about that, which I think is a serious question. What did Vice President Cheney know and what did he authorize Scooter Libby to do? In the indictment, the prosecutor talks about ... Vice President Cheney being the source of Libby's knowledge. In that case, did they discuss that Libby was going to leak this?

MATTHEWS: And also, that he testified ... to the investigators, that his boss, the vice president, told him how to deal with this information after giving it to him... June 12th; a month later they go meet on the plane somewhere, he says, here's how to deal with it, how -- and then after that, then he started giving it out. ... Libby.

DEAN: Well, I think ... this may reach higher. This is not over yet.

MATTHEWS: Well, don't you think it already has, in your mind?

DEAN: Well, I think that most-it's reached into the president's office, because the president promised, first of all, five years ago, he promised it was going to be an ethical administration, which at this point is sort of a joke, given the vice president and everybody, all these, you know, Frist and DeLay, and their procurement officer Safavian, and all these people involved with scandals of all sorts.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

But I think that this is a serious problem, because the president of the United States looked the American people in the eye and said if anybody was leaking, they would be dealt with, i.e. they would be fired. Well, now we know. Karl Rove hasn't been indicted for leaking, but he did leak, and that's in the indictment. So, it seems to me that the question about whether Karl Rove leaked something or not is not at issue anymore. The president promised he'd fire a leaker.

Karl Rove still has security clearance. This is a guy with security clearance, who is a leaker.

FREE VIDEO
Dean on Hardball II
Oct. 31: MSNBC's Chris Matthews continues his interview with DNC Chair Howard Dean, discussing the indictment of Lewis Libby and the war in Iraq.
MSNBC
MATTHEWS: Do you believe that the vice president confected the case for war? WMD case, the nuclear case and all of that?

DEAN: Well, I don't know who did, but somebody did, because the case wasn't there, and the 9/11 Commission said it wasn't there. The 9/11 Commission, chaired by a Republican, I might add, said there was no connection between terrorism and Saddam Hussein. There was no evidence for WMDs.

Somebody either told the president the wrong information knowingly, or else the president knew the wrong information and lied to the American people.

MATTHEWS: How come 80 percent of your party is opposed to the war in Iraq, believes we shouldn't have gone, and the leadership continues to stick with the war? John Kerry won't come out against the war, Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton. They're all for war.

DEAN: Look, first of all, when you say this, look, I was very much against the war as you know, because I suspected...

MATTHEWS: You're with the 80 percent.

DEAN: I suspected we were also not being told the truth, which turns out, we weren't. But I thought John Kerry's speech the other week was very good. We're there now, and whether you know, I was on one side, John Kerry was on the other, whatever. We're now in Iraq, and now we have to figure out how to get out, and Kerry has a plan to get out, which is more than the president.

Watch 'Hardball' on Tuesday, Nov. 1 when RNC Chair Ken Mehlman joins Chris Matthews and watch 'Hardball' each weeknight at 5 and 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC.

< Prev | 1 | 2

Discuss Story On Newsvine
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh
Email
Instant Message
Print