Before we get to far ahead of ourselves here, I think a few things need to be said. According The Hotline, for those of you with a subscription, Alan Colmes, you know him that great voice of liberalism on the Fox News Channel, had some choice words for fellow liberals:

“As a liberal, I don’t think this is good for the country. I don’t … rejoice in this. I hear conservatives say liberals think it’s ‘Fitzmas’ … when the indictments come out. We’re all excited about it. I think this is very bad for where we are as a country that we’d be doing this. This is not a good thing for us. Why would anybody take any joy in this?”

I feel as though, as someone who gladly called it Fitzmas, this needs addressing. No, I do not take joy in the fact that we have a White House where a man is being indicted for five felonies. I don’t take any joy in the fact that this case proves that a White House could be this corrupt. But I do take joy that this is how corruption and deceit are rectified, that it may lead to a greater debate about the intelligence surrounding the Iraq War, especially the role the Vice President’s office and Libby played in analyzing pre-war intelligence, intelligence which by and large has been proven wrong. On that note, also from the National Journal:

Waas reports that Cheney and Libby, “overruling advice” from some WH political staffers and lawyers, decided to withhold crucial documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 when the panel was investigating the use of pre-war intelligence that erroneously concluded Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” sources said. Among the WH materials withheld from the cmte were “Libby-authored” passages in drafts of a speech that then-Sec/State Colin Powell delivered to the UN in 2/03 to argue the Bush admin’s case for war with Iraq. The withheld documents “also included intelligence data that Cheney’s office — and Libby in particular — pushed to be included in Powell’s speech, sources said. The new information that Cheney and Libby blocked information to the Senate Intelligence Committee further underscores the central role played by the vice president’s office in trying to blunt criticism that the Bush administration exaggerated intelligence data to make the case to go to war.

The lies and the deceit go straight back to the lead up to war and the mishandling of intelligence. What other motive did the Vice President’s office have in releasing Plame’s name and attacking Joe Wilson? If, as the Vice President’s office and the mea culpa in 2003 are true, then the missteps in intelligence came not from the White House but from the CIA. The actions taken by Libby and Cheney show a different story.

So I take no joy in the fact that these lies and this corruption are running around in the halls of the White House. I take no joy in knowing that 2,000 are dead on false information. I agree with Colmes, this is terrible for the country that all this is going on. That is also where I disagree with Colmes, because the indictments are a positive thing for the country.

These indictments show the American people that the system of justice that we place our faith in works, and works at all levels. They show that there is no division in the American people, and that we must all abide by the same laws, and the deceit and corruption will not go unpunished. I think it’s appropriate to rejoice in that, to know that the system is working, albeit slowly. I think it’s proper to take joy in the fact that crimes are being prosecuted, that the FBI is intensifying its investigation into the forged Niger documents, and that Congress is demanding further investigation. That is what I take joy in and that’s why I’m fine with joking around and calling it Fitzmas.

Instead of Colmes trying to assert some high ground and seem like a “good liberal” in the eyes of Sean Hannity, he should be a real liberal, and also applaud what is happening here. I take joy in knowing that justice is working, that corruption is being exposed, and the media are asking better questions. If that’s not something for a liberal to be happy about, then maybe someone should ask Alan to turn in his card.