I just run out of words

[sigma7]

President Bush commuted the sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Monday, sparing him from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case.

And here I thought the administration couldn't get more brazen. Wow. You do have to give them points for their sheer contempt for the rule of law.

Comments

[iamstillthemoon.livejournal.com]

Didn't Clinton do that a bunch before he was taken out of the White House?

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Pardons, yes; pretty much every president does at the end of his term.

Commuting the sentence of one of the executive's own staffers who outed a CIA covert agent in retaliation for her husband's stance against the administration's falsified data for waging war? Clinton did many things, but not that. This gives the executive de facto untouchable agents capable of going to any length to attack, intimidate or silence its critics -- or those merely attached to its critics -- without any form of oversight or accountability.

[iamstillthemoon.livejournal.com]

I don't see the big deal.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Then I'm truly sorry for you.

[iamstillthemoon.livejournal.com]

Probably because I didn't understand half of what you said.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

A pardon may be coming later. For now, the commutation is kinda like a signing statement on the verdict...he isn't contradicting the jury, just the judge. He's letting the guilty verdict stand, Scooter is still a conviced felon (which means losing his law license, among other fallout). He's also letting the quarter million dollar fine stand. He's just editing out the prison time.

So, basically, he's saying, "The jury was right, but Scooter got Paris Hilton'ed by the judge!"

Give it a year or so for people to forget, and you can expect a pardon to follow, on the grounds that Scooter has "shown appropriate remorse" or some such horsehockey. It'll definitely be one of his leaving-office deals.

BTW, most Presidential pardons come after time has been served. The idea is that they help wipe a slate clean after the person has paid their debt to society. They're not generally supposed to be a "get off scot-free" card.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Well, just so long as it isn't judicial activism.... (And any bets on if Scooter's going to pay half/any of that fine?)

[iamstillthemoon.livejournal.com]

He has to pay a quarter of a million dollar fine, or a billion, or something. It was on the NEWS about an hour ago.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Don't fret, he'll be well taken care of, either at Halliburton, KBR, or another subsidiary of the great machine. If he's going to be kept out of prison, he's going to be looked after.

[iamstillthemoon.livejournal.com]

Haha. I thought that said "KGB" at first, and I was like WHAT!?

XD

[foenix.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, I remember how Bush said the person responsible for leaking the info would be punished...

[blemt.livejournal.com]

He is. Didn't you hear he's supposed to be on Larry King Live with Paris. Something about ways to demonstrate genuine remorse...

[jerrygarciuh.livejournal.com]

And every press conference over there is a Snow job.