Scooter Libby sentence commuted by the president

[kestra]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cia_leak_trial

President Bush: "I respect the jury's verdict," Bush said in a statement. "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."

The Bush appointed judges didn't think so.

President Bush: The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged. His wife and young children have also suffered immensely.

Well......in that case, commute him for sure.

Senator Reid: "Libby's conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq war," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone."

I couldn't agree more.

[Aristotle]

Honestly, this story has no legs.

No moderates give a damn about this story. They see it for what it is: pure politics.

We still do not know exactly who did what, and the reality is that moderates just don't care. They see this as pure political chicanery. The left wants to treat this like high treason and the right wants to treat this like Libby is a boy scout and a hero cut from the cloth of Oliver North. As usual, both sides are wrong and are lying and exaggerating to try and score political points.

It is important to be clear that while the prison portion of the punishment was removed, everything else was left intact. This was *NOT* a pardon:

The president left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for his conviction of lying and obstructing justice in a probe into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.

This whole prosecution was motivated completely by politics. The actual charges were a joke. Obstruction of justice is frequently no more than a threat used by law enforcement to bully people into doing what they want. It is up there with perjury as crimes that are often threatened but rarely prosecuted. Furthermore, Valerie Plame was a chump pencil pusher. It has never been shown that she had any "cover" to be blown.

More proof that this is pure politics:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush's decision showed the president "condones criminal conduct."

Oh yeah. That is EXACTLY what it means. Give me a break. Statements like that are why Nancy Pelosi is an empty headed loon lacking any capacity for rational thought or reasonable behavior.

Hmmm. Strange. I consulted google and got the following result:

Your search - "Nancy Pelosi" "Marc Rich" "condones criminal conduct" - did not match any documents.

Your search - "Nancy Pelosi" "Marc Rich" "Clinton condones" - did not match any documents.

Your search - "Nancy Pelosi" "Marc Rich" "president condones" - did not match any documents.

Weird that she had nothing to say when Clinton *PARDONED* someone convicted of tax evasion and making illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis.

Yes folks. Marc Rich gleefully profiteered off oil deals with Iran while the Iranian government held OUR PEOPLE hostage.

And Bill Clinton pardoned him in exchange for MONEY given to his "Presidential Library" fund and the Democratic party.

And Nancy Pilosi had nothing to say about it. Yet somehow she says this non-pardon shows that President Bush "condones criminal conduct."

And some people actually wonder why moderates ignore this issue and see it for the pure political nonsense that it is?

[Aristotle]

Oh one more thing.

If anyone ever doubted that both of our political parties absolutely suck and need to be torpedoed, wrap your mind around this:

Scooter Libby (yes the same one) represented Marc Rich from 1985 until the spring of 2000 and denied that Rich ever violated any tax laws.

How much more incestuous and corrupt do these bastards from the Democratic and Republican parties have to be before we wake up and look elsewhere for our representation?

[kestra]

The president left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for his conviction of lying and obstructing justice in a probe into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.

Considering the millions of dollars raised for Libby's defense, is this fine really a big deal? Just curious.

From the beginning, President Bush kept saying "let the legal system do it's job!!". When the legal system, under the rule of Bush Sr. and Jr. appointed judges did it's job, President Bush didn't like the outcome, and decided to usurp the judicial process. Yes, the sitting president has been given this power, however in this instance, in my opinion, this is what a poor loser does.

Libby did his job as the fall guy, and Bush has repaid his loyalty and service in kind. What are the odds the President fully pardons Libby in the last week of his post?

I think CIA covert agents are now going to think twice before putting their life on the line for this administration that appears willing to betray them.

And still, the huge dark cloud over the VP's office remains.

[Fynn]

Reminds me of the Simpsons

"Its true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about it? Its a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us."

"Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidates."

"Hahaha, Go ahead, throw your vote away!"

So people are starting to realize, just no one wants to actually do anything. So I guess a good question for us to think about is "What can we as individuals do to help?"

[Snrrub]

Originally posted by Aristotle
We still do not know exactly who did what

What is known is that Libby perjured himself twice, obstructed justice, and lied to an FBI agent.

Originally posted by Aristotle
The actual charges were a joke. Obstruction of justice is frequently no more than a threat used by law enforcement to bully people into doing what they want. It is up there with perjury as crimes that are often threatened but rarely prosecuted.

Originally posted by Aristotle
It is important to be clear that while the prison portion of the punishment was removed, everything else was left intact. This was *NOT* a pardon

If the charges themselves were a joke, then why didn't Bush issue a pardon? The commutation was because, in Bush's own words, "the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive". Not, "Mr. Libby is innocent". Not, "Mr. Libby should not have been convicted." Just that the punishment was, "too excessive". It must be nice to be friends with the president so that he can personally decide which punishment is too exessive, and which is just right. Too bad everyone doesn't get that treatment.

Originally posted by Aristotle
Furthermore, Valerie Plame was a chump pencil pusher. It has never been shown that she had any "cover" to be blown.

Since Libby wasn't convicted of blowing anybody's cover, this is a moot point. It's too bad that Libby intentionally lied to cover up a crime that didn't exist, but he still broke the law.

[Blog]

I agree with Ari, outside of Daily Kos no one cares about this. Its hard to see why anyone should care if you look at the crime and look at past pardons.

[Malacasta]

Since Australian news media isn't a part of Daily Kos, I'd say that interest is a little wider than that Blog. And just as some people on these forums hate Clinton because he was fooling around on his wife, and weren't so pissed off about his lies to the investigators, some people on these forums aren't so interested in Scooters lies as much as the reason he had to lie.
Personally, I'm more afraid of a government that attempts to undermine those who produce intel that exposes the weakness of the governments case for war, than I am a President who fucks around on his wife.

[Snrrub]

Originally posted by Blog
I agree with Ari, outside of Daily Kos no one cares about this. Its hard to see why anyone should care if you look at the crime and look at past pardons.

Is Pat Buchanan part of the Daily Kos?

"Look, this was an open-and-shut case of naked perjury again and again and again. And I don't think there's an argument for the president of the United States interceding, other than the fact that this was a loyal servant of his, and he would be giving special treatment if he did it now"

"Look, if Paris Hilton's got to go to prison for 45 days for driving without a license, Scooter can't walk."

"[The president] should not interfere with the course of justice unless there's some overriding interest. And there is none here. The man was convicted. Twelve jurors said he was guilty. "

-Pat Buchanan on the Mclaughlin Group, June 15, 2007.

(Transcript here)

[Katidyd]

Originally posted by Aristotle
How much more incestuous and corrupt do these bastards from the Democratic and Republican parties have to be before we wake up and look elsewhere for our representation?

There's always Nader.