| User Blox 4 |
|
- Put stuff here
|
Barack Obama  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rob Kailey is a working schmuck with no ties or affiliations to any governmental or political organizations, save those of sympathy.
|
|
Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 15:51:31 PM MST
|
| Scooter Libby's mommies and daddies made their calls and pulled their strings. Poor Libby's tum-tum was tied up in knots at the thought of having to share a bathroom with embezzlers! He couldn't be expected to survive such conditions! Scooter is delicate, he's of a superior quality, you see!
The sheriff acted. President Bush has commuted Scooter Libby's sentence:
"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."
A couple of things. First, Bush didn't have the stones to pardon Libby and earn the full animus such a move would rightfully earn. Second, in essence, with this act, Bush is publicly acknowledging his and his administration's contempt for the rule of law. Third, with this move, Bush signals to those that take the bullet for him that they won't suffer.
So much for justice.
Joe Wilson is absolutely correct when he says those that abet Libby's release are "accessories to an ongoing crime." Fitzgerald made it clear that the Vice-President's office was not cleared in the investigation, and that they were still subjects of suspicion. In fact, Libby's stern sentencing was exactly because of the severity of the crime that Libby's lying and obstruction blocked.
But what should we expect from an administration that appointed to the DoJ's Civil Rights division a man who thinks minority women aren't "good Americans"? |
| Jay Stevens :: The Paris Hilton of politics |
| Update: Here's some interesting tidbits on Bush's action from around the Web:
emptywheel: "Well, George did it. Made sure that Scooter wouldn't flip rather than do jail time. He commuted Libby's sentence, guaranteeing not only that Libby wouldn't talk, but retaining Libby's right to invoke the Fifth.
"This amounts to nothing less than obstruction of justice."
empthywheel also notes that Bush -- a proponent of minimum sentencing guidelines called Libby's sentence -- which was the minimum, according to the guidelines for his crime -- too harsh.
The Poor Man Institute found this quote on refusing to commute death sentences during his brief stint as Texas' governor: "I don't believe my role [as governor] is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own, unless there are new facts or evidence of which a jury was unaware, or evidence that the trial was somehow unfair."
Scooter Libby's sentence: worse than death! |
|
| Poll |
| Voting. Useful or not? |
|
|
|
Results
|
|
