NEWS: Bush Cuts Libby Lose From Prison

There's a lot of truth to this. Still, the same right-wing hacks who are frothing at the mouth because Bush didn't give Libby a full pardon also frothed at the mouth because Bill Clinton got a blow job, and he's wealthy and white, though not Republican.

Of course, maybe the deciding factor wasn't his politics, but the fact that he got a blow job. I can't (or perhaps don't want to) imagine most of the wealthy, white, Republican elite ever getting one.

I can imagine it happening. Just not without the involvement of a transfer of monies or a deportation threat.

The first scenario did occur to me, actually, but I must admit that the second one didn't. Good call.

And I didn't even mention the underage boys.

Well jeez, if we're talking about those blow jobs, then just forget what I said.

so did any one see Keith Oberman on msnbc last night, i love that man, his points were all right on target, Bush /Cheney has to go...

As much as I loathe Bush, I think Libby was just a scapegoat. Jesus, the poor bastard just seems like a simpering "team player." Rove should be in fucking jail, not him!

I am amazed that nobody has posted this.



When I heard about the de facto pardon I thought it was a decisive moment in the course of the nation. I saw it as the moment when the last iota of shame was cast aside by the powerful and corrupt, who no longer covered or hid their misdeeds. It was the moment I knew that nepotism and oligarchy were now flaunted by our "leaders", and not a ominous undertone as they had been in the past. The absolute indecency of the Act, the blatant disregard for the intelligence and will of the people. I thought that this was the moment which would teach the future corrupt that it was okay, and that, yes, they could get away with it.

Maybe not. People are more roused than I had accounted for. Of course, it's hard to gauge the attitudes of my countrymen from Cambridge, Massachusetts. But maybe I will be wrong, and this will become a furor. Maybe, if the media across America doesn't equivocate and hush this out of political memory, we will do something about the sad state of our nation.
I certainly hope we will. Because if not, it is going to be infinitely harder to disallow this behavior in the future.

I know I'm ready to take to the streets.

I don't know what I can do about this, but I am going to find out.

I feel like someone in the ranks needs to run impeachment up the flagpole and see who salutes...

A long thread, hope I'm not repeating something.

As I understand it, at the moment Bush can't pardon Libby because then Libby would be open to being questioned, subpoenaed, etc. The commuted sentence means that Libby is still convicted, and most importantly, that he is still in the appeal process. While in the appeal process he cannot be questioned, subpoenaed, etc. If he were pardoned he could be subpoenaed to testify against Cheney,

Aha...

If anyone did post that, then I missed it. Damn good point.

Bush hasn't ruled out pardoning Libby.

too bad the democratic controlled congress are a bunch of pussies and won't do a thing that really matters to punish this administration

Why is everyone reacting so profoundly? Presidents have used pardons poorly for a long time and you're surprised and hurt that this administration out of all of them did it?

Please, he'll be gone in a year and a half and then you can all have someone else just as corrupt and evil to disappoint you.

Only if Satan is in the running...or maybe Nixon.

The key here is "at a later time", isn't it? "As late as possible" looks likely, if Herod is correct.

Can something be sort-a unique ?

I certainly see what you are saying about this not being a lot of deaths compared historically with some of the wars the United States has been involved with in the past. I just wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the over 3500 deaths there have been so far, and I would imagine it would be more difficult to dismiss if one of those people were a family member, friend, or fellow soldier. This also does not take into account the thousands of Iraqis who have been killed in the conflict, exactly how many we are unlikely to ever know.

When I was talking about accountability I was referring both to the voters and to Libby himself. President Bush would not have been in a position to commute Libby's prison sentence had he not been voted back into office. One of the only ways we have of holding our politicians resposible is through the ballot box. I would like to see the voters hold the politicians from both parties responsible for the war and vote them out of office.

As for Libby himself, I certainly wouldn't hold him responsible for all of the deaths that have resulted from the war since it is such a complicated situation with many parties who could be considered culpable. It can be debated whether President Bush is correct in thinking that the prison sentence for Libby was too extreme. However, I think any consideration of the crime Libby was convicted for needs to take into account the thousands of deaths that resulted in part from the policy his crime was intended to support.

Maybe not Nixon. But Robot Nixon? Oh yeah.

Just to clarify the issue, because it can get cloudy:

This isn't about deaths in Iraq. Not centrally, anyway. This is about the intimidation of those who speak out against the Administration, and forcing silence on would be dissenters. In this case it was leaking the name of Valerie Wilson as a PUNISHMENT for her husband's critique of American foreign shananagans. Her name was deliberately leaked to send a message to would be whistle blowers. The party threw a man on the pyre to pay for this gross misdeed (whether he's the man who did it, we may never know). He was convicted.

He has now been let off with zero jail time. So, SOMEONE in the party committed this crime. Libby was sent to pay the piper. And now he has been set free by the head of the group who the crime benefited. This is the administration coordinating crimes against the nation and then absolving those who The People bring to justice for these crimes.

It is clear as fucking crystal and absolutely unforgivable.

^^^ Well said.

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Did you expect anything less from him??