Pardon Libby?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Partisan Hacks, The Plame GameWow, that was quick.
Anybody want to bet that National Review probably already had it typed up?
President Bush should pardon I. Lewis “Scooter� Libby. The trial that concluded in a guilty verdict on four of five counts conclusively proved only one thing: A White House aide became the target of a politicized prosecution set in motion by bureaucratic infighting and political cowardice.When partisans pounced on Bob Novak’s July 14, 2003, revelation that the wife of administration critic Joe Wilson worked at the CIA, they adopted Wilson’s paranoid persecution theory. Then a scandal-hungry media joined in. Novak’s unidentified administration sources were widely accused of criminal wrongdoing: having “outed� a covert agent.
Partisans, huh? NRO kinda has a pot and kettle problem there going on here. In short, not too convincing.
What else ya got?
From the very beginning of the ensuing spectacle, petty agendas subverted justice. The CIA, at war with the White House, and in particular with the vice president’s office, referred the leak to the Justice Department, even though the agency certainly knew that there had been no criminal violation since Plame wasn’t “covert.�
By the way, Plame was covert. You can find out more here as well. The right-wing has long tried to confuse this issue, but her identity was marked secret. This issue has been long settled.
Listen, I won’t bash this NRO article anymore, but let’s not forget that Fitzgerald conducted his investigation, laid out the case in front of a jury of Libby’s peers and they found him guilty on 4 out 0f 5 counts. That means 4 separate crimes were committed. But NRO would rather let Libby off because he was a high ranking Bush official who was targeted by a partisan hit job? Give me a break.
Also, does anybody find it ironic that Libby himself was the collateral damage from his own partisan bomb-throwing?
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March 6th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
What was the underlining crime? Ooohhh, that’s right — there wasn’t one! So this is akin to a Martha Stewart conviction. A big, pointless “gotcha.” And he will be pardoned, my money is on, by the end of the week. The real question is what will libtardish hacks like David Corn write about now! They will, of course, rehash the glory days of the Libby conviction. Yawn.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
DosPeros,
The underlying crime that was being investigated was “who outed the identity of a covert operative of the CIA, an operative that was performing important work in trying to find out everything she could about Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. The investigation was obstructed by Mr. Libby. Even without any charges being filed under the original investigation, his crime was this: He lied under oath and by doing so, obstructed a federal investigation!
March 6th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
To say that he should be pardoned is tantamount to saying that one of the precepts of our legal system, which says that it is illegal to lie under oath is worthless. That’s irresponsible, to say the least.
March 6th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
On feature of lying under oath to a grand jury is that the “underlying crime” is concealed. That, after all, is why one lies.
So, Dos, you may believe, but can hardly prove, that there was no underlying crime here. Because, while some lies have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, there remains the possibility that someone who lied 4 times did so additional times. (After all, the point about which he lied were worth lying about only as part of an effort to conceal something substantive.)
March 6th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Pardon me, bu he will be pardoned … Why wouldn’t he be …. by an administration that blatantly makes it’s own rules on the fly as needed.
The NRO folks are destined for purgatory … forced to watch the Clinton tapes and the Libby tapes over and over and over and over ….
March 6th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
The indignation would work a little better if Fitzgerald hadn’t known almost from the beginning that Armitage was Novak’s source. You see the investigation is generally over when the “who done it” part is solved, but not in this case. The “substantive” part, Disgusted, was apparently such a flaccid moment for Fitzy (who I’m sure has some bizarre sexual quid pro quo deal with Corn) that he felt compelled to put Judith Miller in the clink for 3 months & ruin Scooter Libby. Well, congratulations, Fitzy, thumb-sucking weirdo, for wasting my tax dollars to justify the “special prosecutor” position.
BTW, Libby’s attorneys were stupid for not putting him on the stand — a white-collar deal like this, always put the defendant on the stand. Bush would be wise to pardon him as soon as possible. But I have no faith in Bush to show any character at all.
March 6th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
Dos,
Why must you let the Master and Commander continue kicking the poor dog and still come back, tail btw your legs, asking for more?
Even the President, clueless as he was, promised justice for anyone guilty of these sins. Well, clueless is as clueless does, and some things never change, like a good Republican taken it where the sun don’t shine for the team !
But this ain’t just the icing on the cake. If any of our so called leaders can grow some testicles, maybe this case will finally embolden someone to ask just how deep the fabrication went to get us into this war. If they went through all this deceit just to discredit one guy who wrote one op-ed piece, simply stating his expert opinion about the Iraq-WMD connection, what else is there we don’t know about ?
March 7th, 2007 at 11:13 am
DosPeros,
I find it interesting how the fact that Libby lied under oath, a crime last time I checked, does not seem to bother you in the least.
The indignation would work a little better if Fitzgerald hadn’t known almost from the beginning that Armitage was Novak’s source. You see the investigation is generally over when the “who done it� part is solved, but not in this case.
Except that in this case, Fitzgerald in the course of his investigation ran across one of the people (Libby) lying under oath, as such, although having found the person responsible for leaking V. Plame’s name (Armitage, who did so not knowing she was covert) was forced by his conscience and the law to prosecute Libby who demonstrated in through his lying (and obstruction of the investigation) that he had no respect for our laws.
It’s also interesting how quickly you go after Fitzgerald with personal attacks and attempts to discredit him, despite the fact that he is a republican and someone who was just doing his job. Lying under oath is a crime, and is also considered a means of obstructing an investigation as such, Fitzgerald, whether you like it or not had every reason to go after Libby.
March 7th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Yes, the biggest hallmark of this administration is that “the buck never stops here!”
Bush and Co do a good job of insulating themselves from any responsibility. He is the perpetual victim of bumbling Execs and having them take the fall for everything from a hastily planned, over optimistic, and shoddily planned decades long war, to fumbling reactions to natural disasters, to crumbling hospitals. Nothing is Bush’s fault, it’s either Bill Clinton, the Democrats, The Media, or inept bureaucrats.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Clinton lies under oath, impeachment. Libby lies under oath, pardon. Yeah, this illustrates well how consistent conservative values are. Dropping the no deficit spending clause of the Contract with America as soon as these people came to power should have been the first clue that they stand for nothing, other than gaining power and keeping it. Goldwater was the last true conservative, everything that has come after him is a joke.
March 7th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Clinton lies under oath, impeachment. Libby lies under oath, pardon.
Well for one… Clinton was the President, and the charges were never pushed beyond impeachment. Second, had Clinton been actually TRIED for his perjury and convicted GORE would have had to pardon him as he would most likely NOT have been the President.
Everything being equal, Clinton being impeached and then dropping any further actions against him is a FAR cry from actually being tried and convicted and pardoned. I would go so far as to say Clinton got off easier than Libby would if he gets pardoned.
March 7th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
James, you are probably correct … however, the fall guy here is exactly that. The real culprit(s) are getting off scot free. That doesn’t say much for their true values, you know, the values that they sold us.
March 7th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
The real culprits of WHAT?! Armitage leaked the name and he is an anti-Iraq War administration opponent. The whole conspiracy theory is shot to shit people, but I’m sure that if you kick the dead horse enough, it’ll come back to life and graze on the grass knoll. I swear, sometimes its like living in an alternate universe with you people.
March 7th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Dos … Cheney was involved …. so was Rove, an expert at colateral damage in politics. just because of Armitage even if he was the one to roll the ball. Libby would never have been on the hook Speaking of alternate universes, have the Bush folks done anything wrong?
March 8th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Hey, now PardonLibby.org is on sale on eBay! This is hilarious, check it out:
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