Usually, the louder lightweight Keith Olbermann rants and raves about something (as he did last night regarding Bush's commuting of "Scooter" Libby's perjury conviction), the more I'm convinced of the merits of the opposing viewpoint. However, I'm still undecided about this one.Christopher Hitchens (link)
The rush to prejudge the case and pack Libby off to prison seems near universal. (Patrick Fitzgerald has denounced him for failing to show remorse; a strange charge to make against a man who has announced that he intends to appeal.) Given the unsoundness of the verdict, the extraordinary number of other witnesses who admitted to confusion over dates and times, and the essential triviality of the original matter (an apparently purposeless coverup of a nonleak, in private and legal conversations, involving common knowledge of information that was not known to be classified), it is unlikely that the verdict at present can stand scrutiny, let alone the sentence. But why go through all this irrelevant and secondhand hearsay again? Those who want to "get" someone for "lying us into war" have picked the wrong man and failed to identify a crime. Let them try to impeach the president, who should in the meantime step in to avoid any more waste of public money and time and pardon Libby without further ado.
Andrew Sullivan (link)
They keep repeating the line that only the "left" will be angry. Dean Barnett hauls it out. Glenn Reynolds echoes. K-Lo is on the meme. Is it now the conservative position that only left-wingers actually object to people getting away with perjury? For what it's worth, I don't think the Republican base gives a damn about Scooter Libby. But many others now will. The defense of the commutation is complicated and unpersuasive. The case against it is simple: You don't get a cleaner example of different justice for the rich and powerful. It seems to me that real conservatives - not the lawless hoodlums now parading under that banner - should be as outraged as anyone. This man risked national security for political payback, and perjured himself to cover it up. This commutation will rightly become a symbol of a great deal of rot in Washington that needs to be swept clean.
3 comments:
1- Bill Clinton pardoned 451 people including Mark Rich, who was convicted for tax evasion and pardoned by Bill Clinton . Rich owed income tax on 81 million dollars.
2- There was some question about the roll of Mrs. Rich in obtaining getting Bill Clinton to give the pardon.
3- Libby was convicted of lying to investigators. He got 30 months and $250,000 fine.
4- Martha Stewart lied to investigators and spent 3 months in prison. Sound fair?
5- Libby is not charged with revealing the name of any CIA undercover operative.
6- The CIA operative had not been "undercover" for five years.
The judge seems to have been very heavy handed.
What do you think?
Frank
True
Since you asked, here's what I think:
1) I find it ironic that Scooter Libby represented Mark Rich in his tax evasion case.
2) The Plame case WAS a joke from the start.
3) Some of the jurors on Libby's case have commented that they were not happy that HE was the only one to be charged with anything. However, that doesn't excuse him (or ANYONE) from lying under oath. Apparently, the jury felt Libby did. If Hitchens is right, the case wouldn't have held up under appeal. So, it may have made sense for Bush to let that play out and not short-cut the process (but he's got nothing to lose at this point).
4) Commuting the sentence is NOT an impeachable offense. So the screaming of "commentators" like Keith Olbermann for Bush to resign is just ridiculous.
In the end, I'm not all that upset about it. But, I'm not jumping for joy either.
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