President George Bush, in an
appalling display of abuse of privilege, commuted "Scooter"
Libby's sentence, negating all 30 months of the federal prison time
to which he was sentenced.
Now, this doesn't seem like much on the face of it. Especially when one considers the abuses of presidential clemency in the past. But in all previous cases, when Democrats have issued a pardon or clemency, it's been after the sentence was carried out. Bush issued it before the sentence could be imposed. I'd call that a violation of his oath of office - but then, based on Bush's past actions, he had that oath of office printed up on the official White House toilet paper.
Libby was convicted of lying to a grand jury over his knowledge about the 'outing' of CIA operative Valerie Plame by someone in the Bush Administration. Plame was outed because her husband had knowledge that Iraq never tired to obtain Uranium ore from Nigeria, which was in direct contradiction to assertions the Bush Administration made when laying its case for invading Iraq because they asserted Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction. Plame's husband voiced that knowledge and suddenly his wife was exposed as a CIA operative by the NY Times - placing them both in danger (minimally at the time) but ending her career in the CIA and punishing him for pointing out the Bush Administration's foundation for going to war was less than firm.
Libby didn't actually do the outing. But he lied about who may have. Under oath. And was convicted of it. Cinton lied under oath, too, but was never convicted of it. Therein lies the difference. The Bush administration has never tried to investigate the matter, despite it being a serious breach of national security policy. Apparently, like manipulating the terror threat levels before the 2004 elections to scare people into thinking the Bush administration had a better handle on the situation than the Democrats could, if it's done 'for the good of the country' the the eyes of the administration it's not illegal. Despite the fact it is.
But this isn't about what he did. It's about why. It's politics. It's an utter lack of accountability. People who, on the flip side of the coin, would be tried and hung as war criminals are instead promoted, awarded, rewarded and coddled. No one has ever stood before a court and been punished for the (at best) utter incompetence the Bush Administration has demonstrated over and over and over again.
George W. Bush is the worst thing this country has ever experienced - and that includes all previous wars, conflicts, natural disasters and other administrations. He has done more to destroy the ideals that America once stood for than any being in history. And he refuses to be held accountable for his acts. He refuses to let anyone else be held accountable for their acts if they somehow benefited his administration's utterly misguided policies.
One wonders if when he told Libby to lie for him (Not in so many words, but it's widely accepted that Libby is the 'fall guy' taking one for the Bush team to deflect real investigation into who actually was responsible for the leak), Bush promised him he'd be taken care of. After all, Libby didn't have to personally pay the $250,000 fine. People with close ties to the RNC chummed up the dough. And whether he'll be fully pardoned or not is still up in the air.
Bush justifies it by saying Libby is still going on record as a 'convicted felon' and will still have to serve his parole. Oh, PLEASE. "Scooter" will never miss a meal and will be assured a six to seven figure per year income for the rest of his life. That's hardly the norm for most convicted felons. And as long as the Bush administration refuses to allow anyone to be held accountable for the policies of the President, our country's credibility will remain in the toilet where Bush dumped it.
Now, this doesn't seem like much on the face of it. Especially when one considers the abuses of presidential clemency in the past. But in all previous cases, when Democrats have issued a pardon or clemency, it's been after the sentence was carried out. Bush issued it before the sentence could be imposed. I'd call that a violation of his oath of office - but then, based on Bush's past actions, he had that oath of office printed up on the official White House toilet paper.
Libby was convicted of lying to a grand jury over his knowledge about the 'outing' of CIA operative Valerie Plame by someone in the Bush Administration. Plame was outed because her husband had knowledge that Iraq never tired to obtain Uranium ore from Nigeria, which was in direct contradiction to assertions the Bush Administration made when laying its case for invading Iraq because they asserted Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction. Plame's husband voiced that knowledge and suddenly his wife was exposed as a CIA operative by the NY Times - placing them both in danger (minimally at the time) but ending her career in the CIA and punishing him for pointing out the Bush Administration's foundation for going to war was less than firm.
Libby didn't actually do the outing. But he lied about who may have. Under oath. And was convicted of it. Cinton lied under oath, too, but was never convicted of it. Therein lies the difference. The Bush administration has never tried to investigate the matter, despite it being a serious breach of national security policy. Apparently, like manipulating the terror threat levels before the 2004 elections to scare people into thinking the Bush administration had a better handle on the situation than the Democrats could, if it's done 'for the good of the country' the the eyes of the administration it's not illegal. Despite the fact it is.
But this isn't about what he did. It's about why. It's politics. It's an utter lack of accountability. People who, on the flip side of the coin, would be tried and hung as war criminals are instead promoted, awarded, rewarded and coddled. No one has ever stood before a court and been punished for the (at best) utter incompetence the Bush Administration has demonstrated over and over and over again.
George W. Bush is the worst thing this country has ever experienced - and that includes all previous wars, conflicts, natural disasters and other administrations. He has done more to destroy the ideals that America once stood for than any being in history. And he refuses to be held accountable for his acts. He refuses to let anyone else be held accountable for their acts if they somehow benefited his administration's utterly misguided policies.
One wonders if when he told Libby to lie for him (Not in so many words, but it's widely accepted that Libby is the 'fall guy' taking one for the Bush team to deflect real investigation into who actually was responsible for the leak), Bush promised him he'd be taken care of. After all, Libby didn't have to personally pay the $250,000 fine. People with close ties to the RNC chummed up the dough. And whether he'll be fully pardoned or not is still up in the air.
Bush justifies it by saying Libby is still going on record as a 'convicted felon' and will still have to serve his parole. Oh, PLEASE. "Scooter" will never miss a meal and will be assured a six to seven figure per year income for the rest of his life. That's hardly the norm for most convicted felons. And as long as the Bush administration refuses to allow anyone to be held accountable for the policies of the President, our country's credibility will remain in the toilet where Bush dumped it.
