Sad day for America and our justice system.
The whole right to pardon bestowed upon the President smacks of injustice. Go down the line, President by President, and you will have no problem finding very questionable pardons.
Just provides more precedent for wrongdoing and coverup within the Executive Branch. Conservatives will have nobody to blame but themselves when future Democratic administrations do the same thing and have aides cover up and fall on the sword when indicted.
I cannot express how disappointed I am in this decision. If I were the federal judge who sentenced Libby, I’d be inclined to resign.
Separation of powers ???
Does this really surprise anyone??? Why do you think Libby was trying to appeal, so Bush could wait and do this at the end of his term. By the way, if Clinton had done this, you think Rush and G. Gordon would have just let this slide??? Just asking.
The problem is that Clinton didn’t actually do this. He did pardon Marc Rich, but he didn’t pardon somebody who was a high official in the Executive, so while it was bad, it was clearly differentiated.
What’s puzzling is why Bush didn’t just straight up pardon him. The commutation means that Scooter is still a convicted felon and that the court’s decision stands, as opposed to a pardon which wipes the slate completely clean. However, in his statement, Bush says that he thought the sentence was harsh. The problem is that the sentence fit squarely into federal sentencing guidelines for obstruction of justice.
So not only did Bush do this, but he managed to screw it up and do it in a way that doesn’t even pretend to have any sort of principle or ethical stance behind it. It was simply to keep Scooter out of jail, one way or another. What a fucking schmuck.
Maybe Scooter was getting ready to rat the rest of them out.
maybe his cell provider was T-mobile
.
maybe he rides a Cervelo with PC’s and Zipp wheels.
What’s puzzling is why Bush didn’t just straight up pardon him.
That can come later. This keeps him out of prison.
Can we expect some sort of sentencing reform legislation coming out of the White House now that the President has stated that he believes courts are handing down excessive sentences?
And I thought these were the tough on crime guys.
You f’ing libs crack me up. Like THIS was sooo long ago.
Pardoning someone for odometer rollback is a little different from pardoning the Vice President’s scumbag chief of staff for lying and obstruction of justice in the leak of name and cover for a CIA agent. Oh and by the way, remember, Libby was Marc Rich’s lawyer when Clinton pardoned him.
My $.02. And AmyCO, I agree with you wholeheartedly. If I were the judge who sentenced Libby, I would go take a giant dump on the White House lawn, because metaphorically that’s what this is akin to. It’s almost like Bush is pissed that he just spent a weekend at daddy’s beach house and didn’t get to get wasted or something.
I am no Fing Lib…as a matter of fact I am a Libertarian and I want the Fing Govt., out of my life as much as possible. But don’t you think the hypocrisy is overwhelming in Bush’s case. My God…the man can do NO wrong, but if Clinton did 1/10 of any of this crap you right wing Bible thumpers would be all over him. By the way I am an Elder in my Church (USA Presbyterian), so don’t even think about it.
Agree, that it is a sad day, but not unexpected…Bush is so far down now, he had nothing to lose, and he makes whatever conservitive base he has left happy…ALthough not all of them. Glen Beck is railing on him right now on CNN, and I imagine that a decent % of republicans will follow suit…Traditionlly, presidents pardon a bunch of people on their way out…Favors to loyal friends, or actual friends of theirs. Clinton made a few himself, and as someone stated earlier, the Marc RIch one was very questionable…But Bush has taken it to a new high here, and I’m sure he wishes the trial would have dragged on another year and a half…Just another black eye on his legacy, but will probably be way down the list when all said and done…
This administration has done everything else it could to be remembered as one of the most arrogant, dysfunctional and borderline corrupt. Why should it stop now? Now let’s watch the poll numbers slip some more. Move over Hoover, we have found a bigger bunch of hacks.
And by the way, let’s look at the logic of what just happened. Bush asked that an independent prosecutor look at what happened in the leak case. Libby lied during the investigation, a jury found him guilty, and a judge used sentencing guidelines that otherwise apply to all Americans. Bush didn’t like it and so undermines the legal process. The moral of the story is that if the legislative or judicial branch gets in your way, you do an endrun and do whatever you want. For each day these guys remain in office, the foundations of our democracy get eroded a bit more.
Those people that Clinton pardoned deserved to be pardoned. Libby deserves nothing.