No jail for Libby

[Ace]

From the Political Animal, a column in Washington Monthly...

WHEN IN DOUBT, BLAME BILL....Unable to defend the president's conduct in the Libby scandal, Tony Snow has embraced the well-established Clinton Misdirection Policy with both arms.


The White House on Thursday made fun of former President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for criticizing President Bush's decision to erase the prison sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby."I don't know what Arkansan is for chutzpah, but this is a gigantic case of it," presidential spokesman Tony Snow said. [...]
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., has scheduled hearings Wednesday on Bush's commutation of Libby's 2 1/2-year sentence. "Well, fine, knock himself out," Snow said of Conyers. "I mean, perfectly happy. And while he's at it, why doesn't he look at January 20th, 2001?"


Snow then proceeded to say, "I know you are but what am I," made some oblique reference to being rubber to reporters' glue, held his breath for an inordinate amount of time, and then, fingers in ears, shouted, "La la la, I can't hear you."

The amazing thing about Snow's farcical and humiliating performance today is that it concedes defeat. He wasn't explicit about it, but with repeated references to Clinton's presidency, Snow effectively admitted that the Bush White House did something spectacularly inappropriate, but justified this conduct by insisting that Clinton was just as bad. So much for "restoring honor and dignity to the Oval Office."

Asked specifically, "Do two wrongs make a right?" Snow hedged for a moment and then dodged the question. Classy

But even if we play by Snow's rules, Libby's prison sentence was commuted by a president motivated by self-interest -- Libby was charged in a case in which he could implicate the president and vice president. As Dan Froomkin put it the other day, "All of this means that Bush's decision ... isn't just a matter of unequal justice. It is also a potentially self-serving and corrupt act."

No matter how suspect the Marc Rich pardon appears, unless Snow is prepared to argue that Rich was in a position to implicate Clinton in a larger crime, the comparison doesn't hold up well.

Good stuff. Hey, if this doesn't fly, Bush can always go with the "I was just kidding!" excuse as he has a SWAT team surround Scooter's house.

 

[zeke12]

Whatever happened to restoring honor and dignity to the White House?

And, BTW, anyone who tries to make a comparison between the Libby and Rich situations should well remember who Marc Rich's pardon attorney was.

 

[zagoshe]

From the Political Animal, a column in Washington Monthly...

WHEN IN DOUBT, BLAME BILL....Unable to defend the president's conduct in the Libby scandal, Tony Snow has embraced the well-established Clinton Misdirection Policy with both arms.


The White House on Thursday made fun of former President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for criticizing President Bush's decision to erase the prison sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby."I don't know what Arkansan is for chutzpah, but this is a gigantic case of it," presidential spokesman Tony Snow said. [...]
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., has scheduled hearings Wednesday on Bush's commutation of Libby's 2 1/2-year sentence. "Well, fine, knock himself out," Snow said of Conyers. "I mean, perfectly happy. And while he's at it, why doesn't he look at January 20th, 2001?"


Snow then proceeded to say, "I know you are but what am I," made some oblique reference to being rubber to reporters' glue, held his breath for an inordinate amount of time, and then, fingers in ears, shouted, "La la la, I can't hear you."

The amazing thing about Snow's farcical and humiliating performance today is that it concedes defeat. He wasn't explicit about it, but with repeated references to Clinton's presidency, Snow effectively admitted that the Bush White House did something spectacularly inappropriate, but justified this conduct by insisting that Clinton was just as bad. So much for "restoring honor and dignity to the Oval Office."

Asked specifically, "Do two wrongs make a right?" Snow hedged for a moment and then dodged the question. Classy

But even if we play by Snow's rules, Libby's prison sentence was commuted by a president motivated by self-interest -- Libby was charged in a case in which he could implicate the president and vice president. As Dan Froomkin put it the other day, "All of this means that Bush's decision ... isn't just a matter of unequal justice. It is also a potentially self-serving and corrupt act."

No matter how suspect the Marc Rich pardon appears, unless Snow is prepared to argue that Rich was in a position to implicate Clinton in a larger crime, the comparison doesn't hold up well.

All of this would be wonderful except the fact that the Clintons are running for office certainly makes everything they did in office the first time relevant and fair game.

 

[SockPuppet]

Snow then proceeded to say, "I know you are but what am I," made some oblique reference to being rubber to reporters' glue, held his breath for an inordinate amount of time, and then, fingers in ears, shouted, "La la la, I can't hear you."

Um, did Snow really do that? Or was this just the columnist riffing to make a point?

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

OK, putz. What did the Clintons do that's still covered up? C'mon, you read all the right books, haunted all the right websites, probably send David Bossie a Christmas card every year. What is it that Susan McDougal went to jail rather than testify about? Specifically, with as much evidence as you can muster.
Then we can talk about Vince Foster and Ron Brown and all the other little voices in your head.

 

[SockPuppet]

The reason I have to ask the preceding post question is that this administration has gone so far down the rabbit hole that anything is possible.

 

[JayFarrar]

The second and third grafs are real. Everything else is column. It is beyond my skill set to get it to format like it did on the Web site.
I think the point Zagoshe misses is that if what Clinton did was so wrong, and Bush did the same thing, is that not still wrong.
And do two wrongs make it right?

 

[ifilus]

From today’s press briefing, with fourth-string White House spokesperson Scott Stanzel:

Q: Scott, is Scooter Libby getting more than equal justice under the law? Is he getting special treatment?

STANZEL: Well, I guess I don’t know what you mean by “equal justice under the law.”

Meanwhile, less than 72 hours after Fredo commuted Scooter's jail sentence (and that includes a national holiday), Libby has fully paid off his quarter million dollrar monetary debt to society.

So much for the financial hardship his supporters had touted in defending Bush's actions.

 

[jgmacg]

Armitage probably paid the fine from the petty cash drawer at Conoco-Philips, where Scooter will no doubt find himself welcome any time he needs work.

 

[D-Backs Hack]

Hey, start lining up all the corrupt pols for equal treatment! First up, hair boy:

http://campaignsandelections.com/oh/releases/index.cfm?ID=1769

State Rep. Bob Hagan Seeks Commutation for Traficant

Hagan: "If it's good enough for Libby, why not Traficant?"

(Columbus) - State Rep. Bob Hagan (D-Youngstown) is asking President George W. Bush to commute the time remaining on the prison sentence of former U.S. Congressman James Traficant, in light of the President's recent commutation of convicted former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

"If the President is going to coddle criminals in his Administration because he believes they have suffered enough, the least he can do is apply equal justice and release all of those whose crimes had far less impact on the public good than Libby's," Rep. Hagan said.

Traficant is currently serving eight years in prison for bribery, racketeering and corruption.

You gotta love Ohio politics.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Hell, with the time Traficant and his muskrat rug have already spent, doesn't he deserve restitution in addition to the pardon?

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Hell, with the time Traficant and his muskrat rug have already spent, doesn't he deserve restitution in addition to the pardon?

I think the rug is doing its time in a bio lab somewhere.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Hell, with the time Traficant and his muskrat rug have already spent, doesn't he deserve restitution in addition to the pardon?

I think the rug is doing its time in a bio lab somewhere.

I hope so, because using the Bush standard of "he's suffered enough already," I was thinking that one day in a Federal prison with that thing on top of his head was all the punishment necessary.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

For the benefit of readers who may have joined the thread late...

 

[Football_Bat]

For the benefit of readers who may have joined the thread late...

God, that thing couldn't look more fake if it was equipped with a chinstrap.

 

[Starman]

From today’s press briefing, with fourth-string White House spokesperson Scott Stanzel:

Q: Scott, is Scooter Libby getting more than equal justice under the law? Is he getting special treatment?

STANZEL: Well, I guess I don’t know what you mean by “equal justice under the law.”

Meanwhile, less than 72 hours after Fredo commuted Scooter's jail sentence (and that includes a national holiday), Libby has fully paid off his quarter million dollrar monetary debt to society.

So much for the financial hardship his supporters had touted in defending Bush's actions.

Like any of Bush/Cheney's lackeys, he probably has $250,000 stashed in the cookie jar for rainy days.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

$5 million in his legal defense fund most likely took care of the matter.

 

[Starman]

$5 million in his legal defense fund most likely took care of the matter.

And odds are pretty good he'll figure out some way to spend the other $4,750,000.00.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

$5 million in his legal defense fund most likely took care of the matter.

And odds are pretty good he'll figure out some way to spend the other $4,750,000.00.

He;'s already got a wingnut welfare gig at the Hoover Institute.
He should ask Neil Bush for tips on how to spend all that money.