Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Reflections on the Libby clemency; UPDATE: Shakedown, Jr., wants to investigate and impeach

UPDATES AT BOTTOM.

As many of you know by now, Scooter Libby was granted executive clemency by Bush yesterday. Here is his statement. I've got mixed feelings on the matter.

On the one hand, Libby lied under oath. Period. That's perjury, and yes, I know that Bubba got away with it. But since OJ got away with murder, would you say that you are now entitled to kill your spouse? No. Just because Bubba wasn't convicted in a court of law for perjury doesn't mean that the law ceases to exist. Therefore, in my view, Libby did commit perjury, end of story.

On the other hand, I was stunned to see jurors talking afterwards to the MSM about how they wanted to nail Cheney and/or Rove, but since that wasn't happening, Libby would have to do. Those particular jurors (two that I know of) were determined from the start to advance their political agenda. That's hardly what I call a fair trial. Also, as Dubya rightly notes, Libby "was handed a harsh sentence based in part on allegations never presented to the jury."

I disagree with Bush when he says that "My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby. The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged." Libby will likely get a lucrative book and/or speaking deal, so while I have no doubt he has suffered up to now, I do indeed doubt he's going to feel the repercussions from it for very long.

Prediction: Just as the left got all bent out of shape when Bush exercised his constitutional authority to fire the U.S. Attorneys and wanted to hold investigations into Bush exercising said authority, look for them to investigate this exercise of his authority, too.

You know what's funny, though? I don't seem to recall the left getting too bent at Bubba for exercising his authority on Mark Rich (international fugitive and tax evader), or on Mel Reynolds (convicted pedophile, obstruction of justice, bank fraud), or on Dorothy Rivers (who swindled $1.2 million in federal grant money for Jesse's Rainbow/PUSH), or on Carlos Vignali (organized coke trafficker), or on Benjamin Berger, Kalmen Stern, David Goldstein, and Jacob Elbaum (conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud, false statement, money laundering, and filing a false tax return...but were all part of the Hasidic Jewish community in NY that inexplicably defied all prior voting patterns and voted overwhelmingly for Shrillary in her 2000 Senate bid, which I'm sure was TOTALLY coincidental and not a quid pro quo based on promises for upcoming pardons).

But that was different, I'm sure.

UPDATE (7/3/2007 1:47 P.M. EST): Well, what a prophet I turned out to be, huh? Jesse Junior is calling for a Congressional investigation into Bush exercising his constitutional authority, calling said exercise of constitutional authority a "very serious crime against the constitution of the United States" and an impeachable offense. Because, you know, doing what the Constitution says you can do is...uh...a crime against the Constitution?

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