Bush Commutes Libby Sentence

[MrRain422]

The biggest issue here, though, is that this whole scenerio has to make one wonder how much direct involvement Bush had the whole time. It just reeks so badly of a situation where Bush told Libby to do whatever he had to do to accomplish their political goals, with the assurance that he would never see prison. Clinton's pardon of Rich is very questionable, but unlike the Libby situation, the President issuing the pardon was not involved in the actual crime. To me, that's a pretty critical difference.

[Atticus]

I guess at this point I have trouble believing that Bush is the root behind damn near anything. He just seems too dense (granted I'm right on the heels of having watched two of his quotes in "sicko" last night...). I'd have a much easier time believing that Cheney and/or Rove are at the heart of much of what's being discussed here.

[MrRain422]

That's fair. The WaPo series sure did do a solid job of demonstrating just how much control Dick Cheney has had over the most critical issues. I have very little doubt that the actual crimes were orchestrated by Cheney, but I also don't doubt that he was certain that Bush would keep Libby out of prison before they acted on anything, whether by actually bringing Bush into the fold, or simply because he knew that Bush would do whatever he wanted. Bush is guilty of being an accomplice to the obstruction of justice either way as far as I'm concerned.

[MattZ]

This is what the higher-ups in all forms of government do. They protect their own. Democracies are no different. It would not have mattered whether Bush was in the fold or not. Or to what degree. The chief of staff of the vice president was never going to serve time.

 

Fitzgerald was on a taxpayer funded 2 year circle jerk.

 

EDIT: Now, it would be pretty awesome if this completely inept administration also screwed up the commutation resulting in Libby having to go to jail. THAT would be poetic justice.

[anodyne]

Iran-Contra was the same lack of accountability. At least Reagan didn't blame Carter. Bush lied his way into a war and at the end of the day, it's Clinton's fault for pardoning Mark Rich.

 

btw - Clinton's White House had a big for sale sign on the front lawn, be it Mrs. Rich or Chinese Diplomats over for coffee. The big difference with the Bush White House is the for sale sign says "Private Auction" underneath.

[awatt]

Seems like even as they try to protect their own, they don't know what the fuck they are doing, or just disregarding way laws are applied to most Americans. From today's AJC article:

 

"Snow also tried to clear up confusion about Libby's probation. While commuting Libby's sentence in terms of prison time, Bush left in place his two years of supervised release. But supervised release