The 4th of July 2007 HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! It can only get better.
Scooter Libby Roundup
FACE THE FACTS: The reason Bush commuted Scooter Libby's sentence was SO LIBBY WOULDN'T TALK. Bush “guaranteed not only that Libby wouldn’t talk, but retaining Libby’s right to invoke the Fifth. This amounts to nothing less than obstruction of justice.” Now, the Bush administration is legally protected from having to answer questions. If Libby had been in prison, anyone could have gotten to him. Now, no one can get Libby to say a word about the real culprits, which are obviously Rove and Cheney/Bush.
photo All Hat No Cattle.com (check out Basham & Cornell.com for our videos and Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World: George W. Bush)
**First of all, it's vitally important to understand what Valerie Plame was actually doing, and how her "blonde good looks" were a perfect cover for the dangerous work she was doing in finding nuclear weapons in enemy territory. Along with Plame, what we never hear about is that this entire CIA covert program is now gone and several other CIA agents lost their jobs and their cover.
The reason this whole thing is different than any Clinton pardon is because this is a White House-related crime. You can't pardon or commute the sentence of someone who is directly related to your office!!
** Bush gleefully sent people to their deaths without commuting a single death sentence as governor of Texas. He sent mentally retarded children to their deaths. He probably sent innocent people to their deaths.
Doug Basham says: "Bush freed Libby... this is your “law and order” “strong on national security” republicans in action again. They have no problem outing someone who was working on nuclear proliferation issues, and then they have even less problem pardoning the person who leaked it. Well, at least Bush (Cheney) made sure Libby wouldn’t flip on them, and start talking."
According to Marcy Wheeler, Bush “guaranteed not only that Libby wouldn’t talk, but retaining Libby’s right to invoke the Fifth. This amounts to nothing less than obstruction of justice.”
And the worst part of this is… we’re now going to have to listen to all the right wing media hosts and their fellow propagandists tell us once again, that no crime was committed, even tho’ republican prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said there was.
They will tell us it’s Patrick Fitzgerald who should’ve gone to prison, and that it was Richard Armitage who told Robert Novak, even tho’ Libby told at least 2 other reporters. So what if it was Novak who reported it? Libby leaked the name of a covert CIA operative to at least 2 other reporters, whether they reported it or not! So yes, a crime was committed. He just wasn’t charged with the crime of leaking.
Bush did not consult with the Justice Department or special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald before commuting the sentence of former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, according to Tuesday’s Washington Post. Bush commuted Libby’s sentence for perjuring and other crimes related to his role in the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson.
This is the first time in Bush's presidency that Bush commuted a sentence without going through his lawyers at the Justice Dept. Bush didn't even ask the Prosecutor in the case Patrick Fitzgerald, for his opinion as has normally been done in the Justice Department.
"First, President Bush said any person who leaked would no longer work in his administration. Nonetheless, Scooter Libby didn’t leave office until he was indicted and Karl Rove works in the White House even today."
President Bush on Tuesday left open the possibility of an eventual pardon for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
"As to the future, I rule nothing in and nothing out," the president said a day after commuting Libby's 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case.
Bush openly proclaimed on national television that "any person who leaked would no longer work in his administration." Libby now is free, awaiting a full pardon and Karl Rove is still directing the steps of the Bush administration.
Survey USA conducted a quick, automated survey to gauge response to President Bush's decision to commute former White House aide Scooter Libby's prison sentence.
According to the poll:
17% say Bush should have pardoned Libby completely.
60% say Bush should have left the judge's prison sentence in place.
32% of Republicans agree with the President's decision, compared to 14% of Democrats and 20% of Independents.
26% of Republicans say Libby should have been pardoned completely, compared to 21% of Independents and 8% of Democrats..
A wide majority of Americans are against letting Libby go free. The Bush decision regarding Scooter Libby portrays the conclusion that he will do anything to protect those within his inner circle.
Equal Justice Under Law is a phrase engraved on the front of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. This phrase was apparently first written in 1932 by the architectural firm that designed the building. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes subsequently approved this inscription, as did the United States Supreme Court Building Commission which Hughes chaired.
It has become increasingly clear that in Bush's America, there is no "Equal Justice For All.
