Let’s be clear on what Libby did.
He lied to prosecutors.
He obstructed justice.
He did those things to cover for White House personnel who outed a covert CIA agent involved in Weapons of Mass Destruction investigations. Her life was put at risk. The lives of her covert contacts were put at risk. National security was compromised by the White House.
A jury of his peers convicted Libby of obstructing the investigation and of lying to prosecutors. A three-judge appeals panel with two Republican judges found his appeal to be without merit.
Libby’s sentencing was well within accepted guidelines for his crimes.
George Bush, by stepping into the process and commuting Libby’s 30-month sentence, has shown exactly what he and the Republicans and the Conservatives are all about.
What they are not about is the rule of law. What they are not about is the impartial use of justice. What they are not about is the America most of us once thought we lived in.
Bush’s actions are of a piece with his rampant politicization of the Justice Department.
These people are determinedly constructing a theocratic oligarchy. The rule of law means nothing to them, as Bush has shown time and time again. It meant nothing to his father, and the son continues the family tradition.
But the problem is not just Bush’s treatment of Libby. The problem is deeper. It is profound. It is a disease at the heart of American democracy.
Bush and the Republicans have brought the United States to a position in which the people can no longer trust the justice system, as administered by Alberto Gonzales, the Supreme Court, and now the President. The people can no longer trust the political parties to represent their interests, to do what is right and good for the whole country. Elections can no longer be trusted. Politics has been subverted. The law itself has been subverted. America, the America most of us knew and believed in and loved, has been betrayed.
I think one thing is clear. If these people continue to have unlimited sway, if these people are not removed, not scoured from American civic and political life in the next election, then the time will come when the people of this country will find they have a choice. The people can either acquiesce and thus live with the boot of oligarchs and theocrats on their neck, or they can decide to remove by any means necessary these criminal thugs who run American government.
One viable inference that you didn’t mention is that all is going according to plan.
One could argue, if you look at how the story has enfolded, that Bush was actually behind the original leak. When he went public with his “whoever leaked this will not work for this administration”, he was not thinking that he’d be the one to leave, but that they would put up a scapegoat to take the fall, with the understanding that the scapegoat would stay silent, protect the real leakers by dropping a few red herrings, and once sentenced, he would be pardoned (or maybe have his sentence simply commuted if the fine was not so big that a small $1000/plate dinner couldn’t handle it). The key was to stonewall until after the 2004 elections, and the scapegoat would probably have to lie and misdirect a little for that to happen. Once Nov 2004 was past, it was home free. Just some tidying up to do afterwards.
Finally, wait until the day the appeals court says your scapegoat has to show up in stripes, and then issue the order to set him free. The Order could have been written months ago.
I don’t usually subscribe to wacky conspiracy theories, but this one smells so bad, I think it’s actually plausible. Watch where Libby ends up in the next six months, after the smoke clears.
That this was planned wouldn’t surprise me in the least. But I do think the central, the main point, is that Bush did this at all.
I think Joe Wilson was right on target when he said yesterday that Bush is corrupt to the core. The entire Administration is corrupt, and it is corroding the entire government, the entire nation.
It is my fondest hope that the Republican party is destroyed by these eight years. Democrats may steal money from time to time, but Republicans steal democracy and liberty, always.
The main question is: why haven’t the Democrats started impeachment hearings?
That didn’t take long. It appears his friends have raised $5 Million for him, and he’s already paid off his fine. He should probably be replacing Wolfowitz as President of the World Bank in short order.