Commuting Scooter’s Sentence: The Quotes (And My Commentary)
The AP’s article lists quotes from Democrats that need a thorough fisking. Needless to say, I’m perfectly willing to perform that public service. Here goes:
“Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today. President Bush has just sent exactly the wrong signal to the country and the world.” - former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
Sen. Breck Girl, Just how were Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan “held accountable for their vile anti-Catholic diatribes? For that matter, why didn’t you fire them immediately after learning of their vitriol? Talk about sending “exactly the wrong signal to the country and the world.”
“The Constitution gives President Bush the power to commute sentences, but history will judge him harshly for using that power to benefit his own vice president’s chief of staff who was convicted of such a serious violation of law.” - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Sen. Reid whines about President Bush commuting the sentence of Scooter Libby while Patrick Fitzgerald won’t prosecute reporters who didn’t remember key sections of their stories until the defense team ‘reminded’ them of what they’d said. Talk about a double standard.
“This commutation sends the clear signal that in this administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice.” - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
Mrs. Clinton, you whine about Bush’s cronyism but you haven’t said a word about how your brother lobbied your HINO (Husband In Name Only) to pardon Carlos Vignali, “the cocaine trafficker whose father was a big Democratic contributor” and “Glenn Braswell, the herbal-medicine mogul sentenced to three years in prison in 1983 for mail fraud, perjury and tax evasion.”
As I recall, you peddled the line that you didn’t know that old Hugh was lobbying your HINO for pardons. Mrs. Clinton, you’re either a lousier liar than your HINO or you’re the most naive First Lady in history. Frankly, I don’t think it’s the latter.
“The president said he would hold accountable anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak case. By his action today, the president shows his word is not to be believed.” - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Nancy, Why shouldn’t we trust President Bush’s word on that but then trust you for funding the war after voting to cut off funding for the war?
“It is time for the American people to be heard - I call for all Americans to flood the White House with phone calls tomorrow expressing their outrage over this blatant disregard for the rule of law.” - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.
Sen. Plagiarist thinks that he can drum up a flood of phone calls over this like talk radio and the Right Blogosphere did with immigration (non)reform. What Sen. Plagiarist doesn’t get is that people have to feel passionately about an issue. They don’t feel passionately about Scooter Libby. It’s like me calling for the folks to flood his email inbox and his office phones because he’s an admitted plagiarist. It just doesn’t work that way.
“President Bush’s 11th-hour commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence makes a mockery of the justice system and betrays the idea that all Americans are expected to be held accountable for their actions, even close friends of Vice President Cheney.” - Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
Sen. Kerry talks about making a mockery of the justice system when President Bush exercises his constitutional rights after an officer of the court makes a mockery of the judicial system by convening a grand jury after he knew that the crime he was asked to investigate didn’t meet the criteria for the IIPA or the Espionage Act.
Yes, Sen. Kerry, there was a mockery of the justice system. Yes, there was an abuse of power. No, Sen. Kerry, those abuses were made by a headline-seeking bitter prosecutor looking to hang a trophy on the wall no matter what he had to do to manufacture a crime.
Technorati Tags: John Edwards, Hillary, Presidential Pardons, Hugh Rodham, Joe Biden, Plagiarism, Nancy Pelosi, Iraq Supplemental, Patrick Fitzgerald, Espionage Act, Miscarriage Of Justice
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:37 am
[...] Cross-posted at California Conservative Categories: The Constitution, Iraq, President Bush, Immigration, Pelosi, Hillary, Harry Reid, Blogs, Lawyers | [...]
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:12 am
[...] Original post by Gary Gross and software by Elliott Back [...]
July 3rd, 2007 at 6:13 am
You have actually totally fudged the issue. Straight question why did Libby deserve to get his sentence commuted over the thousands of others who are not.
July 3rd, 2007 at 6:22 am
Maybe because, in Mr. Bush’s case, he felt Fitzscrewer had abused his powers.
In any case, I’d rather see Mr. Libby set free for what Mr. B. perceives as justice than to have seen all the pardons Bubba signed for bucks. And, as I understand it, his were pardons, not commutations.
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:27 am
he felt Fitzscrewer had abused his powers.
Because no other judge in the USA has acted similarly in Bush tenure? Come what ever you think about the judges actions you can’t argue that Bush did this for any reason other then he knew Libby.
Also the actions of Clinton or totally irrelevant in this issue.
You have still not justified why Libby deserved to be commuted over so many other cases. But by the way you refer to “rather see Mr. Libby set free for what Mr. B. perceives as justice” that you do think it is dodgy you just want to criticise Bush but instead don’t trying to justify it by saying it is better to do it for a mate then a donor. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:33 am
Scooter Libby- Two wrongs…
The reaction of the conservative blogosphere seems predictable to me….
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:03 pm
This reminds me of OJ and Martha. One commits a horrible crime that caused much harm to many people and he is out playing golf. Martha makes a tiny mistake that she probably shouldnt have made but it doesnt actually hurt anyone yet she goes to jail.
Bill Clinton is a metaphir for OJ and Scooter is a metaphor for Martha. A broken corrupt systems on all levels once again rears there ugly head as it does on a nearly daily bases.
Its about time someone is held accountable.
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Allow me to weigh in. First, if Bush can’t complete a sentence, why should Scooter have to?
Mitch “Its about time someone is held accountable“: Ha! There is no accountability in or for this administration. And Bubba as OJ? That’s a stretch. Just to be clear, who died as a result of Clinton’s perjury? No one. How many died at OJ’s hands? Two. Who died as a result of Scooter’s perjury? Well, we don’t know the total yet, but so far were at 3,586 coalition deaths, countless (and, by this administration, uncounted) innocent Iraqis, not to mention the hundreds of thousands injured. Plainly put, there is no comparison there.
Simon “Two wrongs don’t make a right“: Don’t you understand that Bill Clinton’s actions justify anything that Bush does? This is the anything for the Right (note the capital ‘R’ there) presidency.
Carlos “his were pardons, not commutations“: Actually, Bubba signed quite a few commutations. So what? None that I’m aware of Bubba’s were complicit in obstruction of justice charges.
Gary “thorough fisking“: Are you suggesting that what a couple of liberal bloggers say compares to lying to the FBI? That it compares to reporters’ disputes about the meaning of their articles? That it compares to Clinton’s pardons and commutations of people who had served at least some of their sentences? That is compares to Nancy Pelosi merely doing her job? Wow, your are seriously deluded. Not the we didn’t know that, your comments about Biden are incomprehensible, and your display of a lack of understanding of our legal system is appalling.
And while I could write thousands of words about the damage this has done to our legal system, reputation as the last bastion of justice, and standing among the civilized world, I’ll summarize it up: this will come back to bite Bush and the republicans in the end.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Rocky - you are right 2 wrongs don’t make a right but in this case and this case only bush didn’t do wrong, if you can’t convict on the original charge you should not have a catch all that takes in a faulty memory.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Given the histrionics, obtuseness and very-close-to-outright-lies Fitzscrewer used in closing arguments, and the evidence not allowed by the judge that was available to the public but not the jury, yes, I can see why Libby was convicted.
And if one’s argument is two wrongs don’t make a right, then in this case let’s make it even: convict Bubba for perjury. Heck, even his bar association (legal bar, not Tubby’s) had no question about Bubba’s perjury, but it seems 1/2 the nation does about Libby’s and Bubba wasn’t even charged in a court of law, only in Congress.
Keep it in perspective: Libby’s not quite the thief or swindler that was the favorite of Bubba’s commutations and pardons.
July 4th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Where have I heard “but in this case and this case only…” before? Oh yeah, it was in the Supreme Court’s Bush V. Gore ruling in which they said that that case would set no precedent for future arguments. Had they known how right they were. The Bush legacy will is The Loophole Presidency.
The argument that Scooter shouldn’t have been prosecuted because his actions were not the result of the leaking of Valeria Plame’s identity is a moot point. Libby lied to the FBI! He committed perjury, and as republicans are so fond of reminding us (as Carlos does in his comment), Clinton perjured himself. And remember, that perjury had nothing to do with the cause of action under which he was testifying. Using this logic, Clinton should not have been charged with perjury, since his lies — lying about oral sex with Monica Lewinsky — had nothing to do with his testimony in the case surrounding Jennifer Flowers. Funny how republicans seem think that when its a Democrat caught lying, he should hang; when its a republican caught lying, well, it just doesn’t matter, hypocrisy as high art.
Especially given that this judge was appointed by Bush, as was Fitzpatrick. But I guess that when even Bush appointees go against the slime machine, they too are as worthless as Democrats, another loophole.
The jury was, as all juries are, presented with the facts in the case, as determined by the judge. There are always facts and circumstances that are outside allowed testimony, and the legal system accounts for that through a careful process. But according to Carlos, those matters (another loophole) would have shown Libby to be innocent. Yet, 60% of the country — and even 40% of Republicans — think otherwise. The jurors were quoted as saying that it wasn’t Libby who should have been on trial; it was Cheney. And, of course, Cheney (and Libby’s, for that matter) testimony was promised by the defense, and then they reneged. So, if we are to count facts not admitted, let’s count them all; get Cheney on the stand, under oath, and let’s ask a few questions.
And therein lies the ultimate loophole in this case; Cheney is up to his eyeballs in this affair. The coverup is always worse than the crime, and he’s made it worse by twisting the law and subverting the Constitution, time and again.
I stand my by my original statement. This will bite Bush and the republicans in the end. I have not seen the country so outraged and motivated in a long, long time. On this, the 231st observation of our Declaration of Independence from King George, it is somehow fitting.
July 4th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
“I have not seen the country so outraged and motivated in a long, long time.”
Obviously, Rocky, you have been asleep for a while and missed the outrage over the piece of lying garbage both donkey and Republican “leaders” were trying to push off on the citizens of this country, and the motivation for those of us concerned about the fate of our nation to do something about it.
I still can’t understand how a 5-4 decision from the Florida Supreme Court (that flew in the face of Florida written law) was “the will of the people” and a 5-4 decision from the SCOTUS was “a travesty that flies in the face of all reason”. My gosh, man, you’ve had more than 6 years to absorb and get over it. Maybe, just maybe, the SCOTUS looked at existing Florida law and made their decision (which technically overturned the FSC decision only) upon that. Ya think?
My opinion of the Plame “investigation” is that it should never have gotten past the first week because Fitzscrewer knew all the answers by then. He knew that Plame was not a covered covert agent, he knew who the real leaker was, and he knew it was an off-hand comment made by a Clinton appointee (kept on by GW) to an audience he should have been aware could publish it. Of course, if he had ended his “investigation” then, there would have been absolute outrage in the donkey barnyard about a “cover up” and he, the special prosecuter, would not have gotten the millions upon millions of easy bucks pursuing butterflies. That was the first real crime.
Then we come to Libby’s memory. It could have been faulty, or he may have been trying to throw the “investigation” (of what? the answers to the investigation were already known)off. The jury thought he was trying to throw the investigators off. In other words, he perjured himself. Maybe.
Be that as it may, my point wasn’t that Libby should not have been on trial, but that the “investigation” should never have gone on long enough to get to him.
And about Bubba: there is no question that he no only perjured himself, but that he is a serial liar. Where is the moonbat outrage over that? If you are not outraged that the Libby “investigation” went past the first week, how can you possibly justify saying Clinton’s perjury should never have happened because that’s not what the original investigation was about?
And Cheney up to his eyeballs in the case? My, how your side dreams of the evils of that man! Never mind facts, suspicions from your dreams are all that matter.
If I were the veep, I can’t imagine I would have a speck of time to worry about a worm like Wilson, let alone his wife, especially since it was a matter of record (albeit classified) that he was both an incompetent and what his findings in Niger were.
About the only thing we probably agree on is that the Bush administration can’t be trusted. My thought, though, is that government itself can’t be trusted, whereas you want guvmint to be the beginning and end of life because of the collective wisdom of bureaucrats. I believe the collective wisdom of the citizens outshines bureaucratic abilities every time. That’s why I think socialists are dangerous and you think people capable of thinking are.
July 4th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Not asleep, merely enjoying a bit of schadenfreude, and the whole immigration fiasco is part of the outrage. What did we end up with, in the end? Nothing. And our leaders are going around saying that the issue is dead until 2009, since next year is an election year (as though the cycle didn’t begin literally the day after the midterms). This issue occupied the entire Congress and Executive (and whatever branch Cheney says he is today) for the past month, and we got nothing out of it.
Carlos, Keith Olberman gave a Special Comment yesterday that summed up exactly how I feel. After 9/11, I was among the many, many democrats that said “I didn’t vote for him but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.” And what did we liberals get for that? Karl Rove has said that we are the reason that Al Queda attacked. Jerry Falwell suggested America’s pagans, abortionists, feminists and gays “helped it happen.” And now Rudy is saying it’s Clinton’s fault that nothing was done in his city before 9/11, not his, the mayor. Except, of course, Clinton caught, tried and incarcerated the culprits, while Rudy proceeded to move the city’s emergency center into the one spot that Al Queda said they were after and targeted successfully once before.
Oh yeah, and a war in Iraq that is draining our blood and treasure, to which we were lied into, scared into, and ultimately, once again, had our patriotism questioned when we wanted to just give the political process, which was working no worse than ‘the surge’, a chance.
It’s not that I (and most liberals, I feel) haven’t gotten past the 2000 election, its that it seems to be happening again. Another loophole for Scooter Libby to slide through, just the last in a long line of loopholes that have allowed this president to attempt to turn our beloved country into an empire. Thankfully, he’s not even good at that.
Your argument that the Plame investigation and Libby prosecution should not have ever gone on is hysterical given what conservatives said while Ken Starr spent millions upon millions of dollars and, what was it, 3 years(?) chasing after Clinton in an investigation that not only should have never been conducted, but should have served as an example of what happens when these types of crimes are committed and investigated. Translation: Bush wasn’t smart enough to look at what happened to Clinton and realize that the same thing would happen to him, so don’t go there. Instead of making your decisions based on the facts, make the decisions and to hell with the facts, destroy the reputation of anyone in the way, and then lie to cover it up. I’ll say it again: the cover up is always worse than the crime.
The vice president had enough time to peruse the New York Times article Joe Wilson wrote, and he even took time to make notes on the copy he would forward around the White House. He clearly was worried about something (perhaps the fact that he’d made up the evidence about WMD?) coming out and putting a stop to the endless war. He even reserved enough time out of his busy schedule to see that Google blur out the Naval Observatory from their maps, so Cheney clearly has ample opportunity to spend his time seeking vengeance on his enemies, and this time, he nearly got caught. Why go to such lengths, especially if you’ve got nothing to hide?
My point is, Carlos, the collective wisdom you preach of is expressed through politics, and it demeans us as a people to be put through the lies, the waste of our resources, and most precious, the loss of our people. The incompetent must go and let someone who knows how to fix this mess get in there and give it a try. There’s not many ways they could do worse.
July 6th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
“…no one died as a result of Clinton’s perjury.”
Well, maybe not directly, but when the uproar started getting a little too loud for Mr. C, there were soldiers who died in Bosnia and Somalia. Some of us look at that and wonder how much of those actions was directed at making the public lose interest on Mr. C’s inability to tell the truth, and to abuse the office.