Bush says no prison for Cheney's boyPresident Bush today commuted I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s 2 ½ year prison sentence for obstruction of justice because he said the punishment did not fit the crime. A spokesman for vice president Dick Cheney said the VP agreed with the oval office decision. No shock there.
If you are a Republican candidate for office you’re probably thinking, what more can Bush do to screw up the election chances for 2008? The party that spent millions of taxpayer dollars seeking the impeachment of a president for lying about getting a blow job, now says any prison time (not one single day) for one of their own who lied about revealing the identity of a CIA agent is not justified.
The word “hypocritical” is not strong enough.
It’s the “do as I say, not do as I do” party. What a convenient dosey-doe dance. If Sen. Ted Kennedy had out-ed a CIA agent the right-wingers would have sought public execution at gallows constructed on the capitol mall.
What is even worse is that we know the commutation of Scooter’s sentence was a quid pro quo for taking a fall for his boss, Cheney. The investigation into the Valerie Plame Wilson outing was getting too close to the vice president. Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice. That means there was something there to obstruct the investigation from revealing. People do not risk prosecution for nothing, especially people with admittedly long years of public service like Libby.
But, they do risk it if it means taking a bullet for the team – and not going to jail -- which is precisely what happened here. No other person was prosecuted following the three-year $1.5 million CIA leak investigation.
You have to give Libby his due. He’s a loyal servant. Just not of the American people.
In the old (some say even now-a) days of the Kremlin, someone in Libby’s position would have literally taken a bullet and never been seen again. You see that’s the difference between this administration and Stalin and his KGB. These White House boys don’t use live ammunition unless it involves invading another country.
Note: Bush let stand a $250,000 fine of Libby. That’s about one year's salary for Libby (he made $261,000 as VP Cheney’s chief of staff). As for employment, Libby can always resort to mystery thriller novel writing (although from what critics say, he should’ve kept his day job). See: http://www.amazon.com/Apprentice-Novel-Lewis-Libby/dp/0312284535
