And yet no one went to jail

By Edward Copeland 

Reliving the Valerie Plame affair in Fair Game, based on the books written by Plame herself and her husband Joe Wilson, if you didn't have any anger before over what the Bush White House did to a loyal CIA agent in the name of politics and a war they wanted no matter what the facts were, that old rage will well up once again. In Doug Liman's film, it comes up even more so because before we get to the events of the leak of Plame's covert status itself, we actually see what her job entailed and what the Bush politicos callously threw away for their own warped reasons and the cost it took in American lives, those of other intelligence sources and, of course, the truth. Still, no one who committed crimes (and crimes were committed) went to jail for their roles. It's outrageous and the film will make that outrage feel fresh again.

Naomi Watts stars as Plame and Sean Penn plays Wilson (in one of his least-mannered performances) and while many of the details of the film will be familiar to anyone who watched the episode unfold in the media, what makes director Doug Liman's film most interesting are the details that were left by the wayside.

Fair Game begins by showing us Plame at work for the agency, making frequent secret trips overseas making contacts and protecting sources in the battle against weapons proliferation. Her husband knows her real job, but her friends believe she works for a phony business service. Early on, at the behest of the Defense Department, her section gets contacted to check out stories on aluminum tubes supposedly sought by Saddam Hussein and the possibility that Saddam had tried to acquire yellowcake uranium from Niger.

Never mind that the aluminum tube story had been investigated and disputed long before since the equipment was horribly outdated and unacceptable for uranium enrichment, the Bush White House pressures the CIA to check it out again. As it happens, Wilson, the last American to meet Saddam face-to-face and someone who had strong contacts with high-ranking officials in Niger, is suggested as someone who could check out the African side of the story. Plame admits her husband's expertise in the area, but that's the extent of her involvement in his getting the assignment.

Wilson takes the trip to Niger and finds that it would be logistically impossible to remove that large an amount of yellowcake from the country without leaving physical or written evidence. He returns, issues his report that the story is a nonstarter and believes that it's the end of it. Unfortunately, the Bush gang, represented especially by the unctuous Scooter Libby (played to smarmy perfection by David Andrews) are ghouls who can't say no and, much to Wilson's surprise, President Bush says those 16 words that mean so much in his 2002 State of the Union speech about Saddam attempting to acquire quantities of uranium from Africa.

Just to be certain, Wilson calls a source of his to make certain that Bush isn't referring to a different African country than Niger, but no, that's the lie that's being spun, followed by the big p.r. push from Cheney, Rice and the gang about not letting the "smoking gun be a mushroom cloud." An outraged Wilson pens the infamous op-ed in The New York Times about what he didn't find in Niger and the White House declares war on him and his wife, including outing her identity as a CIA operative in Robert Novak's column, which still is a crime.

The rest of the story should be fairly familiar to anyone who followed it, but if you've forgotten some of the details, you are certain to get riled once again (and to question the wisdom of the Obama Administration letting sleeping liars sleep free for the crimes they committed).

Still, as well known as the tale is, Fair Game proves quite compelling thanks to a solid cast and Liman's solid direction. Of course, the true Bush believers will have no interest and partisans already will have been converted, but those who are fuzzy on the facts owe it to themselves to see this film. A little history never hurt anybody. 

(Cross-posted at Edward Copeland on Film.)

On the battlefield

By Mustang Bobby

Say what you will about former Vice President Dick Cheney, he takes care of his friends regardless of what they did or the consequences of their actions. I suppose that's an admirable quality, but it makes you wonder what's more important to him; keeping Scooter Libby employed and his legacy intact, or seeing justice done. Time magazine has a look into the final days of the Bush administration and the battle between Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney over whether the president should pardon Mr. Libby.

Hours before they were to leave office after eight troubled years, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney had one final and painful piece of business to conclude. For over a month Cheney had been pleading, cajoling, even pestering Bush to pardon the Vice President's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby. Libby had been convicted nearly two years earlier of obstructing an investigation into the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity by senior White House officials. The Libby pardon, aides reported, had become something of a crusade for Cheney, who seemed prepared to push his nine-year-old relationship with Bush to the breaking point — and perhaps past it — over the fate of his former aide. "We don't want to leave anyone on the battlefield," Cheney argued.

The battlefield metaphor is interesting, seeing as how Mr. Cheney managed five deferments during the Vietnam war, citing "other priorities," and it's also an insight as to how he views the way things work in Washington; as a war rather than the give and take of politics and policy.

What comes through in this article is Mr. Cheney's obsession with shaping the legacy of the administration he steered, either overtly or behind the scenes, into the war in Iraq and making sure that anyone who dared to challenge him was dealt with swiftly and ruthlessly. It also shows that he and his supporters have a rather flexible definition of what is pardonable and what isn't. Ten years ago the Republicans and the right wingers drove the Congress and Senate to impeach and put on trial President Bill Clinton for doing exactly the same thing that Mr. Libby was convicted of: lying to a grand jury. The nation could not stand it if someone in the White House lied about getting a blow job. But after the Libby conviction, the righties' meme was that it was a "technicality" and that lying under oath was no big deal. (In a perverse way, some commentators blamed Mr. Clinton for Mr. Libby's plight; it a president could get away with it, why couldn't he?) The irony is so thick you can stand a spoon up in it.

The facts of the Libby case are pretty well known: someone in the White House leaked the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame to Robert Novack as part of the retaliation for her husband writing an op-ed piece in the New York Times that called into question the veracity of one of President Bush's reasons for going to war in Iraq. The trail led to the White House; specifically to the office of the vice president and Karl Rove. When Mr. Libby was questioned by a grand jury about his role in the leak, he lied to them. He was put on trial for perjury and convicted in March 2007. Several months later when he was sentenced, the president commuted his sentence, but did not grant him a pardon. This demand for exoneration became a cause celebre among the conservatives: Scooter was being punished for doing his job of keeping the evil lefties from ruining their war. But, to his credit, President Bush did not feel that Mr. Libby had met the criterion of earning a pardon; he didn't admit to his guilt, he didn't show remorse, and he hadn't served time -- something the president took care of with his commutation. Having ridden into office on the coattails of the Marc Rich pardon kerfuffle by President Clinton, even Mr. Bush saw the double standard staring him in the face. On the last weekend in the White House, Mr. Bush decided that Mr. Libby didn't deserve a pardon.

He called Jim Sharp, his personal attorney in the Plame case, who had been present when he was interviewed by Fitzgerald in 2004. Sharp was known in Washington as one of the best lawyers nobody knew. A savvy raconteur from Oklahoma who had represented a long list of colorful clients — from Nixon pal Charles G. (Bebe) Rebozo to Sammy Sosa — Sharp had worked quietly for the President for a while before anyone even knew about it. In the meantime, the two men had become friends, spending hours chatting over cigars and near beer. On the Sunday before he left office, Bush invited Sharp to the executive mansion for a farewell cigar.

While packing boxes in the upstairs residence, according to his associates, Bush noted that he was again under pressure from Cheney to pardon Libby. He characterized Cheney as a friend and a good Vice President but said his pardon request had little internal support. If the presidential staff were polled, the result would be 100 to 1 against a pardon, Bush joked. Then he turned to Sharp. "What's the bottom line here? Did this guy lie or not?"

The lawyer, who had followed the case very closely, replied affirmatively.

Bush indicated that he had already come to that conclusion too.

"O.K., that's it," Bush said.

To this day Mr. Cheney still carries his torch for Mr. Libby; in response to the Time article, he released a statement:

Scooter Libby is an innocent man who was the victim of a severe miscarriage of justice. He was not the source of the leak of Valerie Plame's name. Former Deputy Secretary of State, Rich Armitage, leaked the name and hid that fact from most of his colleagues, including the President. Mr. Libby is an honorable man and a faithful public servant who served the President, the Vice President and the nation with distinction for many years. He deserved a presidential pardon.

This would all be rather ordinary were it not for the fact that it points out that Mr. Cheney's priority in the matter wasn't whether or not an agent of the CIA was compromised, whether or not the country knew the truth about the lies being told to get us into a war that has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians and decimated our honor and fortune, or whether or not Mr. Libby received a fair trial and justice was done. All that mattered was that his friend was able to work as a lawyer again and that his reputation was somehow restored by the stroke of the president's pen. Even President Bush, who had the most to gain or lose by the outcome of the Libby/Plame case, felt that justice had been done, that Mr. Libby was guilty and without remorse, and that he was doing the right thing -- finally -- by standing up to Mr. Cheney. (It also makes you wonder why Mr. Cheney is so determined to clear Mr. Libby. It's almost as if there was some really compelling reason to keep him happy... and silent.) It's also a little tragic that the one time when Mr. Bush went against the advice and strong persuasion of Mr. Cheney, its outcome was less than consequential; what if he had said no to the war in Iraq? There are a lot of people still left out on that battlefield.

(Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Libby lover lands new gig to protest his innocence

By J. Thomas Duffy

What is CNN doing, recomposing The Bush Grindhouse, or, a Reader's Digest-version of the White House Iraq Group (you remember, Andy Card's in-house ad agency charged with selling the lies to invade and occupy Iraq).

And, HER, of all people.



Among other atrocities, the chief fundraiser/letter-writer for the Scooter Libby Defense Fund.

Mary Matalin signs on as CNN contributor

Republican strategist Mary Matalin has signed on to serve as a CNN political contributor, the network announced Thursday.

[snip]

"As one of the best-known and best-connected strategists in the country, Mary will join our line up of top Republican analysts including Bill Bennett, Alex Castellanos, and Ed Rollins," said Sam Feist, CNN political director and vice president of Washington programming. "We are thrilled that CNN viewers will be able to tap into Mary's vast political experience advising candidates and presidents from both inside and outside of the White House."

Matalin, a veteran political commentator, served as a senior White House advisor to both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. She was a key strategist in President George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign, and was appointed chief of staff for the Republican National Committee after his successful bid. She was also a key strategist in the 1992, 2000 and 2004 Republican presidential campaigns.

Nearly a year ago, John Mashek, in U.S. News and World Report, called Matalin "worst of the new breed of political consultants";

Matalin learned her politics from the late Lee Atwater, a gunslinger from South Carolina. In this cycle, Matalin signed on first with the presidential quest of then Sen. George Allen of Virginia before Allen imploded in his 2006 Senate race. She then moved over to former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, who was an early dropout.

This is the same Matalin who was a close adviser to Vice President Cheney in the controversial run-up to the war in Iraq and its disastrous aftermath.

I mean, Jesus, they almost have enough PartyofNoicans to filibuster Obama.

Something Steve Benen also bemoans;

Matalin not only joins the growing list of Republican analysts on CNN's political team (joining Bill Bennett, Alex Castellanos, and Ed Rollins), she's also the latest former staffer in the Bush White House to make the transition to jobs with major media outlets.

It's hard to keep up with them all. Michael Gerson (Washington Post), Sara Taylor (MSNBC), Tony Snow (CNN), Frances Fragos Townsend (CNN), Nicole Wallace (CBS News), Dan Bartlett (CBS News), Jeff Ballabon (CBS News), Tony Fratto (CNBC) and, of course, Karl Rove (Fox News, Newsweek, and Wall Street Journal) have all gone from working for Bush/Cheney to working for the mainstream media.

It was just last Fall, just before the election, that CNN added the #1 Cheney Fluffer to their ranks, Stephen Hayes.

I wonder, if she helps John King with his questions, will he let her play with his Magic Board.

The thing to watch is how often she brings up how completely innocent Scooter Libby was, working him into storylines, and her convoluted answers, of ignoring reality and pumping up the Bush Grindhouse.

One thing, for "the best political team on television" to make this a bit more easier to swallow, if that is, at all, possible.

Use their arsenal of High Tech Hijinks to do something with THAT VOICE of hers.

At least coach her to speak using her mouth, instead of her nose.

Or hire Fran Drescher, to balance it out.




(Cross Posted at The Garlic)

"I find your lack of faith disturbing"

By Mustang Bobby

I kind of wish the Secret Service hadn't taken out the bugs in the Oval office left over from the Nixon administration so that history could record what the conversation was like when Vice President Cheney pushed hard on President Bush to pardon I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby. If the reporting by Tom DeFrank of the New York Daily News is accurate, it wasn't a pretty moment.

In multiple conversations, both in person and over the telephone, Cheney tried to get Bush to change his mind. Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the federal probe of who leaked covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the press.

Several sources confirmed Cheney refused to take no for an answer. "He went to the mat and came back and back and back at Bush," a Cheney defender said. "He was still trying the day before Obama was sworn in."

After repeatedly telling Cheney his mind was made up, Bush became so exasperated with Cheney's persistence he told aides he didn't want to discuss the matter any further.

The unsuccessful full-court press left Cheney bitter. "He's furious with Bush," a Cheney source told The News. "He's really angry about it and decided he's going to say what he believes."

Mr. Bush had already commuted Libby's sentence and taken a lot of heat for it from the left, who saw it as proof that the fix was in, and from the Orcosphere and the True Believers who thought that even if Libby did everything he was accused of -- leaked Valerie Plame's name for the sake of political revenge (and if it had happened in a Democratic administration would have led to impeachment) -- he was a true patriot and battling the evil libruls who were plotting even more ways of discrediting their Dear Leader. They thought he should award Libby the Medal of Freedom.

Apparently Vice President Cheney thought so too, or at the very least he thought that by only commuting the sentence, Mr. Bush wavered in his faith that anything done in the name of the Global War on Terror -- including outing CIA agents -- was righteous.

(Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Report: Cheney lobbied Bush for Libby pardon

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The Daily News is reporting that "[i]n the waning days of the Bush administration, Vice President Dick Cheney launched a last-ditch campaign to persuade his boss to pardon Lewis (Scooter) Libby -- and was furious when President George W. Bush wouldn't budge."

Really. There's a shock. (Libby was the Waylon Smithers to Cheney's Mr. Burns, but with a touch of evil of his very own.)

And, yes, the whole incident, if true, makes Bush look good, at least relative to Cheney -- but, then, he always looked good relative to Cheney, didn't he?

But let's not make too much of this. Remember that Bush had already commuted the 30-months-in-prison part of Libby's sentence. At the time, Bush claimed that he was "[leaving] in place a harsh punishment for Libby," but that punishment was essentially reduced to the destruction of his public reputation, which is a punishment of sorts, though one that Libby had already brought upon himself with or without Bush's intervention. So while it's all good that Bush didn't let Libby entirely off the hook -- a full pardon would have exonerated him but would hardly have resurrected his reputation -- doing so didn't exactly carry the same weight it would have had Bush not intervened already to commute the most significant component of Libby's sentence.

Bush may have decided against a full pardon out of regard for his own historical reputation, that is, for his legacy. And, yes, there may well have been an intense disagreement between him and Cheney. But, in the end, Bush still proved that the Bushies and their loyalists, including Bush himself, do what they need to do to protect their own -- and to remain above the law. In that respect, over and against Cheney's last-ditch objections, Bush was nothing if not a good team player all along.

The mouthpiece strikes back

By Michael J.W. Stickings

From The Politico's isn't-this-exciting (?!) preview of What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception:

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a surprisingly scathing memoir to be published next week that President Bush “veered terribly off course,” was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” and took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing at the expense of candor and competence.

And that there was a Rove-Libby conspiracy to deceive the public, and McClellan himself, over their their roles in the Plame Game (you remember, the Valerie Plame CIA leak case).

Well, fine. Guest blogger dday at Kevin Drum's place thinks we could be in for a reputation-saving "free-for-all" as more and more Bush Administration memoirs are published, and that may be true, but, in this case, McClellan's insider revelations only confirm what most people already know: of course the Iraq War has been a disaster; of course propaganda was used to sell the war; of course the media were too soft on Bush in the run-up to the war; of course Rove and Libby were in on the Plame leak. Hardly dramatic stuff.

David Corn thinks McClellan should apologize for being "an enabler." Well, maybe, and Corn makes some good points, but all he was was a mouthpiece for the warmongers and propagandists. And now he's profiting off having been such a mouthpiece, and, obviously, he wants to sell some books.

We'll see if there's more to the book than these few nuggets of obviousness, but let's keep in mind that all we have so far is a preview at a fairly friendly media outlet, one that seems to be helping him sell books. Come on, do you really think a long-time loyalist like McClellan has betrayed Bush in any meaningful way? Do you really think the book is an open and honest look at what went on in Bush's White House?

It's all just marketing. There's no good reason to read McClellan's book, let alone to pay money to buy it in the first place, and so it's being sold to us as a work of betrayal, or conscience.

Sure, maybe he's located his conscience, or decided to cleanse himself publicly, and maybe he wants to save his reputation, or whatever he thinks his reputation should be, or distance himself from some of what he did, which he may or may not know was wrong, but the mouthpiece is still a mouthpiece, now out for himself, cashing in, and one doubts that he is all that different from what he used to be, not so long ago, when he was saying what the warmongers and propagandists told him to say.

**********

Update: Anderson Cooper made a big deal of this tonight, and, well, I suppose it is a big deal, or at least a much bigger deal that I suggest here. I still think McClellan's criticisms are obvious, but it is significant that he has made them in such a public way. And it is significant, too, that the media are making a big deal of them, though of course they are playing right into his hands (and his publisher's hands) in promoting the book and in focusing so heavily on the juicy bits.

What Happened

By Capt. Fogg

What a revelation! Scott McClellan, the guy who used to stand in front of reporters and the minority of Americans not watching Britney and Anna Nicole and "da game" and spout lies, has now revealed that he told us a lie - unwittingly, of course. It wasn't his fault that he failed to check the facts. He wasn't paid to question; he was paid to sneer dismissively at reporters who did.

Scott has a book coming out in April, titled What Happened.

"So I stood at the White House briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. There was one problem. It was not true."

And guess what Scott, you didn't win the Kyrgyzstan Lottery either and the guy trying to get his millions out of Nigeria isn't any more honest than your ex-boss -- and of course there's been a lot of blood under the bridge because of the crime family you covered up for. I don't mean to be cruel, but it's your turn to be sneered at. I really hope you don't make any more money from it than OJ did from If I Did It and I hope you soon get to hear the current mouthpiece defame you with the same sneer and condescension as you used from the same podium you told your lies from.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)

Left off Medal of Freedom recipient list, Libby said to be "crushed"

Cheney said to be furious, threatens to expose Shadow Presidency if pardon doesn't come through

By J. Thomas Duffy

Sources tell The Garlic this morning that there are new, hostile divisions deep inside the White House.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, commuted from his felony conviction in the Plame Leak Case, was said to be "despondent and crushed" after seeing the list of Medal of Freedom recipients released by the President yesterday.

Libby, according to a West Wing staffer, called Vice President Dick Cheney, and in tears, expressed his disappointment to his former boss, of not being awarded one.

Cheney was said to be furious, reacting angrily and threatened to expose the Shadow Presidency he has been conducting.

Cheney reportedly called the President, "barking at him" and demanded to know, if Libby was not receiving a Medal of Freedom award, when was his pardon coming through.

"We were sure Scooter was going to get one." whined Mary Matalin (Editor's Note: Whining is Ms. Matalins' natural way of speaking), a Libby friend and former colleague, as well as one of the chief fundraisers for Libby's defense.

"I mean, he gave one to Tenet, for God sakes!"

When asked for comment, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino indicated she didn't know anything about the Medal of Freedom awards, or how the list was developed.

"However," she added, "I believe that there are certain health benefits to not receiving one."

Libby is, reportedly, in talks with the Fox News Network as to developing a new show, tentatively titled "Are You Smarter Than a Convicted, But Commuted, Former White House Official?"

Bonus Scooter Links

Libby Trial Update - The Scooter and Cheney Show Theme Song

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons Tim Russert Didn't Ask Scooter Libby About Joe Wilson and His Wife

Miller To Leave 'Times' With Movie Deal In Hand; Signs On To Star In Memento Sequel; Not Sure If She Will Continue Freelancing For Bush Admn.

Letters Cast Light on Cheney's Inner Circle; Dozens of Prominent Figures and Insiders Praise Libby as Fundamentally Decent










"We were sure Scooter was going to get one," whined Mary Matalin. "I mean, he gave one to Tenet, for God sakes!"

(Cross-posted at The Garlic.)

Of blackboards, chalk, and legacies -- The constitutional crisis continues

Guest post by J. Thomas Duffy

I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce to your one of our newest contributors, J. Thomas Duffy. He has long been one of my good friends in the blogosphere, and it is a genuine pleasure to welcome him to The Reaction. He has written a few posts for us already, and hopefully there will be many more. The author of a great blog called The Garlic, he writes about many of the major issues of the day, often addressing the many abuses of the current administration, with a combination of gusto, outrage, and humour that sets his blog apart from so many others. (He has been a freelance comedy writer since 1975, with experience in journalism and radio.) Some of his link-filled Garlic posts will appear here, but make sure to check out The Garlic regularly (and see, for example, this recent post that includes the lullabye "Hush Little Libby").

-- MJWS

**********

Okay, so it's been a holiday week. I should stifle my impatience that Congress hasn't filed impeachment papers, that the call for a Citizen's Arrest hasn't gone down yet.

Everyone must be waiting for a clean news cycle to spring into action.

The Blackboard and Chalk Part

So much for the faulty memory.

It appears I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby remembered very clearly that he'd better hustle his ass off and pay the $250,000 fine related to his felon conviction -- and within 72-hours of being bailed out by The Commutation Guy -- before anyone gets the wiser and messes up his "Hush and Keep Quiet" deal.

And, as Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, Surprise!" -- we have a legal kerfuffle brewing thanks to The Commander Guy (just at the moment he was morphing into The Commutation Guy).

The presiding judge, His Honor Reggie Walton, has pointed out to the Bush Grindhouse, of said felon, Scooter Libby, that the statute doesn't accommodate probation if a convicted felon doesn't serve any part of his sentence.

The Scooter Man didn't serve any part of his 30-month sentence.

The Bush Grindhouse still insists that the commutation was legit and that Libby is not receiving any special treatment.

So, speculation is this will be settled in the following manner: Scooter Libby will stay after work, and write on a blackboard: "I WILL NOT LIE OR OBSTRUCT JUSTICE."

500 times.

There. Done. Punished.

The Legacy Part

Boy, the legacy-building is really tough these days, especially when you break the law, cloak your work in secrecy, and, otherwise, don't do anything positive.

And he can't, technically, claim getting elected president on the Legacy Ledger -- that was handed to him by the Supreme Court.

So you compensate, right?

You build a new Iraq Embassy that could probably house a few dozen Spruce Gooses (and, apparently, following Mr. Hughes' lead, use, how should we say, different materials?).

You keep sending in troops -- and even more mercanaries -- to a war that was long lost.

And there's the arm-twisting of whatever remains of his deluded supporters to kick in big-time for a presidential library.

The only mystery or suspense about what would be housed in a Bush Presidential Library, with his (or Cheney's) penchant for burying everything, is if there'll be a copy of My Pet Goat in it.

But thanks to Glenn Greenwald the other day, The Uniter/The Decider/The Commander Guy can peek at what awaits him, as he shallowly and embarrassingly cuts the ribbon (assuming they don't put that out on a No-Bid Contract) on his post-presidency whatever-you-call-it building:

The tragic collapse of America's standing in the world.

And there's this caveat:

And in what is perhaps the most tragic aspect of the Bush legacy, large numbers of people around the world, over the last six years, have abandoned their belief in U.S. democratic values -- the exact opposite result, literally, of our ostensible objective in everything we have done in the last six years.

Maybe we need to get Bush to write on a blackboard 500 times:

"I WILL NOT LIE, COOK INTEL, START PHONY WARS, ILLEGALLY WIRETAP, EXPOSE COVERT CIA AGENTS, FILL THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WITH CRONIES, ISSUE ANYMORE SIGNING STATEMENTS, OR IGNORE THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS."

Send chalk to:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

**********

Bonus Links:

-- Lewis Libby owes his freedom to our corrupt political elite
-- Late Nite FDL: News Flash! They Don’t Hate Us for Our Freedom.
-- Washington, Lincoln Most Popular Presidents: Nixon, Bush Least Popular
-- Arianna Huffington: Oh, the Hardship: It Takes Libby Nearly Three Days to Pay His Quarter Mil Fine
-- Frank Rich: When the Vice President Does It, That Means It’s Not Illegal

He doth protest too much

By Michael J.W. Stickings

President respects justice

Yes, Melissa, it's an actual headline.

In USA Today, no less.

Above some post-Libby "bullshittery" (Melissa's word) from the man whose job it is to defend the indefensible day after day after day, Bush spokesman Tony Snow.

It's a hilarious read. Seriously.

Consider: "[N]o president in recent history has made more careful use of the pardoning power than George W. Bush: The president believes pardons and commutations should reflect a genuine determination to strengthen the rule of law and increase public faith in government."

Uh-huh. Define "recent," "careful," "strengthen," etc. Or don't. What do I care? It's not like Tony has any credibility to begin with.

And the brownnosing here is gross, if typical. Seriously, Tony has his nose stuck firmly in Bush's ass: "[H]e did what he does normally, and what makes those of us who work for him proud. He proceeded on the basis of principle, and arrived at a sound and just decision — knowing he would take hits in the court of public opinion, but also knowing he was doing the right thing."

Right. Sure, Tony. Whatever. Your boss essentially pardoned one of his cronies. That's his "principle," that's "doing the right thing".

I'll leave further analysis -- such as one can hold the side-splitting laughter in check long enough to do any serious analysis -- to Steve Benen, who does his best. (Well done, Steve. You're a real trooper. Seriously.)

But let me just say this. Tony and the White House may or may not have been responsible for the headline. Maybe USA Today came up with it, maybe the White House suggested it -- who knows? (Do let me know if you know.)

Either way, what does it say about the state of the Bush presidency that it was deemed necessary to assert, even in a headline in a crappy (albeit hugely popular) newspaper, that the president of the United States "respects justice"? (Even if we lack a full understanding of justice in a genuinely Socratic sense, we generally get what justice means.) Should it not be taken as a matter of course that the president "respects justice"?

Apparently not. Not with this president.

This president has fucked up so badly, and fucked justice so thoroughly (the Libby thing is just the latest grotesquerie), that his shameless flacks have to go public with waves upon waves of sycophantic bullshittery.

Seriously, enough already.

Bush 1 Clinton 140

By Capt. Fogg

It didn't take long. The viral e-mail full of misinformation and twisted logic hit my mailbox early in the morning on the 4th of July, a day already filled with flags, fake history and fulsome braggadocio. The ritualized sneering, the evocation of some sneerworthy but irrelevant straw man like Hillary or Jane or Bill; the non-sequiturs, the ad hominem attacks... it's like a thousand others.

It's titled Bush one Vs. Clinton 140 and it begins:

As Shrillery Clinton condemns G.W. Bush for commuting Scooter Libby's prison sentence, I felt compelled to compile a short list of the pardons and commutations hat [sic] her wife, Bill Clinton, did in his last years and days as President of this country. This woman has more nerve than I can imagine in her condemnation of President Bush. Perhaps if Scooter Libby was accused or convicted of domestic bombings, sexual assault, bank fraud, solicitation of child pornography, tax evasion or cocaine traffficking, [sic] such as her family friends listed below are, Shrillery would be in favor of a pardon.

Of course this opening gambit is to make you think that the nationwide outrage is something Mrs. Clinton invented. I won't address the ritual name calling or allegations of gender ambiguity; it's just typical Republican sleaze, signifying nothing. Of course no one will bother to critically look at each and every case of presidential pardon either from Clinton or his predecessors but even so, the statement evades two important points, the first of which is that one's misdeeds are not excused by misleadingly similar misdeeds of others. The second is that pardoning someone who has served a sentence is not the same as removing the sentence of someone who has served no time while your friends pay his expenses and fines.

Libby was not, of course pardoned, he was simply excused from having to go to jail because, as the decider decided, the sentence which fell well within the guidelines for everyone else, was too severe. Since he reduced it to nothing, he must have felt that any sentence was too severe. This of course from a man and a party who have championed mandatory and severe sentences. The outrage of most of the public has more to do with the obvious cronyism and the additional increment of obstruction of justice that is this unashamed reward for loyalty. As laughable as it may be, the only way for them to deal with the flimsiness of this farce is to counterattack. -- and so they do.

No mention of course is made about Reagan's pardons or Bush the Elder's equally self serving gifts to those who broke the law in the furthering and covering up of presidential crimes and while none of that is relevant, it makes the reference to Mrs. Clinton's "nerve" a bit funny in a nauseating sort of way.

Somehow, all this faux outrage and haughty bravado reminds me of some images I saw of the last days of Nicolae Ceauşescu, standing before a vast crowd he thought was there to praise him once again. He seemed stunned and incredulous that they were booing and jeering and yet he never stopped waving and acting as though he was the beloved patriarch; as though he were in control. Three days later he was put against a wall.

The nerve of an administration that may have the respect of perhaps 20% of the American public acting as though it was merely dealing with some insignificant and helpless minority while the nation counts the minutes until we are rid of them.

I remember another image; some words scrawled on a wall in Beijing after the massacre had been cleaned up and swept under the rug: "all this must be accounted for."

(Cross-posted at Human Voices.)

"In that moment, Mr. Bush, you ceased to be the President of the United States"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

On this Fourth of July, I can think of nothing better to post than these words from Keith Olbermann. They are truly awesome:

We enveloped our President in 2001.And those who did not believe he should have been elected—indeed those who did not believe he had been elected—willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.

And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and shaped it to a razor-sharp point and stabbed this nation in the back with it.

Were there any remaining lingering doubt otherwise, or any remaining lingering hope, it ended yesterday when Mr. Bush commuted the prison sentence of one of his own staffers.

Did so even before the appeals process was complete; did so without as much as a courtesy consultation with the Department of Justice; did so despite what James Madison—at the Constitutional Convention—said about impeaching any president who pardoned or sheltered those who had committed crimes “advised by” that president; did so without the slightest concern that even the most detached of citizens must look at the chain of events and wonder: To what degree was Mr. Libby told: break the law however you wish—the President will keep you out of prison?

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you broke that fundamental com-pact between yourself and the majority of this nation’s citizens—the ones who did not cast votes for you. In that moment, Mr. Bush, you ceased to be the President of the United States. In that moment, Mr. Bush, you became merely the President of a rabid and irresponsible corner of the Republican Party. And this is too important a time, Sir, to have a commander-in-chief who puts party over nation.

*****

It is nearly July 4th, Mr. Bush, the commemoration of the moment we Americans decided that rather than live under a King who made up the laws, or erased them, or ignored them—or commuted the sentences of those rightly convicted under them—we would force our independence, and regain our sacred freedoms.

We of this time—and our leaders in Congress, of both parties—must now live up to those standards which echo through our history: Pressure, negotiate, impeach—get you, Mr. Bush, and Mr. Cheney, two men who are now perilous to our Democracy, away from its helm.

For you, Mr. Bush, and for Mr. Cheney, there is a lesser task. You need merely achieve a very low threshold indeed. Display just that iota of patriotism which Richard Nixon showed, on August 9th, 1974.

Resign.

And give us someone—anyone—about whom all of us might yet be able to quote John Wayne, and say, “I didn’t vote for him, but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.

Please read the whole thing. And please watch the video, which you can find at MSNBC (link above), or at Crooks and Liars, or at Think Progress.

It is immensely powerful. And he is absolutely right.

What will we tell the children?

By Mustang Bobby

Back when Bill Clinton was being impeached for having an extramarital affair, the pious and the sanctimonious of the right wing carried on and clutched their pearls about how hard it would be to explain to their children why the president was in trouble. How, they fretted, will we explain to our dear little ones that the president is being put on trial for receiving a consensual act of ... oh dear...! It was intolerable, they said; we cannot have a man in the White House who so degrades the office that we can't even mention what it was that got him in trouble.

The Republicans pronounced themselves as the bastions of purity and truth. We will restore honor and dignity to the Oval Office, they said. Never again will the Rule of Law be flouted so shamelessly, they promised. Never again will there be privileges for the few or will the law of the land be cast aside so that those in power can get away with horrible crimes that defy description. Lawbreakers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and Americans will know that their leaders stand for truth, justice, and the American way.

Unless, of course, someone truly evil comes along to embarrass the president and writes an op-ed that calls into question one of the foundations of the reason the president started a preemptive war against a sovereign nation that never attacked us in the first place. Then all bets are off. The White House will let slip the dogs of war and no one -- not even a covert CIA agent -- will be safe because no one is allowed to question the rightness of the president. Anyone who steps up to the plate and does the bidding of the White House can rest assured that even if they break the law and do such things as lie to a grand jury and the federal prosecutor, they will be protected.

So Scooter Libby never really had to worry about going to jail. His defenders said that there was never a crime to cover up in the first place; the prosecutor never brought a charge against anyone for leaking the name of Valerie Plame to Robert Novak, so it's terribly unfair to charge Mr. Libby with lying about something that no one was indicted for. (The fact that Mr. Libby was put on trial for succeeding with the cover-up seems to escape these people.) And once the court case was over, there was never any doubt that if Mr. Libby was convicted, the right wing would fly to his defense and demand that he be pardoned because there was a greater good at stake here: the good name and the reputation of the president, the vice president, and the fictions that got us into the war are far more important -- they are a higher calling -- than something as petty as telling the truth about the real story behind going to war.

Giving the right wing the benefit of the doubt and assuming for the sake of argument that Mr. Libby was prosecuted on a bullshit charge and that he was the scapegoat for the liberals' demand that the Bush administration be held accountable for their conduct leading the nation into war, granting Mr. Libby a commutation of his "excessive" prison term seems like a strange way to respect the rule of law. After all, eight years ago we were told ad nauseum that justice must be allowed to run its course. The impeachment and trial of William Jefferson Clinton must go forward; how else could the people of this country trust their leaders to do the right thing if the most powerful man in the free world is allowed to escape the bar of justice? It would be a larger crime if the House and Senate did not attempt to prove that no man is above the law. Let the trial go forward! So why doesn't the same standard apply this time around? Why, even before the appeal of the original conviction is heard, does Mr. Libby know that he will never spend a day in prison, and that his $250,000 fine will be paid for by the legal defense fund that was set up the day he was indicted? Why will he never lack for employment, even if he is disbarred? It's because John Edwards is right when he says there are two Americas: the America where people are arrested, tried, and face their punishment, and then there's the America where privilege and connections get you a free pass and your friends will bring all the political pressure to bear to get you home in time for cocktails and dinner. (It's not for everybody; Randy "Duke" Cunningham is wondering if his commutation somehow got lost in the mail.)

So how do we explain to the children why Scooter Libby, a man who was tried and convicted by a jury, doesn't have to go to jail for breaking the law? Why is it that the rule of law seems to apply to everybody else except the ruling class? Why is it that justice is blind except when it's manipulated for the friends and the faithful servants of the people who are supposed to have sworn an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the laws of the United States only when it suits them? I'm looking forward to hearing how that's an example of fairness -- a concept children seem to grasp with amazing insight -- and have it make sense to them.

It would probably be easier to explain to them what a blow job is.

(Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Bush overturns court order - in short order

By Libby Spencer

It's no surprise that Bush commuted Scooter Libby's sentence, although the speed with which our Feckless Leader subverted the will of the courts is a bit dizzying. But it's a savvy political move. His ratings are already in the dumper so he only stands to gain a little bump among the dead-ender loyalists who insist a consenual blow job should be a hanging offense but breaching national security to avoid being exposed as liars is just aokay with them.

Frankly, I don't care that Scooter will never have to worry about living up, or down, to his name in the prison showers. This administration has already made such a mockery of the judiciary and the rule of law that this is just one more tiny cut, not a major blow to the jugular vein of justice. It's not that he doesn't deserve it, it's just that by rights it should have been Cheney and Rove doing the perp walk and we have too many people in jail anyway.

In fact, I like Bush's reasoning on this. He says he communted the sentence because he considered it excessive. Since it fell pretty much in the middle of the guidelines he and his pet AG Fredo are insisting should not only be kept intact but enchanced and more fully enforced, maybe he could explain why he won't also commute the sentence of every person incarcerated under those arbitrary guidelines.

Via Radley, here's a list of people whose cases could use some similar presidential mercy and there's thousands more where those came from. I've given up on seeing Cheney held to account out of this travesty. I doubt the press will now put the focus on why Libby lied in the first place, as it should have been right along. But if the commutation at least throws the spotlight on the horrendous practice of mandatory sentencing, it will be worth it in return for Scooter's skip.

(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)

Dubya commutes Scooter's sentence

By Edward Copeland

I guess the latest appeals court ruling saying that Scooter should stay in jail while he appeals was too much for the Idiot-in-Chief and he's commuted his sentence, but didn't pardon him. The alert just moving from AP says:

WASHINGTON -- President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison term on Monday, issuing an order that commutes his sentence.

Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Libby, according to a senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

Bush's move came hours after a federal appeals panel ruled Libby could not delay his prison term in the CIA leak case. That decision put the pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

**********

Update: Everyone who's pissed off, put up your hand. (For more, see CNN and ABC, as well as Firedoglake.)

From Bush's statement: "I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive." I realize that the president has the power to do this, but how is this respecting the justice system?

-- MJWS

Incarcerated Scooter

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Update: Well, so much for this post. Bush has commuted Libby's sentence. See here.

**********

It's off to jail for Libby: "A federal appeals court Monday rejected former White House aide Lewis 'Scooter' Libby’s request to remain free on appeal after his March conviction on federal charges stemming from the leak of a CIA agent’s identity." Which means that his "term will start when the U.S. Bureau of Prisons decides where he will serve his time and sets a date for him to surrender" -- unless Chief Justice Roberts and the Supreme Court decide to intervene on appeal (which is hardly beyond the realm of possibility).

I have little sympathy for Libby. He's getting what he deserves. But I can't help thinking, as I have thought all along, that the real culprit (i.e., Libby's former boss, Cheney) is going free while a functionary plays scapegoat.

**********

Ed Morrissey: "The politics of this moment seem rather delicious. The President just enraged his base by attempting to push a deeply unpopular immigration bill through the Senate. He could regain a lot of that ground with a commutation of Libby's sentence, or an outright pardon. Will he take advantage of the opportunity?" One hopes not -- although a commutation or pardon could turn attention back to Cheney, which is where it belongs.

Steve Benen: "As a rule, if you're relying on a precedent from 1795 [Washington's "respite directive" for two men involved in the Whiskey Rebellion], it's a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless, expect the pressure on the White House to get quite intense." I'm sure the wackos at The Weekly Standard are frothing fiendishly.

#28301-016

By Creature

Libby, I got your number. Found it plastered all over the ThinkProgress bathroom wall. You really are a dirty boy. Shame. Shame.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)

Screw Circosta, pardon Libby

By Capt. Fogg

It's not just that Mitt Romney is another polished, glib and slippery salesman who thinks he can slither into the Presidency by virtue of good looks and a few slogans; it's that he's a truly reprehensible human being. Mitt, whose name provokes an irresistible rhyming response to those fond of bestowing nicknames, brags about never pardoning anyone for any reason. He doesn't like to overturn a jury decision, says he. It looks though, that ingratiating himself with the criminal junta that runs America has finally provided a reason for him to trot out the sophistry and vouchsafe his willingness to consider pardoning Scooter Libby. He's a victim of entrapment and the prosecutor knew he was not guilty of a crime, said the lugubrious Mr. Romney to CNN today, knowing full well that perjury and obstruction of justice are independent of the crime of exposing a secret agent and the accusation of entrapment does not fit here at all. Only a man like Mitt could pound a square lie into a round hole with so little noise and it makes you wonder about the nature of the "faith" he likes to talk about. Perhaps it does better at lubricating a lie than at mandating any kind of morality.

Mitt doesn't give a shit about morality or justice anyway, no matter how many bibles he gnaws on before breakfast or how much spray he uses in his hair. Ask Anthony Circosta, the fellow with a juvenile record of shooting a friend with a BB gun when he was 13. I admit I've been hit at least a dozen times as a kid playing "Army" with my friends. It stings but won't penetrate clothing or break the skin. Paintball guns will sting worse on bare skin and shooting at your friends with one is a very popular sport, but never mind that Circosta worked his way through college, joined the Army National Guard and is decorated Iraq war veteran, having led a platoon of 20 through the Sunni triangle. He now needs a pardon, amazingly enough, so that he can become a policeman, but Romney refused the request twice, despite the state Board of Pardons' recommendations. Perhaps he was too busy with his unfathomable faith to consider mercy, decency, justice or even the facts.

This evening on CNN, we heard on Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room that because of a juvenile firearms violation of a boy, the man, the battle tested soldier could not ever again be pardoned or trusted with a firearm. Perhaps neither Mitt the Shit nor Wolf Blitzer should be trusted with the English language, any kind of logic, or any position of public trust requiring either of those, because a BB gun is worked by a spring and is not a firearm. No matter what the twittering hoplophobes in Massachusetts might think or how much Romney's hypocrisy may stink, it's not a firearm, not a firearm, not a firearm.

(Cross-posted at Human Voices.)

Libby walks alone

By Libby Spencer

Refusing to back down in the face of death threats, presumably from Bush's oh so "moral" conservative base, Judge Walton has issued his verdict and he's keeping to the hard line of accountability. Scooter Libby must go to directly to jail and since it looks like his feckless hero is not going to give him a get out of jail free card, he's expected to begin serving his sentence, pending appeal, within six to eight weeks.

There's a certain poetic justice to Libby being sent up the river by an appointee of Daddy Bush, bringing the betrayal of his loyalty full circle. The only thing wrong with this picture is Libby will be taking the perp walk by himself. If justice had been truly served, he would be joined on that lonely journey by Cheney, but Scooter plays the useful fool to the end.

I kind of feel sorry for his kids. You don't get to choose your parents, but I have no sympathy for Scooter. He should be rotting in jail. If he truly cared about our country he would have rolled and delivered us from the evil clutches of at least one of our reckless overlords.

(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)

A pardon without the pain

By Creature

Condi Rice, work wife and holder of the president's ear, weighs in on Scooter Libby and his Quest for Pardon:

QUESTION: You think he should go to jail?

SECRETARY RICE: Look, let me tell you what I think about Scooter Libby. I think he's served the country really well. I think he did it to the best of his ability. I think that he is going through an extremely difficult time with his family and for him. And you know, I'm just desperately sorry that it's happening to him and I -- you know, the legal system has spoken, but I tell you, this is a really good guy who is a good public servant and ought to be treated in accordance with that.

I've talked about Libby's pardon potential before and the feeling I'm getting is that while the president isn't keen on a full pardon--as Condi states: "the legal system has spoken"--he is keen on commuting the sentence, as Bill Kristol predicted on Sunday, or possibly even decreeing that Scooter stay out of jail pending his appeal, as David Frum argued last night on Hardball--he called it the president's power of respite.

One has to wonder what the neocons, and conservatives alike, are being told behind the scenes. I doubt they would be protesting so vociferously if they hadn't been told that the president is considering taking a pardon off the table--told this by the vice president, no doubt. So, with each new compromise floated it's becoming increasing clear that the president is uncomfortable with an all out pardon. I say the president's fabled loyalty only holds firm for those who came from Texas with him--Gonzo as case in point--and that a compromise, whether a commuted sentence or a stay upon appeal, will be the president's way to placate his conservative base while still claiming he respects the rule of law. Either way we can be sure the fallen soldier, I. Scooter Libby, will never see the inside of a jail cell.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)