The compassionate, tolerant left has lost their minds and are making that “collective noise” over the commutation of Scooter Libby’s jail term by President Bush.
“In this case, an experienced federal judge considered extensive argument from the parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws. It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals. That principle guided the judge during both the trial and the sentencing.”
– Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald
Mr. Fitzgerald, you of all people should stand behind the words you say and the oath you took.
It was my understanding that the reason Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was brought on was to find out who leaked the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame to Robert Novak (i.e. The Media). It turns out former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage leaked the name, but was never charged by Fitzgerald for violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982.
“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-CA
Madame Speaker, surely you are intelligent enough to know that no one can be held accountable in the Valerie Plame leak case because no one was ever charged with a crime. The “intelligent” thing was a hypothetical….
The only reason I can fathom that Armitage wasn’t charged was because Plame was not covert. If she were, it would have been a slam-dunk. But in this case, no harm, no foul.
“Congress ought to conduct an investigation of whether or not the president himself is a participant in the obstruction of justice.”
– Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame’s husband
That, actually, wouldn’t be a bad idea. Valerie Plame, under oath, told Congress that she didn’t use her influence at the CIA to send her hubby on a taxpayer-funded, tea-sipping junket to Sudan, just so he could come back and report his lack of success proving Saddam was looking to purchase bomb-making yellowcake uranium there. Instead of reporting his findings confidentially to the CIA, he wrote an op-ed blasting Bush to be published in the New York Times.
Valerie Plame reportedly used her own name while “under cover”. I find that odd, as the only other spy I’ve ever heard doing that was James Bond, and Valerie Plame is no James Bond. So it makes one wonder just how under cover she really was at that point in her career, especially when her husband publishes her name in “Who’s Who in America.”
“When it comes to the law, there should not be two sets of rules – one for President Bush and Vice President Cheney and another for the rest of America. Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail. No one in this administration should be above the law.”
– Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL
THAT was what the whole investigation was supposed to be about. As Armitage was never charged, there was no “covert” there. There was no crime.
Let’s put it this way, and we’ll see how honest with yourselves you can be….
How would YOU feel if you were charged with perjury after you were interviewed by a Grand Jury where you could not bring in a lawyer or notes? You were asked about conversations you had with people years ago. Some of the accounts were different, thus you appear to have committed perjury.
You then find out that the original crime that brought you into the Grand Jury room to answer for, the special prosecutor knew you didn’t do the “crime”. You find out that the special prosecutor wasn’t going to charge anyone because no crime was indeed committed. But here you are being charged with perjury for a faulty memory in a case where there was no crime.
For those of you who called for Libby’s head and now want Bush’s, how would YOU feel? IF you were being honest with yourself, you’d think it a raw deal.
”Since the president has intervened in this process, it is now the Congress’ obligation and responsibility to intervene in the executive process and begin an inquiry into these very serious crimes against the constitution of the United States. I certainly hope Nancy Pelosi will withdraw her initial remarks that impeachment is completely off the table.”
– Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., D-IL
Hopefully Junior will read up on what constitutes High Crimes and Misdemeanors before he embarrasses himself again, just to provide a good sound bite for the rabid libs. Also, I would suggest he also read up on the drug dealers, tax cheats, etc. who received pardons and commutations from the First Black President.
“This commutation sends the clear signal that in this administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice.”
– Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY
This also provides us with a great opportunity to witness the arrogance that is Washington, D.C.
Hillary Clinton, the woman who would be president, has the nerve to use the word “justice” in a sentence. Let’s not forget Billy Dale and the Travel Office, the Rose Law Firm billing records, the illegally obtained and personally detained private FBI files, and many more examples of cronyism, ideology, and the Politics of Personal Destruction she and her husband lived by. The Clintons got away with more than the average citizen could ever dream of, and are reaping the riches today.
“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-NV
So in my opinion, at the end of the day, President Bush did the right thing. I’m guessing he wouldn’t have intervened if Mr. Libby weren’t going to jail immediately and would have given him a last minute pardon later.
Had I been president, I would have done the same thing for a friend.
In America, a person should not have to go to jail for giving inconsistent testimony about conversations that took place years ago regarding a crime that was never committed by someone else. This was all about busting Vice President Cheney (and ultimately President Bush), and when that couldn’t be accomplished, Fitzgerald decided he had to bust someone.
Let the punishment fit the “crime”.
Mrs. Clinton is quick to call the Bush administration on cronyism, but she fails to point out the nepotism of Bill Clinton’s administration. I would say that history will judge her harshly for being such a hypocritical liar, but the liberals running schools will keep that out of the history books.
The ultimate irony is that had Mr. Libby used the Hilary model for testimony (i.e “I cannot recall”) he would have never been in this place. I think he was trying to be forthcoming and they got him…I cannot remember with certainty who I talked with yesterday and I’m not in the White House pressure cooker.
Great article, as usual, Mr. Parks. steve