Scooter
by Scott Hardie on July 3, 2007
Headline: Bush Commutes Libby's Prison Sentence
Yeah, there are complicated legal and political factors involved, but to the average citizen (me) it reads like "President's friend gets out of jail free." Man, I gotta track down George's MySpace and add him as a friend.
Two Replies to Scooter
Kris Weberg | July 3, 2007
You've got it exactly backwards, Aaron: no charges will be filed because Libby lied. His lies prevented the court from deciding fairly whether or not there was an underlying crime.
The average citizen will never know whether a crime was committed because I. Lewis Libby acted deliberately to conceal the truth fot he matter from the court. To assume no wrongdoing occurred because "no charges were filed" is like assuming a murder didn't occur because the killer's buddy successfully incinerated the corpse and cleaned up the crime scene. "Sure, he was standing next to a furnace, covered in soot, and he has no alibi, but there's no body, so there must not have been a murder."
In the case of something like the Plame investigation, and of white-collar crime in general, there's no physical evidence. There's just testimony. And if someone's testimony doesn't add up, charges can't be filed because the contradictions in the testimony prevent it.
Ask yourself this, Aaron: if no one did anything wrong here, why did Libby bullshit the grand jury?
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
Scott's Car is Dead; Long Live Scott's Car
Is it a reflection of our road-rage culture that a company named Dodge manufactures cars with violent names like Ram, Magnum, Caliber, and Viper? I pondered this at the dealership yesterday during the eternal wait between brief flurries of document-signing so I could buy my first car. It took some doing to get the sunroof and other features I wanted, but I'm now the happy (and relieved) owner of a 2007 Dodge Caliber SXT. Go »Where the Hell I Have Been All Year, Part III
This is a long story of interest only to friends of mine and people who really want to spend fifteen minutes reading about my life, but I've been promising to reveal this secret for the better part of a year and the time has come: Kelly Lee and I were a couple again this past spring. I kept it secret because A) it was difficult to tell the friends who had supported me during her breakup that we were dating again and B) for the duration of the relationship I didn't know where it was going and I wanted to know this before I said anything. Anyway, this story is solely my point of view and may not be fair to hers. Go »21 Days
Any advice for what to do with my last three weeks of living single? Kelly will now move here on February 4, due to various factors. This, it goes without saying, rules. Go »No Disrespect
One of my pet peeves is people saying, "Have you ever noticed that the phrase 'no disrespect' is immediately followed by something disrespectful?" Well, YEAH. That's the point of the phrase. Go »Firsties
It's been one year today since Kelly and I got married, but that feels strange to say, since it's been nineteen years today since our first date back in high school. I don't mind that it took us so long to get to this "first" anniversary; I'm just glad that we got here at last. We spent the day out feeding flamingos at a local animal sanctuary and eating at some favorite restaurants before I go back on diet tomorrow. Go »
Aaron Shurtleff | July 3, 2007
Not to bring the complications in here, but I'd be more concerned if Libby were getting in trouble for something. I think until someone is charged for actually blowing Plame's cover, it's asinine to punish someone for being deceptive during the inquiry to find out if someone did something wrong. If no one blew Plame's cover (which, if charges aren't being filed, is what the average citizen who isn't anti-Bush should think, in my opinion), Libby should not be in jail, I don't think.
And a $250,000 fine for being deceptive (or forgetful, if you buy that story) isn't getting out of jail free in my book.