Calling Dr. Hartley
Just a note to the few thumb-sucking angry, angry clods who still manage to find the repressed rage to lash out at me on a daily basis, even though I haven't written for weeks. Keep those hilarious comments coming! They make my day. You could be a little more creative, as hitting the same dumb themes gets old after reading them about 300 times or so. Surely you can pull yourself together enough to have an original thought, even if it's half-baked. I like to print them out and show them to my friends. They're always a hit.
By the way, someone said your breath always smelled like butterscotch. I thought that was odd, until they explained that I missheard them. They'd said it always smelled like butt or scotch. That was more easy to believe.
Speaking of crooks and habitual liars, what do you think of "Scooter" getting let off of serving his sentence? The Bush crime family always takes care of it's own. Scooter lied his ass off to protect Cheney and the administration and it's very hard to imagine that there wasn't some sort of deal worked out back then to let him skate on serving time if he continued to falsely lie to the court about Cheney's illegal activities.
He's getting fined a quarter million dollars, money that he's gotten several times over from wealthy right wing donors as well as other misguided boobs who think the rule of law should only apply to their political enemies. (of course these same people were the ones screaming "what about the CHILDREN" and saying that the entire system of law would be undermined if Clinton weren't impeached for supposed perjury, the very charge for which Scooter Libby was tried,convicted, and sentenced for.)
So the fine is a nothing, his multi-million dollar legal fees are already taken care of, and he'll no doubt be taken care of for life. Crime pays when you're hanging with the Bushies.
Bush says he respects the jury who convicted Libby. But this is the same guy who mocked Karla Fay Tucker pleading for her life before ordering her execution, which hundreds of prominent figures, including the Pope himself, opposed and pleaded with Bush to not carry out. But if you're someone protecting them from getting exposed as the tyrants they are who believe that the law does not apply to them, then when you get convicted and sentenced to prison (a cushy one at that), Bush finds it too harsh a punishment.
Funny, ain't it?
posted by The Inside Dope @ 7/03/2007
16 comments
16 Comments:
TID, great to have you back! I was pretty certain that the Libby issue would bring you back.
Can you tell me (1) what law did Libby break, and (2) who was the leak for Valerie P. and what was his/ her punishment?
I just would like to see if we are on the same page. Thanks!
A jury found Libby guilty and a judge sentenced him based on the evidence at trial and the federal sentencing guidelines. Isn't that how the system is supposed to work? Whether the conservatives like it or not Libby fell on the sword to protect the administration. People(Martha Stewart) have done far less serious crimes and had to do their time. Of course this can't hurt Bush's popularity as it is so low already.
He was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of deliberately lying to a grand jury in order to cover up Cheney, Bush, Rove, et. al. complicity in the effort to illegally "out" the identity of a covert CIA officer as a means of attacking her husband who had the audacity to truthfully say that the statement in the State of the Union speech asserting that Iraq was buying uranium in Niger was false.
Libby lied about that to a grand jury... he provided false testimony.
Purjury and Obtruction of Justice are the laws he broke. Glad to fill you in.
The leak for Valerie Plame was purportedly Richard Armitage, who was fed the leak by the Vice President's office.
No one got punished for this crime.
Bush swore that he'd fire any one shown to be involved in the leak or covering it up. He said he'd take care of whoever was involved.
Now we see that he is indeed "taking care of" the person who was tried, found guilty, convicted, and sentenced for perjury and obstruction of justice.
You're phoney baloney right wing spin is thinly disguised. I suppose you're going to say that because the real leaker wasn't punished, that little Scooter should scamper free?
Just bear in mind that the reason the leaker was never prosecuted and the investigation stymied was because little Scooter LIED to the Grand Jury and obstructed justice, mislead the investigation and otherwise prevented it from going forward.
Now Bush's convenient get out of jail free card ensures that Libby won't be so inclined to spill the beans on the real culprits anytime in the future.
Remember, Libby was indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced for OBSTRUCTING the investigation into who outed Plame. He went down to PROTECT Rove, Cheney, and Bush, and is now being rewarded by a President who isn't known for ever finding any sentence, no matter how extreme, "excessive".
You must admit, Bush can not do anything right. He has pissed off everyone.
He has pissed off the Neocons for not giving him a full pardon.
He has pissed off Mid America for this.
If he was not guilty, then he was not guilty correct?
Can you imagine how angry the Bill Krystal RICHARD PERLE, STEPHEN HADLEY, DOUGLAS FEITH, Iraq-war-supporting neoconservative.
Karla Fay Tucker should pay the price for her crimes. Just because she was woman who found Pat Robertson does not make her a saint.
Dope, good to see you back. Hopefully we will hear more from you. I wish I could say I was surprised to see Libby was granted clemency, but alas, I find my President very predictable... and crooked.
Milton, no one suggested Tucker was a saint, and whether ending her life accomplished anything is subject to debate, but no one, especially by all accounts a totally reformed woman, deserves to be mocked in a childish way (Bush immitated her pleading for her life in a falsetto voice to Tucker Carlson). The sheer callousness and arrogance that demonstrates is nothing short of immoral and abberant. (however you spell it.)
The relevant factor here is that Bush has always had an almost gleeful willingness to send people to their deaths with little to no review on his part. He famously had others read him condemned prisoners appeals for commutation, and spent less than ten minutes on them before casually oking their deaths, a record number under his governorship, by the way, which has been condemned around the world as barbaric.
Bush is NOT known for his compassion, which makes his saying that he found Libby's sentence "excessive" even more insulting and phoney.
Also, if you find a sentence (or a fine, or the cost of something, or length or speed or whatever) "excessive", then you REDUCE the amount. You don't ELIMINATE it altogether.
If you feel that you might be driving excessively fast, you slow down a little, you don't come to a screeching halt.
If you find a prison sentence excessive, you reduce it, you don't eliminate it altogether.
But at this point, even trying to find some rationality or sense in what Bush does or says is futile. It's so clearly a lie that there simply isn't any sense to be found in his words at all.
The guy's a stone cold liar with zero respect for the government he heads or the people he governs. I've been saying that for years, and of course getting roundly condmened for it. But now it's clear to everyone but the most lost-cause zealot that it's true.
I hear ya Scott.
And I find it rather bitterly funny that the press is FINALLY, after all these years, standing up on their hind legs and actually pointing out the obvious... that Bush and crew are lying menaces who are out for themselves, their ideology, and their cronies ONLY, and they justify literally anything in that pursuit, including throwing the constitution out the window and simply chosing not to obey laws that pose an inconvenience to them or put them in legal jeopardy.
It's a rigged game from a gang of creeps who've lived their entire lives with things rigged in their favor. They can't suceed any other way. (and Bush has failed despite having everything rigged.)
Bush is just too stupid and arrogant to even pretend otherwise.
Truly the case of someone born on third base and acting like they hit a triple.
But the evidence has been hiding in plain sight ever since the 2000 campaign. It's all been there. Bush hasn't skillfully covered up his intentions. He's been right up front about them. It's just that you had to actually pay attention and read things that weren't part of the sound bites on the news.
Bush said incredible things, like that it would be nice if America was a dictatorship, so long as he was the dictator, and that it was his job to be president and all of ours to just go about our business (and not ask questions).
It goes on and on. It's been reported in books, in magazines, and said right out loud by Bush himself. But everyone, including Dems, seemed like they were in some bizarre trance, especially post 9-11.
The country has truly suffered a mass psychological episode where they were unable to see reality right in front of their noses, and instead made themselves believe crap that plainly wasn't true from people who were plainly lying.
I simply can't wait to see the planet-wide celebration on the day this incompetent menace finally leaves office. It will be breathtaking.
...a breakthrough, to Hilary?
Wow, do we have issues!
Well, Mr. Peterson (from Bob Newhart or was it Newhart?) you are getting angry over the actions of a psychopath and trying to argue with him.
Mr. Carlin the autocratic "arrogant," and "imperial" character could give us a lessons on the personality type of a president.
This president, to put it in perspective, has been down lower longer even than Richard Nixon. It has been two and half years since he has had the support of even half the American public.
I have more anger at the Democrats in Congress for not getting us out of this war. If they would have tried to impeach him, maybe this would not be happening.
The President got up and admitted he broke the law. regarding spying on us. This is an impeachable offense.
I would submit it's YOU who has issues. Starting with your rampant imagination.
Point out for us please where the word "Hilary" appears in any comments above.
Making shit up and then condeming people for it is getting really old. Knock it off please.
Well, all presidents use their power of the pardon and unfortunately it's usually for pardoning those with political influence... and it's NOT in the way that "We the People" would want them to. This commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence is no worse than when Bill Clinton pardoned that sleazbag Marc Rich, or when Bill Clinton FAILED to pardon Leonard Peltier.
I know people like to talk about Karla Fay Tucker who was clearly guilty of a gruesome murder but let's not forget Leonard Peltier, whose only crime was being in the American Indian Movement and in the wrong place at the wrong time. Certainly there is no evidence that he shot those FBI agents, but hey as long as they nailed somebody for it. Well we expected a Christmas pardon from Clinton for many years, I even attended a vigil. But the pardon never came. Once Clinton even had the stupidity to ask "Who is Leonard Peltier?" But then Tom Daschle of South Dakota told Clinton to let Peltier in rot in prison, thus abrogating any sense of justice, compassion, or common sense. But Indians are poor and don't have the clout that Marc Rich did.
But back to Libby: The $250,000 fine that Libby must pay is a huge amount of money, at least by my standards. I might be wrong but I have seen no evidence that this 250K has been raised or that it will be easily raised. I know that there is this assumption out there is some mystery sugar daddy fundraiser out there who will easily pay this fine. But where is the proof of this? Republican fundraising has been so dismal lately, they can't afford to buy their way out of a wet paper bag. Nobody is going to give money to pay off Scooter Libby's fine.
Milt, you raise a good point. I would like to see some discussion on this blog and others as to why Pelosi took impeachment off the table. It's as if nobody in the mainstream of the Democratic congress ever took the option of impeachment seriously. I thought they were going to ride in on a white horse and punish the wicked and make the bad guys go away. What happened? I mean if Bush & Cheney are that bad; it would be a cinch, right?
Last week I was traveling and I encountered some protestors on a streetcorner with sandwich board signs calling for Impeachment of Bush and Cheney and "the whole adminstration". I asked them why impeachment wasn't happening with their Democratic congress. They couldn't give me a straight answer.
I asked one of the protestors who his congressman was. He couldn't tell me and had to ask one of the other protestors who the congressman was! Answer: "I think it's John Dingell" . (I guess I expected that someone out there calling for an IMPEACHMENT would have some basic knowledge of who his House member is and how Congress operates).
Okay, you've got Dennis Kucinich. But how many other firm votes for impeachment are there? How many do you need? Has your precious Phil Hare taken a stand on the issue?
Dope, I'm glad to see you back in the biz of putting up posts like this one. I can tell, based on the comments you've received lately, that you had a need to take an operational pause. My comments have been far and few between as well, but I'm going to say my peace on the Libby issue.
I don't know the man personally, but I have two very close friends that I have known for decades that have worked directly for him. They both have the same opinion of Libby--that he is an outstanding man. It appears to me that he simply got stuck in the middle of a series of wrongs. His convictions are legit, but unfortunately we're never going to see what really happened beyond that--partly because of Libby's own loyalty, and mostly because of the current systemic lack of accountability inside the beltway. So on one hand, I'm glad that Libby won't go to jail, but on the other hand I'm very disappointed that the decision to vacate the jail time was made. It just shows that loyalty has a greater value than accountability, and frankly I see it as a misguided use of Executive power.
To me, accountability in government means more than loyalty.
Hey Dope- Glad you are back. I have had to slum over at the QC Examiner site for a while.
Of course this “commutation” is a travesty. The conservatives keep trumpeting “Where was the underlying crime?” The entire reason there were no convictions is that criminals like Libby and the rest of the gang lied.
The other piece you hear is that Libby just did not clearly recollect the events surrounding the disclosure. Libby, Cheney and the gang are brilliant people. They are crazy and deranged, but very intelligent with a powerful grasp of details. I have a feeling that something that important was not “forgotten” by someone like Scooter.
Finally, I am most concerned with what happens from here on in with the Bush monarchy. With his approval ratings at a historical low, his domestic and international agendas in flames and a Democratic congress, could he actually become more contemptuous of American laws and common decency?
Nico, this is SO much different than the Marc Rich pardon in many ways, perhaps most importantly that Clinton did not pardon or commute the sentences of people who had committed their their crimes to protect him, as did Libby, who obstructed justice and scuttled an investigation which led directly to Bush and Cheney and Rove.
Clinton also followed established DOJ guidelines and only pardoned people who had already served their sentences. (unlike Libby)
There were a lot of people who believed that Marc Rich was completely innocent, chief among them the lawyer who was paid handsomely to argue for his pardon. That lawyer was I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Did you forget that Libby was Marc Rich's lawyer? Can you say hypocrisy?
Clinton did go hog wild with the pardons and some didn't exactly cover him with glory, but attempting to compare them with Bush's sparing of Libby is comparing apples to oranges.
As to the matter of the fine. Yes, it's a lot of dough for you or I, )or 99% of people) but for this gang, it's pocket change. They spend that much on throwing parties. When you're worth a couple billion, that's over 200 million bucks. What's a hundred grand?
And yes, the money, reported as already passing $5 million, has already been donated and raised by Libby's "defense fund".
As a matter of fact, it was such a routine matter that little Scooter cut the check and paid the fine within hours of it being imposed yesterday. You can even view the cashier's check Scooter gave the court back on the 2nd HERE.
Trust me on this Nico, the guy's set for life. This fine is NOTHING and doesn't take a dime out of his pocket. You or I buying a package of tube socks sets us back more than this fine does Libby.
As a matter of fact, I would be willing to wager a substantial sum, though it might be tough to prove, that Libby will actually end up profiting from his turn as the little loyal neocon posterboy.
You know how much that gang worships obedience to authority, (Bush, not the law of the land. After all, they have their prioritys set up that way, first Bush, then party, then the law and the constitution are stuck in there somewhere down the list depending on how far down they need to put it to get away with whatever they want to do.)
and Libby is their hero.
Trust me, the guy is set for LIFE, and of course, Bush didn't even rule out a complete and utter pardon for him at a future date.
Don't cry for little Scooter.
And where's the compassion for the hundreds of thousands of people stuck in prison, their lives ruined after being convicted of equally or even less serious charges? Bet this makes them really respect our system of justice.
Hmmm. I need to replace the roof on my house. Maybe I should start my own "legal defense fund" in order to raise the cash.
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