The administration still hasn't lost its capacity to amaze or to communicate in Newspeak.
It seems that the GW Bush “respects the jury's decision” in the Libby case, but has decided to overturn it — by commuting Libby's jail sentence.
So the good soldier, who took one for team by lying to the Justice Department, walks. His $250,000 fine will undoubtedly be paid by well-wishers or through speaker fees, so the net effect of the sentence is two years of probation and transfer to the talk show circuit.
I admit that when I first saw the headline, I thought it was a joke. But it's real. Statement by the President On Executive Clemency for Lewis Libby (full text after the jump). No matter how low they go, they show they can go lower.
I agree with John Edwards:
“Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today. President Bush has just sent exactly the wrong signal to the country and the world. In George Bush's America, it is apparently okay to misuse intelligence for political gain, mislead prosecutors and lie to the FBI. George Bush and his cronies think they are above the law and the rest of us live with the consequences. The cause of equal justice in America took a serious blow today.”
And with Nancy Pelosi:
“The President's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence does not serve justice, condones criminal conduct, and is a betrayal of trust of the American people.
“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. He has abandoned all sense of fairness when it comes to justice, he has failed to uphold the rule of law, and he has failed to hold his Administration accountable.”
Harry Reid:
“The President's decision to commute Mr. Libby's sentence is disgraceful. Libby's conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq War. Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone. Judge Walton correctly determined that Libby deserved to be imprisoned for lying about a matter of national security. 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.”
Note that Libby's sentence was not excessive. It was within the (now non-binding) sentencing guidelines — and that Libby didn't take responsibility for his crime. Which gives him a great deal in common with his bosses.
Note also that by commuting but not pardoning Bush (1) ensures that Libby won't talk to prosecutors in the hopes of getting a lighter sentence; and (2) ensures that Libby retains the right to take the 5th is questioned by prosecutors or by Congress (modulo immunity…)
And finally, please note that, as the Poor Man reminds us, Gov. GW Bush presided over 152 executions in Texas and never commuted a single one. At the time he said,
I don't believe my role [as governor] is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own, unless there are new facts or evidence of which a jury was unaware, or evidence that the trial was somehow unfair.
[UPDATE: an astute commentator ('The Editors') corrects me regarding Bush's Texas record: then-Gov. Bush did commute one death sentence but for which the execution total would have been 153. I didn't know that and I am grateful for the correction.]
As Howard Dean said,
“Once again President Bush and the GOP have undermined a core American value: equal justice under the law for every American. By commuting this sentence, President Bush is sending a clear message that the rules don't apply to the Bush White House or loyal Republican cronies. After promising that anyone who violated the law would be 'taken care of,' President Bush instead handed Scooter Libby a get out of jail free card. Though Libby was convicted by a jury of lying about a matter of national security, President Bush is sparing him the consequences ordinary Americans would face. This conviction was the first moment of justice in a Bush Administration void of accountability. It's a sad day for America when the President once again puts protecting his friends ahead of equal justice under the law.”
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