Blogged by Brad from Nashville…
Via TPM, the DoJ manual on Commutations:
Section 1-2.113 Standards for Considering Commutation Petitions
…
Requests for commutation generally are not accepted unless and until a person has begun serving that sentence. Nor are commutation requests generally accepted from persons who are presently challenging their convictions or sentences through appeal or other court proceeding.
…
Requests for commutation generally are not accepted unless and until a person has begun serving that sentence. Nor are commutation requests generally accepted from persons who are presently challenging their convictions or sentences through appeal or other court proceeding.
And from Patrick Fitzgerald’s reaction:
We comment only on the statement in which the President termed the sentence imposed by the judge as “excessive.” The sentence in this case was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencings which occur every day throughout this country. 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.
Meanwhile, former Sen. Fred Thompson couldn’t be happier:
I am very happy for Scooter Libby. I know that this is a great relief to him, his wife and children. While for a long time I have urged a pardon for Scooter, I respect the President’s decision. This will allow a good American, who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life.
…And Guilliani joins him in standing firmly against National Security for America, and in favor of outing covert CIA assets:
After evaluating the facts, the President came to a reasonable decision and I believe the decision was correct.
George W. Bush’s father, however, feels differently. Or, at least he did back in 1999 when addressing his former colleagues at the CIA…
Will this get the same press as Paris Hilton’s sentence? Probably not, since it is about corruption, justice, treason, and areas that actually affect voters’ lives. The overwhelmingly fascist war-profiteering, internet-neutrality-opposing mainstream press stays away from that stuff.
Now we know that Libby was going to talk and that he had let Cheney know about it. Probably thru his lawyers.
What was not expected was the sudden and immediate timing of the clemency.
They seem to be scared of being found out, so they have sent a signal that anyone of “Just Us” who goes down will be pardoned … so don’t worry, be happy, the Pardoner in Chief has the neoCons’ backs.
Now people will see the Department of
JusticeJust Us for what it has become under the bushie fascist model: lawless.{banned commenter… –99}
Sheezsch!!!
Would y’all quit comparing one man’s lying about a private sex matter to another man’s lying about a matter of national security???
The very idea is so foolish that I should think you’d be ashamed to see your name written beside such a comment…
Oh, wait…
shw
Not only Bush Sr., but everyone in the Bush administration publicly decried the crime and disavowed any knowledge of it. Here is the video to back it up. It’s breathtaking the disdain for law this administration has…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=T6L6x0oim-w
“He should have gotten the same sentence as Clinton for lying under oath. Oh wait, he did. ”
Clinton: “not guilty”
Libby: GUILTY/TREASON!!! (not blowjob)
Bush 41 in 1999: “I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.”
On September 30, 2003, just after this investigation began, the “president” said:
“If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is . . . If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.”
…and I am not a Clinton fan by any stretch…
This must be a red-hot-button issue if Commander Ho has seen fit to put in his 2 cents’ worth (year 2525 cents). But I doubt that Libby’s blabbing could have done much damage – it’s hard to put much store in a convicted liar’s testimony…
“Excessive” would have been 250 years, not half a nickle. -IMO
Commander “Crack” Ho’
Here’s today’s Democracy NOW!’s take on the Libby “commute”:
(the hypocrisy of the Bush administration pushing “minimum sentences” for everyone…BUT THEM!!!
MARCY WHEELER: Oh, I think that the press is going to be asking a lot of questions today about why it is — I mean, here’s another thing that’s scandalous about this, Amy. The Bush administration is pushing Congress to require minimum sentences. What they’re trying to do is they’re trying to change the law, such that the minimum sentencing requirements are mandatory. So they’re saying that you and I, if we’re found guilty of something, are required to fulfill that minimum sentence. Scooter Libby’s minimum sentence, according to the guidelines, was thirty months, and George Bush says, no, he doesn’t have to do what you and I would have to do in the same circumstances.
http://www.democracynow.org/art.../07/03/1433207
http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow...38;start=13:29
Rush “Benedict Arnold” Limbaugh’s talking points today that were handed to him were:
1. Libby didn’t break any laws.
2. Fitzgerald is like Nifong, the Duke LaCrosse prosecutor (to appeal to the white hick racists)
3. Joe Wilson is a traitor.
4. Armitage leaked, not Libby. He fails to mention that charges were not brought against Armitage because he fully cooperated with Fitzgerald and did not lie to him or commit perjury.
5. It was a “witch-hunt” (that’s an old Limboob “chestnut”; heard it before)
6. The “liberal drive-by media” helped orchestrate this.
STRENGTH THROUGH UNITY IS THE DEATH OF FREEDOM. INDEPENDENCE IS LIFE.
Happy 4th everyone!
Hdocdr #3
The only thing is that no grand jury has ever indicted Clinton nor has any jury of his peers ever convicted him. Nor has any judge ever sentenced him.
Those who went after him were mere delusional political hacks in the House of Reps, the early neoCons … who are now wild ass psychotics.
Like you.
Welcome back. Where have you been, to psyops school along with Department of
JusticeJust Us psyops bushies?{ed note: He is not welcome back, and he has been banned long since. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I missed it somehow. –99}
If you want to spoil Bush & co’s party —
I strongly recommend the break-up of the United States into independent “countries” — it could be done by states or regions (groups of states)
That way you can get rid of the whole concept of the corrupt/useless/destructive Presidential administration, Senate, Congress, and Pentagon, etc., which have been hijacked to serve a few individuals at the top of the rotting heap. Each region/state can run itself. You can exchange sentimentality (over a “united”?? states) for independence and control by citizens over their land and fate — a major change for a better world.
Just make up your minds, and go for it — the status quo is a massive failure — time for CHANGE!
Bushco’s plan is based on the current set up. So, change the set up into one where the citizens decide the future.