“I don’t believe my role is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own,”
– George W. Bush, in his autobiography A Charge To Keep.
Apparently, things change.
What this commutation is really about is a message to other staffers who are now or will be subpoena’d — keep your mouth shut, or lie to protect the administration, and you’ll see less jail time than Paris Hilton.
Under Bush, some people can be imprisoned without charges indefinitely, while friends and underlings who are convincted in a court of law go free. Welcome to the New America — and it’s our own goddamned fault for not rioting in the streets already, following outrage after outrage. We’ve told them that we don’t care, and they can get away with anything.
The right wing talking points have already been put into play, of course. This whole thing was “political.”
To clarify, so you can refute this when you hear it:
Bush political appointee James Comey named Bush political appointee Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate the Plame leak. Fitzgerald, a careeer prosecutor, found evidence of perjury and obstruction of justice, and so filed an indictment and went to trial before Bush political appointee Judge Reggie Walton. A jury convicted Libby, and Bush political appointee Walton sentenced him. At sentencing, Judge Walton described the evidence against Libby as “overwhelming” and concluded that a 30-month sentence was appropriate.
But, according to the right wing, who are being given a platform by the corporate media…… the Libby prosecution was the work of political enemies who were just trying to hurt the Bush Administration.
Hmm.