As you all no doubt know by now, Bush has commuted the sentence of “Scooter” Libby — Libby lied under oath, obstructing justice, to protect (as we now all know) the Vice President. A jury found him guilty, but Bush, without consulting the Justice department, commuted the sentence, so he won’t serve any jail time–and his slap-on-the-wrist fine will be more than covered by the right-wing “Scooter Libby Defense Fund”, so in the end, he won’t be punished AT ALL.
A President has NEVER commuted an obstruction-of-justice conviction of one of his administration, ever, at any time in American history. This, like so many other outrages commited by this administration, is without precedent.
Last week, Cheney asserted that he was beyond the reach of the law, stating that laws governing the Executive Branch don’t apply to him. Yesterday, Bush proved beyond a shadow of doubt that this corrupt junta considers itself above the law.
Don’t call your Senator. Don’t call your Representative. Go direct — Call the White House itself and register your outrage. Maybe if the goddamned switchboard melts down under the onslaught of millions of us, they might learn something.
Probably not….but damned if I’m going to be quiet about it.
202-456-1414
Then call your Congresspeople, and tell them to put Impeachment ON the table. Enough is enough.
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No spam at all. That’s nifty.
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Is it with the Presidential pardon/commutation power or Bush himself you have an issue? You call out that an “obstruction-of-justice” sentence as unprecedented. Is that what bothers you? I’m sincerely interested because I think the whole Presidential pardon thing is what needs to be looked at.
Fun facts:
PARDONS AND COMMUTATIONS
George W. Bush (2001 – )
Pardons — 13
Commutations — 4
Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
Pardons — 396
Commutations — 61
George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)
Pardons — 74
Commutations: 3
Specifically it is the pardoning of a staff member convicted of obstruction of justice (who, in the opinion of the jury — on the record — was a “Fall Guy” for his bosses). That has never been done before.
This would be like Nixon issuing a commutation for Erlichman or Haldeman during Watergate ….and even he, as slimy as he was, knew better than to do that.
….and yes, I know the Right Wing Talking Points are out there with the whole “Clinton Was Worse OMG!” thing. Apples and Oranges, if you look at what he had commuted and pardoned.
Thanks for the clarification. But I don’t see this as apples and oranges, frankly. And I’m not trying taking this into partisan territory. :-)
It’s my opinion that the executive (State or Federal) pardon/commutation power contravenes the judicial process. There should be an extra check, perhaps from the legislative branch. Regardless of your political stripe, you should question all pardons. For example, I was disappointed that Clinton decided to pardon his slimy buddy Marc Rich, who was defended by Scooter it so happens.
Called!
Plus, you can call Speaker Pelosi here:(202) 225-0100
Thanks!
It’s interesting in who he pardons in this case when one considers the number of people that weren’t pardoned while he was Governor of Texas.
Libby
I just heard on Democracy Now that Bush probably won’t pardon Libby because if he did, Libby would be completely free from prosecution and no longer bound by the Fifth Amendment. If this happened he could be called to give his story without threat from the Bushies. But by only commuting the sentence he is still under their thumb so to speak. I may have paraphrased this too much but I think this was the jist of what I heard.
called…they hung up on me…
:(
Oh my god, two people just disagreed civilly about politics on the Internet.
The end is nigh. :)
On the “Clinton vs. Bush – who was/is worse?” thing – they’re both traitors to their country and should be convicted and executed as such.
Fucking bastards.