LIBBY'S GOING TO JAIL-- OR WILL BUSH PARDON HIM IMMEDIATELY?

In the middle of all the other problems the Bush Regime finds itself embroiled in, Irving Libby (AKA- "Scooter") was just found guilty on 4 out of the 5 charges against him. He wasn't convicted on count 3 but don't be distressed. That was a tough one to prove and the jury not convicting him on that one just makes it nearly impossible for an Appellate Court to overturn the rest of the verdict. More later. Best place to follow developments on this and best place for analysis: Firedoglake. At least one juror felt that Liddy, though guilty, was basically the fall guy for the real criminals-- Rove and Cheney.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi could have been talking about the firing of the federal prosecutors or the misappropriation of BILLIONS of dollars of taxpayer funds in Iraq or the disgraceful way the Bush Regime treats our wounded vets, or almost anything Bushand his criminal cronies have touched. But, it turns out, this was her statement on the Libby verdict:

Today's guilty verdicts are not solely about the acts of one individual. This trial provided a troubling picture of the inner workings of the Bush Administration. The testimony unmistakably revealed-- at the highest levels of the Bush Administration-- a callous disregard in handling sensitive national security information and a disposition to smear critics of the war in Iraq.

UPDATE: CHRISTY'S GOT THE FITZGERALD PRESS CONFERENCE

Will Cheney go to jail too?

The role of the Vice President? Any lie under oath is serious. We cannot tolerate perjury. The truth is what drives our judicial system. If someone tells a lie under oath, it is every prosecutor's duty to pursue that case. It is obviously a serious matter when a high level official does that under a national security investigation-- it should never be tolerated.

Is there still information about the Vice President that you do not know? No one is above the law, no one gets less protection under the law. And we do not talk about someone who is not in the legal system in the case at bar. All we'll say is that Mr. Libby by lying and obstructing justice harmed the process.

Cloud over Vice President and over WH? Does it remain? Fitzgerald says that what he argued in court stands. Says he was responding to the defense argument, says he responded fairly and honestly-- and that cloud was caused by Libby lying to the investigators and the grand jury. It was aggravated by Mr. Libby telling falsehoods.

UPDATE: NOW WATCH THE RIGHT WING NOISE MACHINE SPIN INTO ACTION

GOP propaganda outlets like Fox and Limbaugh, the Moonie Times and their on-salary deranged bloggers will, of course, do all they can to minimize the significance of Libby's conviction. The great folks at Media Matters set the record straight and answers the frivilous right-wing talking points, one by one. Here are the right-wing arguments lies you'll hear shills like Hannity and Pat Robertson and Mitch McConnell and Ann Coulter whining about; hit the link above to read the truth:

• No underlying crime was committed.
• There was no concerted White House effort to smear Wilson.
• Libby was not responsible for the leak of Plame's identity.
• Libby merely "left out some facts."
• Libby's leak was an effort to set the record straight.
• There is no evidence that the Plame leak compromised national security.
• Fitzgerald is a partisan prosecutor.
• Fitzgerald exceeded his mandate in investigating violations beyond the IIPA.
• Plame's employment with the CIA was widely known.

WOW!

I was really getting worried with the jury taking so long, since it seemed to me that the case was a "slam dunk," to coin a phrase. But those jurors came through in the end.

Of course Howie is right about the coming litany of Right-Wing Talking Points from the vast litter of Right-Wing Talking Mouths. My favorite RWTP right now is "No underlying crime was committed," because--as I hope justice-lovers of all parties will be pointing out--now that we've seen the evidence as Prosecutor Pat assembled it, it seems clear that the question he was never able to answer, because of the regime-wide campaign of obstruction of justice, was whether he could ever prove the Underlying Crime in court. There doesn't seem much doubt who he thought the Underlying Criminal was: the vice president of the United States.--Ken

LAST UPDATE: WILL THE BUM SERVE TIME?

Libby faces up to 30 years in prison, though under federal sentencing guidelines he likely will receive far less and in all likelihood will be pardioned by Bush in return for not testifying against Rove and Cheney. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ordered a pre-sentencing report be completed by May 15. Libby will be allowed to remain free while awaiting sentencing, which is set for June 5.