ARE REPUBLICANS THE LAW & ORDER PARTY ONLY WHEN IT COMES TO THE POOR AND PEOPLE OF COLOR? LIBBY'S SENTENCE IS ONE THEY SHOULD ALL SHARE

I don't expect all the Neo-cons who manipulated this country into Bush's catastrophic Iraq occupation to embrace the sentence imposed on Vulcan Irving Libby (AKA- "Scooter"). Neither does E.J. Dionne, Jr. But we both think they should. Dionne gets to explain in today's Washington Post where he argues that Republicans most eager for Bush to pardon Libby immediately "are those who were most deeply invested in the Iraq war and were willing to do whatever was expedient to commit American troops to a venture they were certain would turn out well... The verdict against Libby was a verdict against them."

The Republicans with the gravest doubts are those who worry about the damage a pardon would cause their party by undercutting its oft-stated commitment to the rule of law.

At this week's GOP presidential debate there didn't seem to be too many of the former, but lots and lots of the former. Jim Gilmore opposes a pardon. "I'm steeped in the law. I wouldn't do that... If the public believes there's one law for a certain group of people in high places and another law for regular people, then you will destroy the law and destroy the system."

This isn't exactly the way Cheney is looking at it. He and his allies have a deal with Libby that makes it clear that in return for Libby adhering to strict Omertà regarding Cheney's and Rove's treasonous participation in the case, he gets off scott free. Dionne doesn't quite go there. He talks more generally about "those who advocated hard for the war." Those folks see Libby as a hero, not as a criminal, let alone a traitor who should be put against a wall, blindfolded and shot-- along with themselves. The 3 front-runners-- all aggressively pro-war candidates-- dissembled, going on and on sounding like they were pro-pardon for the wingnuts GOP primary voters without saying anything that would damn them in the minds of normal Americans who vote in the general election. Many think Giuliani is the most habitually disingenuous of the 3 (not knowing McCain or Romney well, apparently) and they point to how deftly he tossed red meat Rovian talking points to the base-- Libby's sentence was "way out of line" and there was "no underlying crime involved"-- while giving himself plenty of wiggle room in case any sane people were watching the debate: "I would see if it fit the criteria for pardon. I'd wait for the appeal."

For his part, Romney said that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald "clearly abused prosecutorial discretion" but then used all the classic dodges: "It's worth looking at that. I will study it very closely, if I'm lucky enough to be president, and I'd keep that option open."

Actor/lobbyist Fred Thompson isn't equivocating like the other front-runners. He's on the Free Scooter Mandela Committee and-- in sharp contrast to his Law & Order image he's strongly-- some say hysterically-- advocating for a full pardon for Libby, regardless of what some damn jury found.

The Bush Regime knows that ultimately Libby has to be kept out of prison-- if only to save Cheney and Rove and so that other Neo-cons don't start realizing their whole glorious raison d'etre was a criminal enterprise. But keeping Libby out of the hoosegow looks very bad to normal Americans. It "would amount to the repudiation of a jury verdict-- as well as the decisions of federal Judge Reggie Walton, one of the president's appointees. Commuting Libby's sentence would not, as some have suggested, be a happy compromise because doing so would still involve setting aside a formal punishment on behalf of an administration favorite. Yet if Bush allows Libby to go to prison, he will alienate his dwindling band of supporters, particularly those most vociferous in standing up for the administration's Iraq policies."


I'm sure they're nervously watching the outrage building in L.A. where Sheriff Lee Baca has just committed political suicide by freeing another rich, privileged white Republican who thinks she is above the law, Paris Hilton, against the express orders of the judge. Try picturing Scooter handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser with Dick and Lynne Cheney's limo pulling up and Lynne waving and yelling Hi Hon!




UPDATE: OH DEAR

I have no sympathy for Paris Hilton or for any other asshole who thinks their socio-economic status puts them above the law. I think Libby is far more guilty and worse in all ways and I certainly hope we see the same kinds of outbursts from him when he faces up to the fact that he's just like everybody else who is convicted of a crime. Let's remember Lee Baca's name next time there's an election.


UPDATE: PARIS HILTON IS IN JAIL-- SCOOTER LIBBY OUGHT TO BE TOO

Although the far right spin machine is working overtime to brainwash the public into thinking of convicted criminal Irving Libby ("Scooter"), who is also a purveyor of the most vile child pornography ever published by a DC insider-- worse even than Lynne Cheney's lurid lesbian novel-- as an unfortunate victim of an overzealous prosecutor and a crazy judge and jury, mainstream newspapers aren't buying it. Thursday's Chicago Tribune titled their editorial No Pardon For Libby.

By his actions, Libby undermined the very system to which he dedicated his life. A jury found he did not allow the system to work to ferret out truth. He lied under oath. He lied repeatedly and boldly. He wasted federal investigators' time and resources. He obstructed justice.

In the words of the special prosecutor, U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald: "When someone doesn't tell the truth to the system, everyone suffers. The legal system suffers because we don't know what the actual facts are. And, frankly, lots of other people suffer since, when you don't know what the truth is, people draw all sorts of conclusions."

A question for those who seek to spare Libby from prison for lying under oath -- what did you have to say when President Bill Clinton faced impeachment for lying under oath? Most likely, you wanted Clinton punished.

And John Kass joined in the same day in the same paper about how the GOP joins in mockery of rule of law.

The Cincinnati Post, further south and more conservative, offered those who would spring Libby little sympathy: "Walton got it right when he said there must be tough sanctions for those in high government positions who intentionally lie to the FBI and, even worse, to a grand jury." And the Houston Chronicle was even more adamant that Bush butt out. "Convicted on 'overwhelming' evidence, Libby should start his prison term now."