FRED THOMPSON LURES FAR RIGHT SUPPORT BY PROMISING TO FREE "SCOOTER"

at least he dresses better than Giuliani

Tuesday Irving Libby (aka- "Scooter"), convicted on several counts of obstruction of justice, making false statements and perjury, will be sentenced by Judge Reggie Walton, probably to between 2 and 3 years in the slammer. (Walton is known as a tough "law and order: judge, the kind Republicans love as long as they're putting away the colored folks and not "respectable" white men.) Of course, Libby will be appealing so the big drama will immediately shift to whether or not he gets locked up or is allowed to putz around free during an endless appeals process, surely ending with a presidential pardon when Bush finally skips town in January 2009, never to be seen or heard of again except when War Crimes indictments come up or when people compile lists of the worst ever this and the worst ever that.

According to an article in today's FindLaw by John Dean, "unless a defendant has serious legal issues in play on appeal, federal judges seldom allow defendants to remain free on bond during the appeal process. Libby very likely has no strong appellate issues: His trial and conviction were rather uneventful, and Judge Walton - an experienced trial judge -- was widely seen as having been fair to both sides, and careful not to make any mistakes of law."

Dean's article, though, is really about how the Bush Regime will react to "Scooter," a man who could certainly send Cheney, and possibly Rove, away for a lot longer than 3 years if he starts talking-- which is, after all, probably exactly what Fitz would like.

If Libby had been acting on his own behalf, a pardon would present no problem; Bush and Cheney could feel it was the humanitarian thing to do, given his long service to the government. However, no one I know believes Libby was acting simply for himself, nor does the evidence suggest it.

Let's suppose, instead, that Libby was doing Cheney's bidding, and that Cheney was deeply involved in both Libby's leak of Valerie Plame's CIA status and the lies Libby subsequently concocted to deflect attention away from the Vice President. If so, then there was a conspiracy to obstruct justice-- and if Cheney should go to Bush and request that he pardon Libby, he would be furthering that conspiracy. No wonder then, that Special Counsel Fitzgerald remarked during the Libby trial that there was "a cloud" over the Vice President.

Come Tuesday, that cloud could get much darker for Cheney.

A committee of neo-Cons, right-wing Bush Regime dead-enders and Regime appointees are working their tails off on behalf of... their foul little enterprise of making sure Justice is not served. Freeing "Scooter" is practically part of Fred Thompson's electoral platform-- not for the public-- but in extremist Insider circles. Thompson's understanding of the case is roughly the legal equivalent of Bill Frist's understanding of the Terry Schiavo medical case: i.e.- something to be politicized for the sake of partisan gain.


OH, AND SCOOTER'S NOT THE ONLY BAGGAGE THOMPSON'S CAMPAIGN WILL CARRY

Actually he's got plenty but I did want to bring up one more recent piece of crap baggage he'll be dragging along. You remember the sleazy Rove cohort who is famous for only one thing: being unquestionably not qualified for the U.S. Attorney position Rove put him in? The embarrassment was too much even for this Bush crew and Mr. T. Griffin resigned and moved on his merry way... to the Fred Thompson campaign. Great choice, Fred. A real sign about what we could expect from a Fred Thompson administration-- incompetent ideologues and crooks plus pardons for criminal pond scum. I guess some people like things to remain the same.