WAS IT ONLY ROVE AND CHENEY OR WAS BUSH PART OF THE WHOLE PLAME AFFAIR AS WELL? AN IMPEACHMENT HEARING IS NEEDED TO GET TO THE ROOT OF ALL THIS

By commuting his sentence Bush has guaranteed that Libby has no incentive to cooperate with the Federal Prosecutor in getting to the underlying crime, a crime many would describe as treason during wartime. (I'm a big death penalty fan and I know many of my friends are but I just wanted to get that out there.) This morning Marcy did a column for the Guardian that elegantly lays out all the ways not just Cheney, but Bush himself, were complicit, and even central, to the case, Just Another Obstruction of Justice. She ends her column with what Bush would like to be the end of this sordid affair but which should be a new and fresh beginning for the American people and their lame representatives in Congress (who still insist impeachment is off the table):

There are many unanswered questions about the roles of the president, the vice president, and Libby in the leak of Valerie Plame's identity. Did Bush really ask Libby to take the lead on all this? Did the president declassify Plame's identity so Libby could leak it to the press? Did Cheney learn-- and tell Libby-- that Plame was covert? Those questions all point squarely at Bush and Cheney personally. But because of Bush's personal intervention, he has made sure that Scooter Libby won't be answering those questions anytime soon.

Most Americans feel justice has not been served and that Bush has indeed, as he promised, "taken care" of the leakers in his administration. The only people who have expressed joy, as far as I've seen are Republican lobbyist and backroom dealmaker Freddy Thompson (who says he would have given Libby a full pardon, once again sending voters a clear signal that he is indeed the least fit of all the GOP candidates running for the worthless Republican presidential nomination), Giuliani and Libby himself. Presumably Rove and Cheney, if not happy, are breathing easier knowing that they've avoided prison again. While Hate Talk Radio hosts exult, editorial writers are not happy about Libby's Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card. Even Bob Novak admits that virtually no one else is happy about this mess.

Marcy was on CBS News yesterday helping mainstream television viewers understand what the case was all about. Hopefully it's a story that will be repeated over and over until Nancy Pelosi stops protecting George Bush and Dick Cheney:




UPDATE: IMPEACH?

Emotionally, we all think Bush and Cheney should be-- at least-- impeached, Digby included. But Digby examines the impeachment prospects for Bush and Cheney beyond the primal and emotional responses. Sigh.