Posted on 12/23/2008 5:48:08 AM PST by rellimpank
Rarely can Presidents improve their legacy in an Administration's twilight days. But President Bush now has that opportunity, by undoing a measure of the injustice inflicted on I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
As the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney who suffered in a fiasco made worse by the White House, Mr. Libby deserves a full Presidential pardon. Mr. Bush commuted Mr. Libby's sentence in 2007, an action that kept him out of jail. But that doesn't expunge his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice. As a felon, Mr. Libby is barred by law from voting or practicing law, his occupation for most of his working life. The half-measure reflected poorly on the President, whose commutation state
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Bush won’t do it
I now believe he is a fatally flawed man, trying to gain some kind of respect from liberals who will always always hate him and everything he should have stood for while in office
too bad
Ramos and Compean first! If you can’t pardon them, don’t bother with anyone else.
FREE RAMOS AND COMPEAN PRESIDENT BUSH....SHOW US YOUR COMPASSION.
Ramos, Compeon, and Scooter Libby should all be pardoned before Bush leaves office. If he does not, the man is pond scum.
$200 ($100 for each) payable to the DC Chapter of Free Republic says Bush WON’T do the right thing. My money is safe because Bush is a turd. Pure and simple.
I’ll wager your money is safe.
Remember: He was Marc Rich’s lawyer.
Karma? Equitable justice? He can’t practice law but stays out of the clink.
I don’t understand why he lied (according to the jury) if he didn’t have to. The whole thing is odd.
The folks at the WSJ are out to lunch on this one.
The "half-measure" was a very deliberate move by the President -- to keep Libby out of prison while he appeals his conviction. Giving him a full pardon before the appeals process is completed is really just a "three-quarters measure," because it won't change the fact the Libby is a convicted felon.
And lest anyone thinks this is just semantics and a mere formality, remember that when President George H. W. Bush issued pardons to nearly all of the key players in the Iran-Contra "scandal" before he left office in 1993, there was one notable name missing from that list: Oliver North. North's conviction had been overturned on appeal -- and the charges dismissed by the appellate court (an unusual and forceful move on its part, since it meant they didn't even think the charges ever should have been brought in the first place by the prosecution). So there was no need to grant him a pardon at all.
Very good point. I forgot all about that.
I've got no love lost for any of these Beltway hacks, so I'll never understand this obsession with "justice" for them on the part of a lot of folks here.
--I must be missing something here--who was Marc Rich's lawyer?
Scooter was.
-I do still believe, however detestable an individual may be, he/she is entitled to a lawyer and the lawyer should not be tarred by the quality of the client--
Agreed. Scooter was the victim of a perjury trap witch hunt where the crime was already solved.
And what was ever done to the culprit Richard Armitage? Nothing.
Meanwhile Scooter has been put through the shredder with legal bills, loss of job, and the resulting family sadness that comes with it no doubt.
What a bloody joke.
Of course everyone is entitled to secure the services of a competent lawyer. But you gotta admit that when the client flees the country and remains a fugitive from the law here in the U.S. to this day, his lawyer is going to be “tarred” no matter how ethical he is.
It always seemed that any jurisdiction outside the "Beltway" would have been an improvement as far as getting a "fair" trial--
Scooter, Ramos and Compean , yep. But, Bushie still belives Prosecutor Johnnie and Fitzy and so they will not get a pardon. Too bad and W cannot see that he used to be a Pub!
Save your crude remarks for a forum that welcomes them, like Duh.
The prevailing rumor is that someone yelled, "Look out! Shooter!"
Cheney thought the guy said "Scooter" and got off a shot in Scooter's direction.
Unfortunately Scooter musta ducked.......and Harry got shot instead.
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