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The White House press corpse is dutifully passing on without comment the Bush Junta's pronouncement that Bush allegedly hasn't ruled out a pardon for Scooter Libby.
Of course, we know why Tony Snow Job and Company are reciting this nonsense: They want to pretend that Bush, in defying righty demands for a full pardon (which he will), is somehow being a brave steely-eyed rocket man who dares to flout his base.
The reality is, of course, that a pardon - a full no-qualifications pardon - is the last thing that Scooter Libby will get. Why? Because, as Marcy and Christy have pointed out, a full pardon strips away Scooter's ability to hide behind the Fifth Amendment when asked to testify under oath about Bush's and Cheney's involvement in outing Valerie Plame.
Unless Bush and the gang invent some new variation of the full pardon that doesn't keep Scoots from pleading the Fifth (which is highly unlikely), a full pardon is the LAST thing that they will do in Scooter's case. The LAST thing.
So, all you righties banging the "Pardon Scooter" drum: Give it a rest. It ain't gonna happen. It was never about being nice to Scooter, but about being nice to his bosses.
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madness!
I kept getting 404!!!
Even the NY Times is all over the Bush hypocrisy. Look what is up at the top of the front page!
Commuting Prison Term Is Implicit Critique of Sentencing Standards.
Huh?
I got a 404 not found message 3 times trying to get to comments.
I blame Clinton.
Tweety, is on fire tonite! I can’t wait for KO’s SC!!! 8-)
no 404 here
Who says there won’t be conviction after impeachment hearings. If you had said in 2003 that Bush would have a 20% approval rating and the Repugs would be everyone’s idea of what not to do in politics, they’d have laughed and called you unpatriotic.
Not Really. Congress could give Scoot use immunity for his testimony. That would mean that nothing he says could be used against him in any court proceeding. Since he has already been convicted, offering him immunity now would not risk getting him off the hook of a prosecution. How could he argue the government convicted him based on his immunized testimony when he was convicted before he ever testified under immunity?
Hi Phoenix Woman!
you wrapped it up.
i for one think bushco will pardon the convicted felon when this uproar dies down - he pays no attention to the outcry from those who pay attention to the rule of law…..this bunch respects no law….
For us that have Comcast in Atlanta, please, please comment on KO. I already pay more that 50.00 a month but Keith is on another tier.
CTuttle @ 5
Really? Has Tweety learnt something from Schuster?
I think it just makes everything evil about the Bushies public, the stuff that only we lefties new before yesterday.
JPL @ 12
They will have the audio up in a zillion places in a few hours.
My goodness, PW, I didn’t know if you made it through yesterdays stampede smack dab through your wonderful post/thread. Very nice recovery, I think the dust has settled a little. *g*
Phoenix Woman nails it…thanks!
And OT, trifecta — if you’re here…you said something in the last thread about Shuster going to Fox. Please say it ain’t so…
LoudounLib @ 16
I thought that comment just meant Shuster was appearing as a guest on Fox. No?
LoudounLib @ 17
Didn’t he work for Fox before, why would he go back?
Other Pat — I hope that’s the case!
Petrocelli @ 11
It would be nice if Tweety did learn some Journalistic basics from Shuster! I happen to think Tweety has an axe to grind with Clinton’s faux impeachment, versus, the clearly criminal charges that are evident with Shrub’s behavior!!! My $.02!!! 8-)
PW, love ya, but I think for the benefit of the mouthbreathers emerging from the basement that the last little should read “but about covering their complicit, unindicted co-conspiring asses.”
What I wouldn’t give to hear Fitzgerald refer to them as such.
Unindicted co-conspirators.
Petrocelli @ 12
Maybe Tweety is afraid that if he doesn’t watch out, Schuster will get his job!
“Expert” on Hardball, If you believe that Scooter Libby obstructed justice then the commutation is an extension of it.
The latest bullshit from Bush that I just heard is that under the conditions of Bush’s commutation ability/privilege, Scooter may not be placed under probation.
Something about not legally being able to place a person on probation if that person has not served any jail time.
Does that fall under PW’s “invent some new variation”?
SnarKassandra @ 13
The Left have learnt nothing from the Right vis a vis framing the debate …
… they should be drumming it a thousand times every minute …
… Bush & Cheney committed treason and Libby tried to cover it up !!!
Then, get all the Repubs talking heads on record disputing these facts.
Come on Pelosi/Reid, use your political capital or stand back and let more competent minds lead !!!
Hardballs just showed the clip of Tony Snow giving the back of his hand to the reporter while he “apologized” for the betrayal of a CIA NOC.
A disgusting display of - well, the truth of the nature of this admin.
Aw gee, scooter’s reputation is “in shreds”. Jeepers, how that must hurt.
Yeah, it’s in shreds with the american people, but Libby’s reputation as “good guy, great dad” seems to be intact, no?
What are they screaming about? Full pardon? that isn’t in Bush/cheney’s best interest. I wonder who thought of commutation because it just seems too legally clever for bubble boy.
Either Libby will get a full pardon or he will squeal. On or before January 19th. 2009. That is unless the Republicans recapture the WH in Nov. 2008. Then the pardon could come later. Perhaps 8-16 years later. I think Rove, Dick, and the GOP know this. If not then I’m wrong.
Petrocelli @ 25
Yes yes!!
Tony can give me a “Snow Job” any time. I’m just not buying it.
This is what trifecta posted at #170 in the last thread:
David Shuster starting at Fox just amazes me. I always look forward to his reports. NBC should realize what a gem they have there.
neurophius @ 22
I wish Schuster gets Imus’s spot.
Buchanan: Why did the President “interfere in a legal trial”…..
I think Bush got roped into doing a big no, no. This is going to get bigger.
Keith Olbermann is the Peter Gunn of gutsy journalists. Chris Matthews is a gutless Barney Fife.
Excellent posts from FDL today, & a title we all can appreciate on this one, PW. Always love your “pull no punches” style of hitting the issue…
Just came up for air @ work, read the $$$ appeal downstairs, & hit the ol’ PayPal button.
For all you do, this $$$’s for you :-)
LoudounLib @ 32
I think that he meant he started his career at Fox but since then has been working for MSNBC
Pat Buchanon, “Libby’s Jail time was a potential time bomb, for Bush/Cheney!” Ya think??? *g*
LS @ 33
Oh, most definitely. The fingers you see when Bush opens his mouth are Cheney’s as he works his meat puppet.
I wonder if they are “incentivizing” Bush with alcohol or drugs to perform these days…
LS @ 23
That would be Norman Pearlstine, and he flat out said obstruction of justice and the commutation is an extension of that obstruction.
Norman Pearlstine, former editor of Time Magazine.
The MSM have their teeth in this one now.
KO Special Comment teaser– “Resign.”
SnarKassandra @ 29
I agree. I , for one, totally underestimated the power of media conditioning.
Marie Roget, many thanks!
JPL thanks — a day without Shuster is like a day without sunshine ;-) And if he went back to Faux, well that would just be another outrage.
Question I would like to be asked of shrub, Why did you waste the taxpayers money on the trial???
KO-”Scooter and the Commuter” , gotta love’em!!! ;-)
JPL @ 44
ooooohhhhhh
yeah
Anyone notice the way Bush shook his head when he said, “As for the future, I rule nothing [pardon]in and nothing out.”?
A sign of deception.
Pachacutec @ 42
De rien. The least I can do is send some green your way.
OT for Kucinich fans:
Happy Hour Roundup: Kucinich
neurophius @ 47
he looked kinda weird. maybe he is high?
Re: KO’s dubya clip.
dubya: i r activist judge.
Holy crap. I’m watching Bush give his public statement on the commutation on KO’s show…
He looks like he’s listening to the voices again, the ones in his ear telling him what to say.
Watch the focus of his eyes, and how they blink, and the pauses he takes as he gathers his words. He is listening to somebody else and regurgitating what they are saying.
Jeebus. We still have a meat f*cking puppet in the White House.
My prediction: Scooter will get his pardon after the 2008 elections.
KO
nothing more extenuating than knowing the convict yourself!
hahahaha
Gunga Djinn @ 24
Its been awhile since I practiced law (and never at the Federal level), but there may be some confusion betweren probation and parole. Probation does not require that you have to “pre-serve” time — the sentence is suspended (”put on the shelf”) and as long as you kiss your Probation Officer’s arse, you never have to serve it, whereas parole requires you to actually be serving, then get out.
My questions are (1): if Scooter doesn’t have any time on the shelf, whats the penalty for violating his probation? Usually, the time is suspended, and if you don’t walk the line with your Probation Officer they slam you with the suspended time. In this case, the penalty for violating probation is . . . what? Serving your non-time? Since the fine isn’t suspended, he’s gotta pay that regardless, and they can’t make extra penalties for violating probation — only impose a penalty that was suspended. Fed Bar members, plz speak up on this.
Question (2): Is W gonna NEVER pardon, or pardon in the last few hours? I’ve been cynically assuming option 2, but from the tenor of the comments, y’all are saying no pardon ever.
Rayne @ 52
who’ll ever forget the picture of Cheney looming in the bushes at a Rose Garden press conference
methinks KO has stiffened the backs of other msnbc reporters - i was amazed at kelly o’donnell at today’s presser and david shuster hmmm - wow
How many hours of FDL does that make today? Went over to C&L and saw that the opposition is saying that Wilson lied. Well, that State of the Union speech was rich in lies, and the one that made me walk out of the room was not the ‘yellowcake’ assertion, but the one that came after it.
Bush said that the U.S. was at risk from Iraqi drones filled with biological weapons, as I recall. I had at the time access to a library with a subscription to Aviation Week magazine, and the issue I had been reading that afternoon described the Iraqi drone program. It was fairly primitive, just getting up on the learning curve. Their greatest accomplishment — I haven’t been able to find the article online or in print, so this is out of my fallible memory — was to have a remote controlled aircraft (small, but full-sized; usually piloted) fly a 300 mile racetrack pattern out in the desert.
That was all I needed to know to be sure that Bush was trying to make us all very, very afraid, and it did cast doubt on his ‘yellowcake’ story.
I’ve never seen his bluff called on this point, but, hey, maybe it’s not too late. Who knows: it could be useful.
busboy33 @ 55
If he buys a gun or drinks beer or hangs out with other criminals, can the original judge throw him in jail then?
tw3k @ 51
I r activist judge; I m n ur White House, waitin 4 beer.
a legal showdown is in the works…..so says weasly richard wolfe
Rayne @ 60
Shorter Bush: Judges who strictly adhere to sentencing guidelines are activist judges.
neurophius @ 47
I noticed a lot of eye blinking. Has anyone studied eye blinking and deception?
Bits and pieces as I read through Tony Snow’s inane performance today:
I don’t think that word means what you think it does, Tony.
This is Snow’s “I don’t know what I’m talking about but if I keep talking maybe no one will notice” moment.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news.....703-6.html
There needs to impeachment hearings. What’s difficult to understand about this?
Bush the First pardoned Caspar Weinberger and several others. Why wouldn’t Bush the Lesser pardon Libby for exactly the same reasons?
gah, i go back to ’stuff’ now, just pisses me the f?ck off.
I meant Shuster started at Fox. I am sorry for any confusion. Shuster burned his bridges with Fox btw. He has called them hacks.
I don’t think he would be welcome even if he started laughing at Dennis Millers’ jokes.
Prairie Sunshine @ 39
Ding!
This is the outrage in a nutshell.
Somebody lit him up? Good. Let it burn and don’t put it out until he’s a pile of ashes.
Then piss on him.
Keith is coming up with counterpoints to the right wing spin on Libby.
at this point in bushco’s junta - he could care less about his place in history - he just wants to go home imho - wreck the country - a mere trifle in his mind - i.e. what him worry?? nahhhhhh
Rayne @ 60
707, ok i’m really out :)
busboy33 @ 55
Someone had some links a couple of threads ago that Judge Walton has called a hearing for I believe next Monday to hear arguments from both Fitz and the Libby team. My understanding after reading the story was that the probation rules Walton imposed presumed that Libby would have served his sentence as required. By commuting the jail time, it is creating a new level and Walton is holding hearings. And from the tone of the quotes of Walton, he is NOT pleased.
CTuttle @ 37
How messed up are BushCo when Buchanan is to the left of them ?!! *g*
Bush issues a commutation for Cheney’s guy, Libby. Saying that Bush will never issue a pardon for Libby just does not make sense.
I think it took the msm a really long time to “get” this. Partially because they were so upset that journalists (gasp) were being hauled before the GJ, and partially because they were too lazy to take the time to understand it.
But I noticed something shifted when Fitz’ statement on Plame’s covert status was entered into the sentencing phase. When they had to let go of the meme of no underlying crime, they began to see the whole picture.
None of this would’ve ever happened without the bloggers. Schuster and Olbermann would be just as stupid as the rest if the bloggers had not done all the heavy lifting.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 65
While I completely agree with the majority sentiment presented. We must be realistic about impeachment. If there were no tapes of Nixon’s conversations showing his complicity in Watergate, he would not have resigned. He MIGHT have been impeached, but he would have been acquitted. Book it that the Bush admin. has learned all the mistakes that Nixon made - and has complete plausible deniability for the President. We will not find a smoking gun regarding Bush. Under its current make-up there are not enough Senators for a conviction vote - period (think Lieberman)..Impeachment with acquittal is a loss for demos. and America. It doesn’t change anything and will only be used by the right as an example of how Bush was NOT GUILTY, the opposite of what is true. However, impeachment and conviction of Cheney and Gonzo is possible and would help the country and the progressive cause. Let’s do something that might actually get results, not just complain about how we wish things were different.
juslin @ 57
Absolutely. I have emailed Dan Abrams on several occasions complimenting him on MSNBC since he took over — especially with regards to KO and Shuster.
However, I think it’s time to point out the inconsistent standards he tolerates. During the Duke lacrosse debacle and his coverage of it, Abrams was always clear about his being a graduate of Duke and his fealty to the insititution.
Why should he allow Tucker a pass about his daddy’s connection to Scooter?
i hope the blogosphere has KO’s back - the pressure on him must be ENORMOUS!
Judge Walton calls Hearing
dakine01 @ 74
Wheee! Bush and Co. are about to learn what Paris Hilton did . . .namely, you can do any damn fool thing you want to in court, but NEVER PISS OFF THE JUDGE.
juslin @ 71
Well, God took time out of dictating memos on Iraq to tell him to commute poor Scooter’s sentence, so Bush would, of course, be completely at peace.
Rayne @ 52
Hey Rayne, are those Brownies done yet ?!! *g*
… eagerly waits to dollop Vanilla Ice Cream over warm Brownies …
If I were George, I’d be worried about Karl. Except for the fact that my party seems scared stiff of Rove.
dakine01 @ 74
I think the hearing is Walton snark. He has noticed that the Bush commutation was hastily written and not well thought out (likely by one of Poppy’s friends up in Maine, before Cheney could get his paws on it and convert it to a pardon). Obviously the lawyer who wrote that doesn’t get the finer points of the criminal justice system, such as sentencing guidelines.
jane(nyc)@79
i’ve wondered the same re - tucker’s dad’s being the chief in charge of convicted felon’s fundraising…..
Dinnertime … see y’all on Late Nite …
Methinks that Scooter had them by the short hairs and they knew it.
Schuster on KO:
Lack of any other charges-Fitzgerald said Libby threw sand in the umpire’s eyes.
No crime to investigate, Val not covert-CIA and Fitz said she was covert. Another reason the CIA asked for the special prosecutor.
Probation Dept wanted no prison time-the only people asking for no prison time were Libby’s lawyers. WH spin is inaccurate and this was a ticking time bomb for them.
Obstruction-Justices need to look at overarching investigation to determine sentence.
WH changing the facts. (KO)
boxer @ 77
There is a smoking gun. At least five million of them, in the form of emails sent using RNC resources.
It’s only a matter of time before some if not all of them surface since email never, ever dies.
And they took NO pains to be secure in their communications. I would not be one bit surprised if a foreign entity ensured that some of those so-called “missing” emails surfaced, since hosts of network sniffers probably picked them all up.
What if the reason the rest of the world’s leaders don’t think much of Bush is not just because he f*cks up everything at the expense of everyone but himself, but that they’ve seen the emails and they already know what kind of crazy-assed hacks have been running our country into the ground?
juslin @ 79
I think Keith is riding the wave and enjoying it immensely.
The need is for a political settlement. Impeach Cheney.
Jane (nyc) @ 78
When will John Edwards take out a commercial about this latest travesty?
He has to keep in front on all these issues.
How’s EE ?
RevDeb @ 88
That about takes care of it.
Whoa. That advertisement for The Nation during KO’s show is very in-your-face about its liberal bias.
Phew. My head’s spinning, almost like slipping into an alternate reality and back in mere seconds.
Can the Judiciary Committees offer a reward for missing emails from the RNC and GWB email servers?
Rayne @ 90
Bush can’t operate a blackberry or send an e-mail. The only evidence against him would be hearsay, and that will not be enough to convict a sitting President.
Rayne @ 95
tell me more..
Petrocelli @ 93
John did issue a statement yesterday but imagine they are busy today celebrating Elizabeth’s birthday. *g*
boxer @ 78
No. We must be realistic about our responsibility to our constitution and our posterity. What kind of precident does it set if we fail to attempt to right the wrongs that have been done to us? Impeachment with acquittal (if the evidence is actually brought out in the Senate) is not necessarily a “loss” for democrats. It would be a stain on those who voted against, and would remain in history books forever.
Rayne @ 95
We are making our own alternate reality as we go along. The question is how long will it take for the rest of the country to catch up to us and dive in?
Petrocelli @ 32
What about morning Joe, and Mika.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 92
hey kiddo, now your getting the hang of it.
NY Times links:
Sentencing guidelines and Bush’s confusion.
Reggies Confusion.
boxer @ 97
Don’t need Bush’s fingerprints. Remember that there has already been a reference between White House folks and DOJ folks about a decision on U.S. Attorneys, referring to “the boss” and what they think.
Who’s the boss? Sara Taylor? Harriet Miers? Karl Rove?
Or Bush?
And that’s just one email.