Ah, we liberals. We complain for years that King George, while governor of Texas, never commuted the sentences of any prisoners on death-row, and now he gives one little commutation to a convicted perjurer and we scream bloody murder. I think we should be applauding the arrival of a more lenient president. And I'll bet King George would be willing to strike again, if we ask him nicely. So go ahead everybody, list the names of people King George should pardon. I'll start the list:

William Plaine, the President's ninth-great grandfather, the first person executed in Connecticut, for sodomy and the corruption of boys.

Next?

What Fitzgerald succeeded in convicting Libby of was the obstruction of justice in the investigation of a case of treason.

Oh, please. Enough with the paranoid, over-the-top accusations already! If treason was the crime, and Fitzgerald knew who the leaker was (Richard Armitage), why didn't he charge him with that crime?

You just make yourself look stupid with such ridiculous statements.

While one can certainly question the wisdom and appropriateness of other presidents' pardons, the only presidents I can find who have used the power to pardon or commute for people who could implicate them in a crime have been named Bush.

Libby's "misrecollection" was a significant "misrecollection." I remember misrecollecting decking a guy in the nose once when I was a kid as soon as I got in trouble for it. Just because we remembered my fist against his nose differently didn't change the fact that I did something wrong that hurt someone. Care to explain away "obstruction of justice" too?

You're all pussies. You're so gutless we can see your lack of spine. You're a waste of resources. You're scruples bend with whoever is blowing hardest. Sycophants and chiselers, all of ya. Your moral fiber is cracker crusty and crumbles with the right glance from the wrong dude, or the wrong glance from the right dude, depending on your side of the aisle. Your sense of ethics is directly jacked in to your sense of elections. Your feebleness, your impotence, has played as big a role as any third-rate autocrats in bringing this once-great country so low. The Tweeds, Longs, Daleys, McCarthys and Nixons of history would roll all over you and show you how they did it. Delay did it for years. You act like children and couldn't bring real discipline to a room full of one child.

Prove us wrong.

You can't. Haven't in years.

You're a waste of a good nation.

I was typing fast. I can't call someone gutless anonymously.

Surrounded by insurmountable odds (i.e., truth) he hacked his way back to the camp of unenlightenment - there to foray out again armed with Lewinskis, McDougalls and Whitewaters.

These he slung about with such force and conviction that the enemies of slander and innuendo all but gave up and started slitting their own throats in despair.

=/

President Bush is a f***ing piece of sh*t.

... is delusional, since nowhere did I mention Lewinski, McDougal or Whitewater.

Those LSD flashbacks are a bitch, ain't they?

Bill Clinton pardoned terrorists and murderers to help Hillary's NY senate campaign. He was defended in doing this by Dems, including Nancy Pelosi.

Gee, why the silence in response to this fact, which was posted more than an hour (and about 30 letters) ago.

Once again, I'm so proud to be an American.

Thanks George.

Actually, I'm wondering how this is playing abroad and what sorta behind closed doors reception Bush is likely to get ... it's really pretty pathetic when you bail out your cronies minutes before their cell doors were gonna close ... bad crisis management ... bad "dirty tricks" ... If you're gonna do something like this, don't leave footprints, fingerprints all over the placed.

Wonder how GHW Bush took the news ... oh, and Tenet.

I've heard this story that Plame was outed to "discredit" Wilson ... but I find myself wondering more if Plame was outed as a warning to Plame, and Wilson and anyone else who might have something to say, as in, "Yes, we really are this ruthless." Can't wait for Plame's book ... but, afaik, Plame and Wilson are duty-bound to maintain "security" and any even suggestion of "loose lips" could ruin the rest of their lives ... if you know what I mean.

but, afaik, Plame and Wilson are duty-bound to maintain "security" and any even suggestion of "loose lips" could ruin the rest of their lives

Yeah, kinda like that photo-spread puff piece they did in Vanity Faire long before Fitzgerald was ever appointed. Yep, duty-bound they are.

Consider the outcomes of both options.

First, had Bush pardoned Libby, he would lose 5th amendment protection if called to testify before a Senate or Congressional committee, and could be compelled to testify, since he is protected against double jeopardy.

But by commuting, Libby retains his 5th amendment rights so long as his case remains on appeal. So you can be sure that he will continue his appeal, and that it will drag out.

Thus does the coverup of Cheney's crimes go on.

It's probably worth remembering, at this interesting juncture, that for at least three generations of the Bush family, this country has belonged to them. Or, at least, is has been extremely good to them.

The Bush family, purely on evidence easily available to anyone who wants to go read it, has regarded the United States government as a combination food-trough and fiefdom for nearly 100 years. GW and his wife, HW and Babs, and Prescott before them, all regarded the United States as their personal possession.

Ergo, GW's actions. He probably really believes that there was nothing wrong with commuting Libby's sentence. After all, it all belongs to him and his family, so he can do whatever the hell he wants. He always has, right? This is no different.

The Bush family is a family of traitors. Traitors to everything this country ever stood for, in an idealistic way...seen from another vantage though, the Bush family is in the long tradition of guilded-age criminals, who fatten up at the public trough, along with their friends, and make sure no-one is ever held accountable.