Whatcha gonner do about it? huh?

You get my red star.

Who I REALLY feel betrayed by is the Democrats, not Bush et al. I mean, come on, is anyone really shocked they continue to behave like scumballs?

Like the fable of The Scorpion and the Frog, Bush is the Scorpion. It is his nature to be weak, criminal, conniving.

I celebrated when the Democrats won the House & the Senate, but what good are they doing as they roll over, again and again? What are they so afraid of?

If only bravery and moral convictions were more common in politics...

Consider the options available to Cheney & Bush:

1. If Scooter actually went to jail, he would sing like a canary.

2. If Scooter were pardoned now, he would no longer be able to plead the 5th Ammendment to avoid having to tell who it was who told him to lie to the grand jury. The probability that Libby did it on his own is nearly zero.

Commutation now - full pardon in 2009.

Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. Patrick Fitz went after Libby because Libby prevented Patrick from prosecuting the real criminals. The day after Libby's appeal to avoid jail was rejected, Bush commutes the sentence to Libby out of jail.

It should be obvious what happened there. Libby would only lie so long as he didn't end up in jail. The day after Libby and Bush know Libby is going to jail, Bush commutes the sentence. This was purely a self defense move to prevent Libby from singing like a canary.

Well yahoooooooooooo! Fire up the fryin' pan and get the grease hot, Duba got some "Best Friends" coming to see him at the Kennebuckport Compond for the long weekend and engage in some serious fishin' and elbow-bendin'. Hurahhhh, for our Great Country (a nation of laws)...yawn... and that stuff about "Lady Justice is Blind", yada yada yada...snooze.

"...because he can. I bet you wish you could do that. Yeah, but I'm afraid he would bite me."

Remember to spit on your hook for good luck!

Is to your characterization of Bush's choice as a 'cave-in.' It's hardly a cave-in-- it's just a continuing symptom of the arrogance, hubris, and contempt for the rule of law that's been the hallmark of this administration. Libby's not 'valuable' enough for a full pardon, and for that matter, if he's exonorated he wouldn't be able to plead the Fifth-- so this is exactly what Bush wanted, and exactly what he got.

Forget the meandering complaints about Presidential pardons & commutations, and stop wasting your time with wet dreams about impeachment. It won't happen.

History is rife with questionable pardons. Our current President is not the only person to use said power. Our previous President Bill Clinton pardoned a batch of criminals during his last hours as President. Have you seen the list? Too few people actually take the time to gain perspective over this rampant problem.

It is time to ELIMINATE the power of Presidential pardon & commutation. Our fathers gave way too much power to one particular person many years ago, and it is time to rectify that situation.

Contact your reps today, and push for elimination. Fix the future, not the past.

because ANY punishment would have been excessive.

I once worked with a manager who deliberately falsified documentation and lied to get a subordinate fired. The woman she fired was a single mother whose firing took place two weeks before Christmas.

The manager was breaking the law but she was not punished for what she did, even though she had opened up the company to potential legal trouble.

The feeling was that she had been punished enough by having been caught. That was it. For a manager, or executive, the loss of face in front of other managers and subordinates was considered a punishment equal to the unfair loss of employment to a single mother, as well as the falsification of company documents. But then, the manager had information about other managers in the company who had also played fast and loose with company regs and employment laws.

The company then went into overdrive to close ranks and ensure that there would be no legal recourse for the fired woman to appeal the loss of her job.

Just so, Scooter has suffered enough. They really do believe that even the perceived loss of face and professional standing is a sufficient punishment, which they can unilaterally apply to themselves, circumventing the courts altogether, because the law doesn't apply to them anymore than the threat of jail.

Having had to endure this "punishment", Scooter will now reap the rewards of the company closing ranks around him. His "fine" will be paid by others and his future will be professionally and monetarily secure.

He will be lauded as some sort of hero for never breaking down and telling the truth and he will be expected to do the exact same for any other of his peer group caught breaking the law in the future.

If it's wrong, he will do it.

I went to bed last night as angry as I have been about this Administration, but a few hours of sleep and reflection calmed me down. I agree with Joan's comment on the Libby matter.

If you are going to spend any of your time fighting against them, please direct your energy to preventing the escalation of the war in Iraq and an attack of Iran. This is where he still can hurt America the most. Everything else, most of the damage has been done.

"If Democrats -- and other people who loathe this administration -- are angry about Libby, they should put their energy into stopping the one other thing this president can still do: Send more soldiers to die in Scooter's war. He can't do much, but he's still dangerous."

OK. And how do you propose that 'Democrats and other people' do that, Joan? Protests in the streets that will be ignored by the media and political establishment? Writing your Congressmen who will send you a form letter in response before ignoring you? Voting for the Democratic party that has supported this military aggression and occupation every step of the way?

One supposes the last of the three is what you are implying. Yeah, sure.

Bush did this because he knows there exists no serious opposition to his administration and that he can get away with ANYTHING with the help of not only the right wing media and his fascist political base, but also his most critical supporters - the leaders of the Democratic party.