...imagine how Valerie Plame feels.

So Dick Cheney is mad that he put his faith into an intellectually lazy, spoiled child who, when the VP wanted something, was too stubborn and lazy to lift a finger to help.

Welcome to world that the rest of the US has been living in for the past eight years, Dick Cheney. How does it feel?

you agree with Cheney that Bush should have pardoned Libby?

"At some point you have to accept the decision of the guy who appointed you. I think Cheney was over the top."

wait a minute... bush appointed chenney? I thought he was elected...

I'm guessing 'dubya isn't going to go quail hunting with lord vader anytime soon.

"I think Cheney was over the top"

and as Sarah Silverman once said: "Let me be the first to say this: Hitler was an asshole!"

Bush appointed Cheney to be his running mate.

Actually Cheney appointed himself, but no election was involved.

So Scooter's demise would explain why he looked so warm, fuzzy and engaging in his wheelchair at the Inauguration?

C'mon nothing is that simple with Darth Vader.

Pretty gut sure that there simply has to be lots more of this kinda stuff to come in the months ahead....Hope springs eternal.

No one could have predicted!

I guess this means that when the unemployed mobs come for him, Bush won't be able to flee to the safety of the guest house at Cheney's pleasure palace in Dubai.

Poor man. On of his criminal friends didn't get off totally scot free for once. I think he's more upset to not get a perfect score than about any trouble Libby is having.

How many more heart attacks would it take for the worst asshole since Hitler to finally relieve humanity of his sordid existence?

Interesting question.

I do not, for one minute, believe that Scooter Libby deserves anything other than going to jail for revealing the name of a covert CIA agent.

However I would find it fun, had Mr. Libby been pardoned to watch as he was compelled to testify as to what went on in the plans to smear those who were not "on board" with Dick Cheney's schemes to build hysteria for an invasion of Iraq. Since a pardon would have meant that Mr. Libby would not be able to plead the Fifth Amendment to avoid testimony.

...that Bush's (non)action was a final little 'f*ck you' from Bush to the guy who was so involved in helping make the Bush Administration such a contemptible failure.

Now we can imagine even more vividly the self-interested, relentless pestering and intimidation that Cheney and his minions to used to "coax" the intelligence community into "finding" reasons to launch a war against Iraq.

Good riddance.

One can only hope that the long knives will come out and stay out.

There is much to tell of the machinations behind the Bush White House, and we now have two men who are known to be world-class grudge-holders and back-stabbers about to unleash their evil armies one at the other. This could actually get fun.

honest men come into their own.

If Libby had told the truth then the investigation would have continued. Libby's false testimony stopped the investigation. Cheney owes him big time.

A pardon might have allowed Libby to practice law again or get hired back by the Hudson Institute.

While I don't see any information on what he's doing for a living these days Republicans like Libby seem to always get on the payroll of some right-wing think tank or other.

to have his way on this. the only guy who could say no to him said no (not that i like bush). cheney's entire career is about not taking no for an answer. this is probably the only time he ever felt 'defeated'. but i'm sure he'll be just fine.

If your old friend & VP Dick should invite you on a friendly hunting trip - consider carefully.

that Bush did not say "no" to Darth Cheney sooner, and more often!

Yeah, it took Bush a little bit too long to learn that lesson about Cheney.

Like Philadelphia Steve, I wouldn't have minded if a pardoned Libby had then been forced to testify. But for now, the effect on Cheney is good enough for me... since we're never going to get anything resembling true justice out of that case.

Saying "no" to Dick Cheney on this matter is one of the very few things George Bush ever did that I actully approve of. In fact, I'm left wondering exactly why he refused to do this. A lot of people seemed to assume that he would pardon Libby in the end. The behind the scenes maneuvering about this would be fascinating to be let in on. Hopefully, the entire story of this...and so many other things...will eventually come out.

I have this very odd sensation as I find myself agreeing with Bush on something, how strange.

In my opinion it is exactly what I described in my post: to prevent Mr. Libby from ever being compelled to testify, under oath, as to how the Bush Team smeared America's way into war.

That fact George W. Bush betrayed a "friend" to do this likely had no effect on him whatsoever: his having been born devoid of a conscience.

Funny, that Cheney would be mad about this, and not the fact that his former boss has destroyed the Republican Party and the U.S. Economy.

You're right. (here: http://letters.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/17/cheney_libby/permalink/855d80142cd8e8e474f497730127124e.html )

That's the real story here: if Cheney is this persistent with the President, how much more forceful must he have been to others in government that he was in a position to actually exert power over.

No one was more surprised than Dick Cheney when bush told him no. After all, Cheney is accustomed to doing exactly what he wanted, to having his way without challenge or interference from bush. Cheney, in fact believed that he was answerable to no one. Poor man, he still doesn't realize its over. He still thinks that he ought to be able to wield the same power he once did as de facto president. In the waning years of the bush presidency, for reasons that are completely unknown to me, george bush started doing his own thinking, summoning up the energy to pay attention to what Cheney was doing and to overrule him. This was definitely a change in the agreement they had lived by all this time - "You be the puppet and I'll be the puppet master". All that changed and Cheney was left with the old model which was no longer valid. Now he is trying to wrestle back what he once had during the heady days when george was too busy to pay attention to those little details.

Lost in this whole discussion is the fact that you and your henchmen chose to disclose the status of an active CIA agent to punish her husband. That ought to be a crime. Neither you, nor your lackey deserve any special consideration for that.

Here's the deal, Dickie boy. Nobody is interested in you or your frustration. For once in your life, do us all a favor and just go away.