Posted on 07/02/2007 8:47:31 PM PDT by freespirited
President Bush limited his deliberations over commuting the jail term of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to a few close aides, opting not to consult with the Justice Department and rebuffing efforts by close friends to lobby on Libby's behalf, administration officials and people close to Bush said yesterday.
"We were all told to stay away from it," said an old Bush friend from Texas who is close to Libby and would not speak for attribution. "When we called over there, they said the president is well aware of the situation, so don't raise it. None of us lobbied him because they told us not to."
For the first time in his presidency, Bush made a decision to commute a sentence without going through a process of running requests through lawyers at the Justice Department, White House officials said. He also did not ask the chief prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, for his input, as routinely happens in cases routed through the Justice Department's pardon attorney.
...A lot of people are going to be bitter about this," said one prominent Washington conservative ... "The president praises Fitzgerald and basically accuses Scooter of lying. He's parsing this down the middle, which is not the way Scooter's friends see it. People are happy that he's not going to jail, but this is not what people were hoping for."
...In many respects, Bush's statement explaining his decision suggests a classic political compromise.
Despite the anger felt by GOP partisans towards the special prosecutor, Bush was careful to be respectful of Fitzgerald, describing him as "a highly qualified, professional prosecutor who carried out his responsibilities as charged."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
My first reaction was that he tried to split the baby on this one. I didn’t really care either way what happened to Libby. I didn’t follow the trial. I am sure juries can be wrong. I’m also sure that in politics, everyone always says the jury’s wrong when it’s their guy. So I have no way of knowing. I think the “process” crime arguments are weak. Crime is crime. Anyway, seems like GW tried to split the difference. Libs will wail anyway, as they are already doing. GOPers are glad Libby’s not gonna be living in striped sunlight, but think GW should have pardoned.
He didn’t out any CIA operatives,
Holy Smokes, could you make yourself look any more ignorant of the facts of this case?
Go listen to your Eurotechno music and leave the converation to the grown ups.
Your post...this is a parody...a joke, right?
Libby outed absolutely no one and wasn’t charged or convicted of it.
You forgot the sarcasm tag.
What in the heck are you talking about. Talk about stupid.
Corruption. GET REAL! YOUR POST IS ABSOLUTELY NUTS.
Did you see President Bush FALN terrorists who had killed people?
Did you see a child molester (Mel Reynolds) pardoned?
Did you see pardons for sale (Denise Rich makes donation to the Clinton library, ex-hubby, a true criminal walks)?
Scooter Libby had a bad memory about meaningless people and meaningless conversations. It was Armitage that leaked Plame’s name — and can you show she was covert? Your post is really poor.
Libby’s Trial was like a Seinfeld episode. It was a trial about nothing.
Your post is a classic example of someone who is totally ignorant of any facts and yet spouts off like an authority.
Out troll!
Front 242. Very good industrial music group. Very bad troll.
LOL!
Jerry: “So she was in- then she was out? And then she was outed?”
Kramer: “OOOHHH Yeah - she was OUTED baby”
Jerry/George: “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
Quote — “The president praises Fitzgerald and basically accuses Scooter of lying. He’s parsing this down the middle, which is not the way Scooter’s friends see it. People are happy that he’s not going to jail, but this is not what people were hoping for.”
This is why hardly anyone is going to be happy about this. President Bush has no intention of ever pardoning Libby...
No “hooray” here — when President Bush has no intention of ever pardoning Libby...
In this case, the President is going to take the heat from everyone, since he has no intention of ever pardoning Libby...
“Day late and dollar short” and no pardon coming later on...
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