Well, fuck. The blogosphere is abuzz with this news. First there was ‘this news’ :
Former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled Monday.
Then started checking around the blogosphere on the coverage: Americablog, firedoglake, TPM, the Agonist, and a few other favorites. Get to work and find THIS!
God-fucking-damnit! All hell needs to break loose over this. Libby stood trial, he was tried – the jury found him GUILTY! He was sentenced. He appealed on a particular question regarding going to jail; he was denied that appeal . . . . . and finally – THIS! Joe Sudbay (Americablog) posted this from Jeffrey Tobin on CNN, (CNN’s legal analyst) who stated:
“This is a complete departure from the usual procedure. Scooter Libby is getting a very special brand of justice. He is getting enormous privileges that are not available to ordinary criminal convicts.”
From Josh Marshall: House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) reacts to Bush’s move as “inconsistent with the rule of law.” An update to the original reads: “And a staffer from his committee tells us that they’re looking to have a hearing on this as soon as next week.”
Josh also has updates with reaction from Reid, Pelosi, and Schumer. Like Chuck Schumer said: “As Independence Day nears, we are reminded that one of the principles our forefathers fought for was equal justice under the law. This commutation completely tramples on that principle.”
More later…….
[Update - 17:38] Just checked with Larry Johnson – colleague of Valerie Plame. He’s not ‘in’ so his blogmate has this up for now.
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Bush probably figures he’s got nothing to lose at this point. I mean, he can’t really drop any further in the polls. He’s a lame duck. It sucks, I know, but it could have been worse. He could have given Libby a full pardon.
Comment by ChenZhen July 2, 2007 @ 4:27 pmThe truly outrageous thing about it is the number of people that support it. What was the reasoning behind that again? Oh yeah, “he’s the president, he can do whatever he wants.”
How is it that some people can live in a democracy, say they love their country, and still applaud the actions of a dictator?
Comment by SadButTrue July 3, 2007 @ 4:45 amThat falls under the ‘I don’t get it’ category, SBT. What’s leaves one even more aghast are the ones interpreting, meting out justice are folks who align themselves politically with this administration. If folks think for a moment that this ‘kind of justice’ will be given to them, think again. As much as anything, this was calculated to keep Libby from flipping.
Comment by moonchaser July 3, 2007 @ 5:25 am