From the Associated Press, via MyWay News:
President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case Monday, stepping into a criminal case with heavy political overtones on grounds that the sentence was just too harsh.
Bush's move came hours after a federal appeals panel ruled Libby could not delay his prison term in the CIA leak case. That meant Libby was likely to have to report to prison soon and put new pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Most Conservatives are pleased with this news tonight.
I say "most," because I am not one of them.
No, I haven't forgotten that Valerie Plame was NOT a covert operative. Yes, she worked for the CIA, but she was not covert.
I also haven't forgotten that Richard Armitage was actually the person who actually disclosed Valerie Plame's employment in the CIA to Robert Novak and not Scooter Libby.
I also haven't forgotten that there was no underlying crime in Scooter Libby's conviction on perjury charges.
Despite all of that, I still don't think Scooter Libby's sentence to 30 months in jail should have been commuted by President Bush. Why? The answer is simple: He. Broke. The. Law.
As I've said on these pages before, perjury is perjury is perjury. Scooter Libby chose to lie in the course of a Federal investigation. There was no crime--he didn't have to lie! He did, however, and he ought to pay the price for what he did.
If you or I did it, we'd go to jail. It's that simple. We wouldn't get clemency from the President of the United States, that's for sure.
"But it's clemency...it's not a pardon. His conviction still stands." Big deal, I say. If you do the crime, you should do the time. It's really not that difficult a concept.
I do not agree with President Bush's decision at all. Not one bit. I understand that the Constitution grants a President this power and that it's used at the prerogative of the President...but I don't have to like it. What Bush did is lawful, sure. I can't argue that. However, there were two people on the list who should have received full pardons before Scooter Libby received clemency.
Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.
I get that Presidents are going to pardon their cronies. Clinton pardoned his brother as well as Dan Rostenkowski. George W. Bush pardons his Vice President's Chief of Staff. It doesn't make any of them right. Not when people like Ramos and Compean sit in prison for doing their jobs.
The commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence is wrong.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
