I've always respected Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne, who has taken more than her share of abuse for standing up to PC. I always regarded the Halliburton taunts as grossly unfair. Cheney to me seemed to personify grace, dignity, intelligence and integrity, rare qualities among the political class. Now, I'm not so sure. What can you say about a political leader who allows his top aide to take the fall for a fiasco like the Plame affair? Everyone in Washington understands the unwritten rule that if push comes to shove, a staffer is expected to fall on his sword to protect the "boss". That usually means a hurried resignation and, in extreme cases, copping a misdemeanor plea. The staffer can always write a book or catch on at Heritage, or if he's a democrat, with one of the networks. No one is expected to serve 30 months of hard time and have their family bankrupted however. That's what's facing Cheney's former top aide Scooter Libby after Judge Reggie Walton's inexplicable sentencing yesterday. The court's own sentencing committee had recommended half that time. What did Libby do to deserve such a harsh sentence? He apparently got some details of phone calls with reporters wrong, at least according to the reporters. Oh yeah, he also didn't sufficiently grovel at the feet of out of control prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, this year's runaway winner of the Mike Nifong award for prosecutorial misconduct. OK, sometimes crap happens. And no one can blame this on the democrats. The Bush White House directed the Bush Justice Department to appoint the special prosecutor, who was a Bush appointee. The judge was likewise a Bush appointee. So this was another in a series of self-inflicted wounds. But that is history. Now the issue is Bush's failure to issue a pardon and terminate this travesty. His ability to issue a pardon is unlimited. It can be to correct an injustice, as here, or in response to the pleas of big contributors, as Clinton did with Marc Rich. The democrats would be hard-pressed to complain in light of Clinton's record. Why Bush is so adamant about not pardoning Libby is one of the great mysteries of Washington. An even greater mystery is Cheney's role. No doubt Cheney has asked for a pardon and been rebuffed, at least i hope he had the decency to do at least that. But now, the situation has changed. Cheney has an obligation to his former aide to do more than just ask. He should threaten to resign if Bush refuses to issue an immediate pardon. All this talk about "waiting for the appeal" is just cowardice. What good does that do Libby if he is waiting in prison? The irony is that threatening to resign is a win-win move for Cheney. If he gets the pardon, at some point it will come out that he put his neck on the line for Libby. If Bush refuses him and Cheney resigns, he will become a rock star among conservative republicans, who already despise Bush. It's not like serving out the last year and half in this awful administration is going to cover Cheney in glory. So what's it gonna be Dick?
Sandy Berger steals classified documents and gets a slap on the wrist. Marion Barry, former DC mayor and current Council member, doesn't bother to pay or even file tax returns for five years and gets a suspended sentence. He still hasn't paid any back taxes. Senator Jim Webb's aide attempts to walk into the Capitol building carrying Webb's loaded semi-auto pistol. U.S. Attorney decides not to prosecute. Rep. Cynthia MacKinney gets into a melee with a Capitol policeman. No prosecution. Rep. Patrick Kennedy rams into barrier on Capitol grounds dead drunk. Goes to rehab, no prosecution. Scooter Libby gets a few details on a conversation with liberal democrat journalist Tim Russert wrong, according to Russert, and is prosecuted and sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000. I say something is seriously out of whack here. And don't even get me started on those two Border Patrol agents who got 10 and 11 years thanks to US Attorney and Bush crony Johnny Sutton for shooting a drug smuggler who attacked them.
If I were Cheney I'd be looking for an excuse to resign. Things will likely get uglier for this administration. Conservatives are furious over the attacks Bush and his proxies have made on them over the amnesty bill.
lmao... i'm a conservative you twit: sandy berger: jail marion barry: jail jim webb: big deal cynthia mckinney: yawn patrick kennedy: jail johnny sutton: jail border agents: immediately release, and compensation scooter libby: jail for treason, lying about fake wmd's actually making up the stories and presenting as evidence
and stupid Bush doesn't even know he is being used and set up. if the media gets bush to attack iran then he will have served his usefulness and they will let hell cave in on him...... and then anoint the next fool aka al gore. captain planet will save the earth, win the nobel peace prize... the granola's will fawn all over him and the globalist will get their world carbon tax. yawn
your political posts are always fun to read -- there's some kind of strange fascination in the paradox of a smart guy writing such absurdly inane things. can cognitive dissonance alone produce such masterpieces? an effect of anti-hippie nixon-era propaganda indelibly absorbed during formative years? or just playing the troll, bs'ing to start flamewars? assuming you're sincere -- what exactly about cheney "personifies dignity and integrity"!? his 5 draft deferments? time served in the nixon admin. meltdown years? all that dignified work running multinational oil outfits? the steadfast fleeing into "secure bunkers" on 9/11? (let the cowardly commoners fight wars and choke on toxins in the rubble - noble men of dignity and integrity have other priorities...) or all the visionary initiatives over the past 7 years, like wild spending, debt expansion, dollar debasement, and financial enslavement to the chinese? or does the integrity lie in de facto opening of the US-mexican border? the prompt and selfless katrina response? in the exertion of more police power, maybe - do free speech zones and wiretapping and offshore bases (in cuba no less!) and incognito "renditions" show a lot of dignity, maybe? impeccable dignity in "misspeaking" during speeches in the lead up to a useless war? is the integrity in hiding the coffins of fallen soldiers? in back-door drafting reservists? or is the integrity in going on international tv and declaring iraq a wild success 4 years in, with a straight face?