In yet another whopper, George W. Bush commuted the sentence of the traitor, Scooter Libby, yesterday. For all the criticism (much deserved) flying his way over this, Bush could have done worse and pardoned him. A pardon would have been a total excision from the record of any wrongdoing on Libby's part. Commuting the sentence freed Libby from doing prison time, however, he is still liable to pay a fine and be disbarred. But yeah, not having to do time in prison is a much bigger coup than not having to pay a fine or not being disbarred. Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail.
What struck me was how Bush had the audacity to say that he respected the decision of the jury while announcing that he was using his executive power to free Libby. To overrule the decision of a jury, and more broadly, the people, shows that you would have no respect for that decision. So that struck me as a supremely arrogant thing to say, although that doesn't surprise me concerning anyone in this administration. The White House even shut off their phone lines yesterday, anticipating a communicative assault from pissed-off and outraged citizens. That in itself is an outrage, as the White House phone lines are OURS, not George W. Bush's or Dick Cheney's.
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