Libby Won't Do Jail Time: Bush Commutes Sentence

Mon, 07/02/2007 - 4:00pm

We'd love to give you a link, but there isn't one yet: MSNBC has it as breaking news that President Bush has commuted Libby's sentence. The conviction stands, but Libby does not have to serve any time in jail. He will also still have to pay $250,000 in fines and probably lose his law license. EDIT: MSNBC now has the story on their site.

The real question now becomes: is this a net gain or net loss for the Republican Party? It's pretty obvious that a commutation of sentence is George Bush's way of riding the fence — trying to throw some red meat to the party loyalists that have called for his pardon while trying not to lose any more ground to claims of partisan pandering that are so prevalent in this administration. But will the commutation really avoid those claims? It seems a win/win could quickly become a lose/lose, if the "glass is half-empty" types prevail and party loyalists still see this as the administration rolling over one of their most loyal adherents, while opponents look at it as Bush letting a convicted criminal skip out on jail time because he happened to be pals with the Prez. Only time will tell how the media and the public end up seeing this.

We'll keep you posted as more of this come out.

Libby won't serve jail time

By rabbit162

Mon, 07/02/2007 - 7:07pm

That's okay. He wasn't who we were after, anyway.

Bird in the hand

By George Nassar

Mon, 07/02/2007 - 7:13pm

Well, I guess there are bigger targets, but at the same time, Libby was convicted for perjury. That's not nothin'.

How many death warrants...

By WhosPlayin

Mon, 07/02/2007 - 9:10pm

...did GWB sign when he was governor? But 30 months is too long to serve for being a traitor to the nation and endangering lives.

We can thank him for handing Dems the presidency in 2008.

WORST.PRESIDENT.EVER
Stick a fork in him.

Steve Southwell
WhosPlayin? Blog: http://www.whosplayin.com

I'm Too Sexy For The Law, Too Sexy For The Law...

By Patrick M McLeod

Mon, 07/02/2007 - 11:50pm

Right Said Fred has already burnished his Law and Order credentials by exclaiming this pardon to be a great moment in modern American history.

On one hand, commuting his sentence but not pardoning him does spare the Executive Uber Alles crowd from having to see Libby board the Big Blue Bus for his trip to the pen, but I'm not convinced that it is going to placate them.

At the heart of all this mess is the idea that the Executive Branch is above the checks and balances proscribed to the Legislative and Judicial Branches, truly that the Executive Branch is above the law as a whole.

I don't think that commuting Libby's prison time is really what these people want. To be certain, they don't give a fig about Scooter Libby or who he would have to spoon at night in jail in order to stay alive and in reasonably good health. Only a pardon of their symbol (Libby) gets them what they want:

Vindication.

I still believe it's not about Libby doing time; as long as he is a convicted felon, that's a conviction of their beliefs. As long as he is guilty, their dream of an autocratic, unanswerable Executive dishing out signing statements like pizza coupons is criminal.

At this point, I think they will be publicly happy to get out of town without jail time for their symbol, but I don't think they're going to be all that pleased with a President who didn't vindicate their ideas by pardoning their fall guy.

I realize his polling numbers are non-existent

By Robin Orlowski

Tue, 07/03/2007 - 5:02am

But commuting the jail sentence of somebody who was convicted can't improve Bush's PR!

Plus, it contradicts the 'tough on crime' stance Bush supposedly has. Or is an exception getting carved out when his friends are involved? It will be interesting to see if the polling numbers can go even lower.

Not enough

By Josh Berthume

Tue, 07/03/2007 - 7:37am

Yeah, for all the cooking Bush is going to get from the Left, I think the Right will be more upset about this as a half-measure. Of course, it won't matter. It isn't like Bush really needs any of the people that are going to be upset with him in the first place. He may have seen this as a way to help out the Republican party, in some twisted way.