Please check the diaries, the Clinton campaign has released their statement.

Clearly Bush & Cheney don't care at all what any of us think. Not us progressives. Not the 60% of us who think this commutation is wrong. Not all of us who believe that most of what they are doing with our government is wrong.

Sadly, by the time they are ready to toss out the dirty laundry and give up the White House to a Democrat, there will be little left in the cash-drawer, and little of the U.S. righteous reputation left in the world.

This is just one of many dispiriting things that slime out of the White House.

Given the history of geoWge and his junta, secrecy, obfuscation, fabrication and with the aid of his friend and personal lawyer, Alberto G., whose main job seems to be adjusting US laws to suite this regimes agenda; why should this semi pardon come as a surprise?
This move was made to ensure that Scooter's silence is assured, ending any hope of gaining further insight into the continuing investigation pertaining to the role of certain White House figureheads and sharpshooters.
Libby lied. He perjured himself and who knows what deal he cut prior to so doing? As for the fine, hey, his pal, Uncle Dickie can take car of that with his pocket change.
geoWge invoking his constitutional right is such a sweet touch, especially in view of the fact that Alberto referred to that as a 'quaint old piece of paper."
Once again, and this time from our nations highest office, this is proof  that American justice is not only not blind, but plays favors.  

Oh well, Sandy Burglar never set foot in jail, so I guess it's fitting.

Olbermann made the point tonite that this got simpler to understand for people who weren't paying attention: the President overruled a jury, a judge, and a three-judge appeals court panel to give his guy a get outta jail free card.

John Dean thinks people already understand this case.

I'm not sure who's right, but will there be outrage?

Is anyone really surprised by this.  I am merely surprised it was a commutation of the sentence vs. an outright pardon.  Expect Snow and Co. to emphasize this point.  For his entire presidency, Bush has done exactly what he wanted without regard to rules, laws and certainly not public opinion.  If we look back at the last Repub debates, we had most of the candidates ducking with the,"I have to read the the details, Giuliani asserting prosecutor indiscretion, and Paul and Gilmore saying no pardon.  I'm sure if you interviewed solely Repubs, less than 60% would say commuting his sentence was wrong.  Rush and Co. have actually been pretty good at convincing the base that Libby did nothing wrong.

What did I say that caused you to delete my post?

So you can call them.

Bush did not think the time given to the 2 Border Patrolmen was too harsh. They were first time offenders and was doing their job. Unlike Libby who was running his mouth out of turn.

Buddies stick together even when one is guilty. The time given to Libby is a walk in the park. Poor baby, does not like small rooms?

This thing Bush did is another example of how he abuses his power and position.

Be glad when his replacement is voted in to office. Can only be better.

If Bush has commuted Libby's sentence it is likely that they are anticipating other potential court cases involving loyalists within his administration.  This move may merely be seeking to reaffirm solidarity among executive branch staff and regain the confidence or stiffen the resolve of wavering actors.

I will be interesting to see if the public outcry is anywhere near the outrage expressed when Paris Hilton was released after only serving 4 days.  Quite amazing to think Paris Hilton did 23 days in jail for driving with a suspended license while on probation and Scooter Libby does no time.  

It was written somewhere that if Libby actually went to prison, he would talk.  Commuting his sentence is easier and less messy than assassinating him.

Ignoring subpeonas, commuting sentences of criminals to aid in the cover-up of crimes, standing by Gonzalez and other people who are obviously lying.

Now is the time to impeach them, to bring all of the facts out in lurid detail, and use it to force the American people to see who the Republicans really are and what they really stand for: there were no WMDs and they knew it, there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks and they knew it,  the invasion and destruction of Iraq was all about stealing oil and building a giant mlitary base in the middle of the Middle East so we can control it, they authorized torture and secret jails and snatching people off the streets, they reward cronies and funnel money to their friends at military contractors, they steal elections, and they lie and lie and lie endlessly.

Write to your newspaper, call radio stations, make a giant stink about this.

bush made it easier for the republican candidates because they will not have to make this unpopular decision.

bush said that the punishment was too extreme for the crime (paraphrasing). I guess if you consider cheney and rove and the others got away with lying us into a war, that makes some sort of sick sense.

Know what gets me -- does the public understand what this was about...that the vengeance of the republican party who think they are all G-d felt it was okay to take down anyone who exposed their lies taking us to war.

Little did they know that much of the public seems to be suffering some type of a disorder in which they cannot comprehend or concentrate long enough to get what this really was about. If only bush and his cohorts realized this American public won't even be paying attention to even a war based on lies... They could have just let Joe Wilson babble on.

Someone here asked where is the outrage...yeah, right.

We have a Vice-President who says he's not part of the Executive Branch.

Then says that the people have no right to know who comes to meeting with him under the auspices of 'Executive Privilege'.

Then, we have a President who doesn't respect the will of Congress,because he just goes and issues a ' Signing Statement' on things he doesn't like.

An Attorney General who doesn't seem to understand THE CONSTITUTION.

So, how can anyone be surprised that they would try and find a way to justify a PERJURER?

I wonder what Bush Senior must think of all this.  Surely he has to be ashamed that his son has brought down both the Republican party and the office of President.

From Article II, Section 2:

"The President ... shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in cases of Impeachment."

This relates to Scooter through the ever-popular "unitary executive" concept, but that's not why I ask the question.  I ask it because, well, I only just thought of it.  All last week I was too busy, contemplating which branch of government the VP falls under.

Speaking of Deadeye Dick, here's a bet:  David Addington (his new Libby) has already drafted a memo for Gonzo to sign, explaining that the President can pre-emptively pardon not only his VP but also his own self for breaking any laws during their reign.  Republicans seem to think that "the President" means "Dubya", but a strict reading of the text is not so limiting -- although it does assume the President is a "he".

Now, think about that.  "The President" is not forbidden to pardon himself for breaking the law.  The only constitutional mechanism standing between the republic and a 4-year autocracy is impeachment.  Are you listening Ms. Pelosi?

-- TP  

Can't say that I'm surprised by this move and but it was a small gift to the democratic party. Bush knows full well that his presidency is beyond redemption at this point so there's no point in trying to save whats left of the 19% of die-hard loyalists. My gut says Libby would have started talking had he not been given this get-out-jail card. In that sense it's disappointing because Cheney really needs to face justice. On the other hand it only reinforces what the public perception of a White House being run by criminals.. and that does benefit the democratic candidate in 2008.

It is utterly shameful that the percentage is ONLY 60 percent.  Olbermann was on fire tonight, and summed up my feelings exactly.

We can't impeach w/o the votes, but we can declare him completely unfit as commander-in-chief and withhold his Iraq funding starting with the next appropriations round.

There's enough anger after this farce to do it, hold firm, and have the people firmly on our side.

"Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today."
- John Edwards
http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releas es/20070702-libby/

clinically = as in clinical depression, clinically diagnosed.
Incapable = incapacitated works for me.

Does a president lose his office/powers if he is diagnosed as incapacitated by reason of insanity? Who would do it?

Some of us criticized Hugo Chavez when he decided not to renew the license for the coupist RCTV station. With only 60% of Americans opposing the pardon of a criminal, I hope you now understand how dangerous the elitist biased media can be for a nation.