Pardon us, Mr. Bush
First published: Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Times Union Editorial
So we celebrate the very founding of this nation today, a splendid
and stirring rite that this year comes complete with troubling
questions about our government. By intervening to spare I. Lewis
Libby, once the top aide to Vice President ***** Cheney, from prison,
President Bush has further succeeded in demonstrating that this is a
country where those who govern are above the law.
Commutation of Mr. Libby's prison sentence is ever typical of an
administration that allows domestic spying without warrants and
disregards the Geneva Conventions. Mr. Libby, let's never forget, was
found guilty by a jury of his peers of perjury and obstruction of
justice in the investigation of who leaked the identity of undercover
CIA agent Valerie Plame.
The outing and smearing of Ms. Plame, an act of lawlessness in its
own regard, was the price of revenge the Bush administration was
determined to exact after her husband, former ambassador Joseph
Wilson, dared to criticize the dubious premise behind the Iraq war. A
President who effectively endorses the tactics of personal
destruction has just as effectively encouraged more of them.
For his crimes, Mr. Libby was sentenced last month to 2 1/2 years in
prison. It was an entirely appropriate sentence, and one within the
guidelines recommended by prosecutors. Federal Judge Reggie Walton
made a point as he imposed the sentence of the particular obligations
of powerful people like Mr. Libby to obey the law.
Mr. Bush, however, accountable to seemingly nobody save the dwindling
band of conservative true believers among his supporters who demanded
that Mr. Libby be spared from prison if not pardoned outright,
couldn't bring himself to let justice be served. He commuted Mr.
Libby's prison sentence, on the grounds that it was too harsh. Mr.
Libby's $250,000 fine and two years of probation remain in effect, at
least for now.
"I respect the jury's verdict. But I have concluded that the prison
sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive," Mr. Bush said in a
statement that calls into serious question any such respect,
especially since he won't even rule out a full pardon for Mr. Libby.
Consider this refutation of Mr. Bush's reasoning, by Patrick
Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the Libby case. "An experienced
federal judge considered extensive argument from the parties and then
imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws," Mr.
Fitzgerald argues. "It is fundamental to the rule of law that all
citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals."
How quaint, to use a word so popular in the Bush White House. This is
an administration oblivious to such essential principles of justice.
Mr. Fitzgerald's devotion to the law had no place in this government.
He might as well save his indignation for a Fourth of July
celebration today.
"The Constitution gives the President the power of clemency to be
used when he deems it to be warranted," Mr. Bush said as he spared
Mr. Libby from even a day in prison. The President is right, of
course. That he feels compelled to exercise such power in this
instance is an indictment of himself, albeit a political and moral
one, rather than a criminal one, that can't be overturned.
On the facing page today, we've reprinted the Declaration of
Independence, as we do each year. Take note of the case it
accumulates against the King of Great Britain:
"He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary
for the public good."
Sound familiar?
That's America, on its 231st birthday. THE ISSUE:The President
commutes I. Lewis Libby's prison sentence.THE STAKES:The notion of
justice for all is undermined by such blatant abuse of presidential
power.
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=603249&category=OPI
NION&BCCode=&newsdate=7/4/2007
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get real. like jesus would ever own a gun or vote republican.
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