| In her syndicated column in the Wisconsin State Journal, Cynthia Tucker calls on President Bush to pardon the sentence given to former Atlanta Mayor, Bill Campell, who, like Scooter Libby, was sentenced to 30 months in jail by a U.S. district Judge for three counts of tax evasion. The only difference between Campbell and Libby is that while Campbell is languishing in a Federal prison in Florida, Libby has been spared hard time by his "partial pardon" from Bush. The political response to the pardoning of Scooter Libby has been very predictable. The Democrats have rightfully decried President Bush's actions as despicable, exemplifying his contempt for the impartiality of our system of justice, smacking of political cronyism and the notion that you can lie and get away with it as long as you have friends who are situated in the right places. In their response, the Republicans have continued to demonstrate their mastery of the art of circumlocution by talking about everything else but what has really transpired here. Right wing pundit Billy Kristol actually praised President Bush by saying that the timing of the pardon was masterful because it was done while Senator Hillary Clinton was on the campaign trail in Iowa with her husband former President Bill Clinton who had pardoned 141 individuals on his last day in office. When Hillary and Bill responded by calling the Bush administration the worst ever in history when it came to ignoring, changing or bending the rules to get whatever the desired outcome, the Republicans cried foul. For the Republicans, the issue wasn't whether or not it was right, proper or just to ignore or do away with the justice meted out by a Republican appointed prosecutor, a Republican appointed judge and an independent jury -- all of whom heard the case. Some Republican extremists have actually expressed exasperation towards Bush for not giving Libby a complete free slate. Other Republicans have argued that what Bush did was fair and just and within the scope of his authority as president. After all, they posited, Mr. Libby, a longtime civil servant and deputy to Vice President Cheney, still had the obstruction of justice conviction on his record, had to pay the $250,000 fine and that, most of all his reputation and career remained in ruins. Libby actually has the obstruction charge on appeal and he has millions of dollars in his defense funds, and a lot of wealthy right wing friends so the $250K is small potatoes at best. No doubt as an insurance policy for Mr. Libby, President Bush, in his statement on this matter last Tuesday, indicated that he was, in fact, keeping the right for a complete and full pardon of Mr. Libby in reserve until the outcome of Mr. Libby's appeal is determined. In December of 1998, Senator Chris Canon of Utah, at the height of the assault on President Clinton during the Whitewater matter, stood on the floor of the U.S. Senate with his Republican colleagues and called for the impeachment of President Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice. When asked by Brit Hume on Fox News Sunday why he was outraged on the one hand about perjury and obstruction of justice by Clinton but felt that all was ok with Bush's handling of the Libby case on the other, Canon could only respond that it was unfair to throw the book at "a guy who had a memory issue" (Libby)! He added that Scooter Libby never committed any crime and that there has been no concrete evidence to link anyone in the Bush White House to this matter dismissing all of the Democratic response to mere politics. The only reason why there is no direct connection to the White House is because the Bush Administration has refused to allow Mr. Libby's boss, Vice President Dick Cheney to testify and they have also refused to turn over a number of requested documents that have been classified. Later this week, Representative John Conyers, Chair of the Judiciary Committee, has rightfully called for hearings to get to the bottom of this raw abuse of power by the Executive branch that he views has served to undermine Congressional authority. The outcomes of these hearings are in doubt as it is unrealistic to expect that Congress, and the American people, can expect little more than what has transpired thus far. Expect a continuation of the lack of cooperation in getting key individuals from the Bush administration to testify; ditto for any key documents that are requested by the Judiciary Committee. Expect also much of the same rhetoric and political posturing. As regards to former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell's request for a pardon versus Scooter Libby's? It is, yet again, another case of different strokes for different folks! |
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| The Literary Divide/Dr. Paul Barrows Bush pardon of Scooter Libby smacks of hypocricy |