AP reports that President Bush is commuting the prison sentence of Scooter Libby - meaning he won't have to serve the 2 1/2 years in prison that he was scheduled to serve after a panel decided he should go right to prison through his appeals process in a case that has consumed huge amounts of time and money while not prosecuting the crime for which the prosecutor was charged to look into. The Washington Post has complete coverage.
The best part is that Chris Matthews isn't hosting Hardball tonight - although he will surely milk the story for the remainder of the Bush presidency....
CORRECTION:
Too much to hope for - Matthews called in at the 7:00 show - and will be ringing this bell non-stop.
BIG WINNERS:
Obviously, Scooter Libby is the biggest winner, although he will lose his law license and pay or will have his Beltway pals pay his fine. He will no doubt have a spot at a think tank.
The Bush White House is a partial winner in that they will get a bump from the base after the immigration bill tanking - and Scooter Libby should be kind in his memoir to the White House - he will not do a George Tenet.
Fred Thompson: Thompson came right out and said it was a great move by President Bush - and was a great fundraiser for Libby's defense - this will help with the base, especially in the Beltway where many of Libby's elite friends who signed letters of recommendation for him will be kicking in big coins in gratitude. It may hurt a little in the general, given his "Law and Order" persona - but a lot of those folks may not be Fred Heads and the issue will probably fade away if Libby keeps his head down.
Barack Obama: Obama can use this extensively in campaign fundraising letters which should appeal to small donors who may see this as another elite getting a pass in the legal system while the little guy gets hassled.
POTENTIAL LOSERS:
Hillary Clinton: She can make some statements about how outrageous this is - but she doesn't want to remind people of her husband's similar circumstance and the scandal plagued Clinton White House. In addition, Scooter Libby was one of disgraced Marc Rich's defenders for his own sleazy pardon - and people can make that connection as well.
Other GOP candidates: While they may want to make statements in support of Libby, they also have to balance that with the Republicans' reputation for enforcing the rule of law.
WHAT ELSE BUSH SHOULD DO:
He should later on give pardons or commutations to some folks like Border Agents Compean and Ramos who are enduring tough jail time for enforcing the borders and shooting a drug smuggler. He should also find some of our military heroes who have been real public servants - not a Beltway elite who rakes in the big cash and has fat cats to take care of them - as they sit in a brig somewhere - while his administration was attempting badly to manage the Joe Wilson editorial and appointing overreaching prosecutors which have taken money and attention from the war effort and the troops who deserve it the most.
Hot Air weighs in...
Great thought on releasing the border agents!
Posted by: Larry | July 03, 2007 at 04:58 AM