Bush: Cheney ‘angry’ I didn’t pardon Libby

[sabra]

Source: MSNBC - Today Show

‘I can't believe you're going to leave a soldier on the battlefield,’ former president says ex-VP told him
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Former President George W. Bush says Vice President Dick Cheney angrily confronted him over Bush's decision not to pardon a former vice presidential aide over his role in the case of the leaked identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Bush, in an interview aired Monday on TODAY, said Cheney was angry that Bush only commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, convicted of lying during the leak investigation.

Bush's appearance came as he begins promoting his memoir, "Decision Points." In the book, Bush recounts that a furious Cheney told him: "I can't believe you're going to leave a soldier on the battlefield."

Bush said he worried the incident would fracture his friendship with Cheney. But he said: "I'm pleased to report we are friends today."

Read more: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40067472/ns/today-books/

[Kingofalldems]

1. All three were nothing more than pretend soldiers

Never trust a draft dodger.

[saigon68]

21. THEY WERE AND ARE "DRAFT DODGERS"

All 3 worthless mother fuckers

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

31. I wouldn't press that argument with the repubs ...

... since our own Prez WJC managed to get a few deferments, too.

I guess military service ain't the requirement it used to be.

(but it will earn a free meal at participating restaurants this Thursday)

:hi:

[saigon68]

33. He apparently didn't inhale either

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

36. Well, I tried not to exhale. Is that the same thing?

:party:

[rocktivity]

2. I still say that Libby wasn't pardoned for a legal reason

having to do with covering Rove or Cheney's asses. And the idea of Bush pushing either of them around is simply laughable.

:eyes:
rocktivity

[susanwy]

3. How dare Darth....

say it was like "leaving a soldier on the battlefield". This from the asshole that directed the outing of Valarie Plame in the first place! Joe Wilson is correct, Cheney is a traitor, plane and simple.

Susan

[felinetta]

9. I have said this many times. Remember when Cheney was in a wheelchair

for the inauguration?  They gave the lame excuse that hurt his
back  while he was lifting boxes because he was moving. Give
me an f'ing break. Of course that was obvious bull. I think
his back when into spasms when he realized that Bush wouldn't
pardon Scooter. (Don't you just love that stupid nickname?)  I
think Darth had promised Scoot that he would get him a pardon
and it didn't happen.

[earcandle]

14. Interesting. Funny, the thought I had was that Cheney decided that he was not going to walk away

from the White House nor lose power, so he wheeled himself out
instead.  Disgruntled, but still in charge. 

[calimary]

16. And he still wanted the attention. One last grab at Obama's spotlight. One last insult.

The prick! The LITTLE prick.

A shameless ploy for attention and maybe a little sympathy on the side. He's just a big fat mind fucker. Still is. We have this joke around our house, about egotistical people: "more ME please!" republi-CONs are all about "more ME please!" It was similar to the moment at the dedication of the Clinton Presidential Library when the honoree was supposed to go through the door first and little dubya made certain he was there to butt through the door before Clinton did. Selfish greedy arrogant self-entitled fuckers ALL.

[Frank Cannon]

26. Cheney used the wheelchair for the exact same reason this guy did...

For respect!

[pattmarty]

4. Fuck all three un-American motherfuckers.

[Vincardog]

5. +1

[Sal Minella]

6. "I'm pleased to report we are friends today."

How can anyone be stupid enough to make this statement in public about Dick Cheney? Talk about out-of-touch.

[Javaman]

29. because like everything moron* says...

it comes across as someone who is desperate for recognition for a life full of failures.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

32. Bush and Cheney? Friends?

Are sociopaths capable of friendship?

:hi:

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. too bad Cheney wasn't armed when he was "mad"

[ixion]

8. If Libby was a "soldier" than We, the People are the enemy..

Just sayin'...

[Divine Discontent]

10. so the devils are friends... yippee! meanwhile thousands are still dead from their playing general!

[atreides1]

11. WTF

What would Cheney know about leaving a soldier on the battlefield, Mr. Exemption himself!

How many had to take his place going to Vietnam? How many names are on the Wall because Cheney was too much of a coward to serve his country?

And then he rats out a CIA operative, whose contacts, might very well be dead as well!!!

They can all go F**k themselves!

[Boudica the Lyoness]

12. America is their battle field

The battle is with us and their objective is to win at any cost.
'The end justifies the means'.

[David__77]

20. Well, it should be the battlefield for the left as well.

There IS an enemy, and it should be defeated. The ends don't "justify" the means; rather, the means are determined by the goal.

[jtuck004]

13. This has been overblown. Cheney even tried to make up to George later,

when he invited him to go hunting.

[AlbertCat]

15. Zzzzzzzz.... who cares what Bush has to say?

He didn't do anything on his own when he was pretending to be Prez.... why would I want to now read his pretend memoir he pretended to write?

[cutlassmama]

22. +1

[sofa king]

17. He's a modern day George McClellan

Like Bush,George McClellan had only the most tenuous grasp on reality. Both preferred their distortions of the truth to any accurate assessment. Both were easily read by their opposition. Both were spectacular failures whose quest for personal aggrandizement jeopardized the United States itself. Both attempted to insulate themselves from failure by sacrificing an endless supply of hapless underlings, by dramatically overestimating the size of the problems they faced, and by flat-out lying whenever convenient.

Because he had a superior, McClellan tended to blame President Lincoln first, while Bush has to rely on his underlings. Both were easily read by their enemies because narcissists are among the easiest people to understand (their first allegiance is always to themselves); both were exploited by those enemies; both attempted to cast their spectacular failures as personal successes against imaginary odds. Both emerged from their disastrous tenures with a higher opinion of themselves than when they went in; but both were privately tortured by occasional moments of clarity which drove both to near-breakdowns (and at least in Bush's case, probably actual breakdowns--I think most of Bush's "vacations" were long therapy sessions designed to rebuild his shattered self-esteem).

Occasionally, I like to wonder what would have happened had George McClellan been elected President in 1864 on a peace platform, and I think I can see the answer in George Bush's Presidency: by 1868 the United States would find itself in a stalemated war with the Confederacy and one or more European powers (he would have instantly dropped his election promises of peace and compromise, because being a "war President" is more personally gratifying). The economy of the United States would have been gutted by war profiteers and political favor-granting. The brightest and most competent generals under his command would have been forced into retirement or transferred to far away theatres (U.S. Grant fighting off a British invasion of Washington state and Oregon, maybe?), while yes-men with "demonstrated loyalty to the President" would have crowded into Washington (or more likely, Philadelphia, as Washington would have been lost by then) and commenced biting each others' behinds.

I guess one thing that makes me proud to be an American is the fact that we have now survived two incompetent Georges who were too self-absorbed to realize how damaging they were to their own nations.

[activa8tr]

18. NBC and the Today show, they are becoming just like Fox News, by...

treating the former President as if he had a brain, and pushing his new book, published after all the bloodshed of 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan, the record deficits, and world wide recession. Somehow Bush is to be respected and respectable?

Meanwhile on a day when Obama makes headlines on a trip to India, the American news media writes about Bush and his "revealing" book?

Priorities are really screwed up in the US media.

[defendandprotect]

19. Interesting how "militarized" Cheney's thinking and speech is ... while he had 5 deferments...!!

[Canuckistanian]

23. Cheney angry. Cheney SMASH.

Although I suspect Cheney just took it out on a staff member, whose book is soon to be released.

[Paladin]

24. It's Obvious That Dubya Was Scared To Death Of Cheney---Still Is.

Absolutely pathetic.......

[24601]

27. BS - you don't defy those of whom you're scared n/t

[Uncle Joe]

34. Why do you believe that Bush; defied Cheney in granting a commutation to Libby instead of a pardon?

http://thelastword.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/11/08/5432179-joe-wilson-reacts-to-bush-memoirs

Bush re-hashed the past in his new book, Decision Points. Bush admitted his decision not to pardon former Cheney aide Scooter Libby caused some friction between the two towards the end of his term.

"I chose to commute his sentence. I felt he had paid enough of a penalty," said Bush

Wilson still begs to differ. "Scooter Libby did not serve a day in jail. And by commuting his sentence, he removed from Scott Fitzgerald any remaining pressure that Fitzgerald had on Libby." Wilson continued, "The obstruction of justice prevented Pat Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, from finding out the underlying truth in the betrayal of Valerie's identity."

[24601]

37. Because it's consistent with Cheney to have lobbied for a pardon,

it's been reported on in the past, and there is no evidence to the contrary.

[unkachuck]

25. flush again, Mr. President....

....I think dickie meant, 'I can't believe you're going to leave a turd in the toilet'.

[Javaman]

28. "I can't believe you're going to leave a soldier on the battlefield."

says mr. five deferments crashcart.

[Joe Bacon]

30. Liar.

I got to hand it to President Asshole for single handedly doing to America what the Nazis and Communists failed to do, and that was destroy the United States of America.

Heck of a job there, President Asshole!

[Supersedeas]

35. What Mutt Lauer completely overlooks is the DIRECT connection between Libby's Mission and

the WMD case in Iraq.

Libby was sent on a propoganda mission to make the case for War by attacking those who questioned the legitimacy of the WMD case for war.

Then, Bush commutes his sentence.

But, Mutt Lauer just saunters past the no WMD's and Cheney is angry as if these were two completely UNRELATED events. What a pathetic excuse for journalism -- or was Mutt just trying to help his buddy sell some books?