Pardon Me? Clinton Got What He Deserved but Libby Got a Raw Deal?

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/5976


Pardon Me? Clinton Got What He Deserved but Libby Got a Raw Deal?
by Stephen Pizzo


Oh how they howled, waving their arms and slamming their desks like hell and damnation preachers of old.

"How could he do it!!? What a violation of public trust! What a scar he has made on public office!"

Who? What? Where?

Bill Clinton! Lied under oath! Before a grand jury!

What an outrage! Get a rope, cried the GOP's chief of morality police, Tom DeLay, back then: (Oh, by the way, DeLay himself is now under indictment down in Texas.)

"This nation sits at a crossroads,” DeLay said of how Congress should react to Bill Clinton's grand jury perjury. “One direction points to the higher road of the rule of law. Sometimes hard, sometimes unpleasant, this path relies on truth, justice and the rigorous application of the principle that no man is above the law. Now, the other road is the path of least resistance. This is where we start making exceptions to our laws based on poll numbers and spin control. This is when we pitch the law completely overboard when the mood fits us, when we ignore the facts in order to cover up the truth. No man is above the law, and no man is below the law. That's the principle that we all hold very dear in this country."

Well not all that dear, apparently. Perjury by a public official only poses a risk to life, liberty and the American way of life apparently when the liar is a Democrat.

Conservatives press Bush for Libby pardon

March 7, 2007 -- USA TODAY-- With the ink hardly dry on Lewis "Scooter" Libby's perjury conviction, some conservatives are urging President Bush to wipe away the jury's finding of guilt by granting the former vice presidential aide a pardon. -- The calls have come from longtime critics of the Libby prosecution, including pundit William Kristol, former federal prosecutor Victoria Toensing and George Mason University Law professor Ronald Rotunda. (Full)

The Libby case, you see, is nothing like the Clinton perjury, according to GOP conservatives. Libby's prosecution was in fact a political persecution. Bill Clinton's impeachment, on the other hand, was the rule of law at it's best.

Okay. So Libby's perjury is "different." But how?

Well let's see if we can figure that out with a side-by-side comparison:

more...

[sinkingfeeling]

1. As I said before, the difference is Clinton was found 'Not guilty' and Libby was found 'Guilty'!

[BOSSHOG]

3. Sam Seder made an outstanding point this week

- If Clinton told the truth nothing would have happened
- If libby told the truth cheney would be on trial

[Monkeyman]

4. Yep Still want Cheney

[BOSSHOG]

2. "Its illegal to be a republican in this country"

Heard that gem on limbaugh from a caller shortly after the verdict. They were outraged. Another "student" called up and was really hot and bothered about the cost of the trial. It was like conservative comedy central. Step right up to the mike and entertain those with intellectual curiousity. Tell us how utterly outraged you are that a man who obstructed justice and lied under oath was held accountable for his actions.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. We can debate the merits of that idea another time.

However, it's not currently anywhere near illegal to be Republican. Quite the contrary, their political god is still Asshole-in-Chief, which still runs the Justice Department.