Newsweek: An 'Out of Control' Veep's Office

[babylonsister]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17552881/site/newsweek/

An 'Out of Control' Veep's Office

Conservatives are clamoring for a Libby pardon. But don't count on Bush to go along—at least not yet.
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By Michael Isikoff and Richard Wolffe
Newsweek

March 19, 2007 issue - For nearly two months, while his trial unfolded in a federal courtroom, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby seemed breezily confident. Even as prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald presented compelling evidence that he had lied under oath to investigators probing who leaked the name of an undercover CIA agent, Libby sat smiling at the defense table, whispering amusing asides to his lawyers. But when he filed in to hear the jury's verdict last week, Libby was a changed man. He looked ashen and stared into the distance while the jury read its decision: guilty on four of five counts of perjury and obstruction. His wife, Harriet, broke down in tears.
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The verdict may be in, but the saga is far from over. On June 5, Libby will return to court for sentencing by Judge Reggie Walton, a no-nonsense jurist who metes out tough prison sentences and cuts no slack for white-collar defendants. Libby could get two years. His lawyers will ask that Libby be allowed to remain free while his appeals work their way through the courts. As he has in past prosecutions, Fitzgerald is likely to press for Libby to go straight to prison. "Fitz is so by-the- book he would send his own mother to jail," joked a veteran federal prosecutor who asked not to be identified talking about his colleague.

The prospect of Libby's serving time is fueling an intense debate in Washington: should President Bush pardon him? Conservatives immediately began agitating for clemency, arguing that Fitzgerald, unable to convict anyone for leaking, had made Libby a scapegoat. Vice President Dick Cheney may also weigh in. Former and current colleagues, who asked not to be named talking about private conversations, say Cheney has been shaken by the prosecution of his former chief of staff. Out of obligation and duty, Cheney is almost certain to press Bush to pardon his close friend and protégé.

But don't count on Bush to go along—at least not yet. Bush is not big on pardons. In his first six years as president, he has granted just 113, fewer than any president in the last 100 years, says Margaret Love, a former Justice Department pardon attorney. At his first press conference as president in February 2001, Bush set himself apart from Bill Clinton, who had caused a stir with several controversial pardons in his final days. When it came to granting pardons, Bush said, "I'll have the highest of high standards."

The president can pardon anyone at any time. But Bush has abided by long-standing Justice guidelines that spell out who should be eligible. Those rules say a person shouldn't even be considered for a pardon until five years after he's completed his sentence. "I know the way he's approached pardons," says Bush's former press secretary Scott McClellan. "If you boil it down, it's two things. One, that they serve their time. And two, that they express remorse for the crime." By those standards, Libby doesn't make the cut, especially if he pursues an appeal and continues to insist he did nothing wrong.

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[tblue]

1. '* said, "I'll have the highest of high standards."' Bwaaaaaaahahahaha! Starting when?

[Atman]

3. No, no, no...that just means he has to be wicked high to grant a pardon

This is a fifth o'Jack and 8-ball pardon if there ever was one!

.

[tblue]

7. Or smokin a doobie!

[Sagan]

2. Wow.. so much wrong with the assumptions here...

But the worst assumption by Issikof is that * calls the shots in this Administration.. If Cheney wants Libby pardoned, he's going to get pardoned. That's all there is to it.

The fact that Chimpy hasn't pardoned many folks up to this point is meaningless. In all likelihood, it's just that Cheney didn't care about those other folks. This is different.

[tblue37]

4. He has the highest standards! He will return honesty and

integrity to the White House. He will fire ANYONE found to be involved in leaking the identity of a CIA operative. He will not get the US involved in nation building. He will get bin Laden--dead or alive.

Of course, if the US had any standards at all, he wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the White House.

[alittlelark]

5. He fits into the 'big picture' this thread describes.....

If the link doesn't work go to the Sept 11 Dungeon for the thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x148513

Bush1 and Dick Cheney started privatizing the US military back in 1991. That privatization of logistics has led to tragedies like the USS Cole bombing, the gouging for basic needs for our soldiers, the loss of billions of our tax dollars in Iraq, and the breakdown of services at Walter Reed.


Now we hear that Halliburton is moving their HQ from Houston to Dubai. Once there, the global fascism will take hold firmer and stronger than at any other point we have witnessed in the past.

And the US will be left bankrupt and broken in too many areas to get it fixed in any expedient way.

No financial problems for the incredibly FLUSH global corporations who have been lining their pockets at our expense for the last twenty years, though.

Want to bet that Halliburton and Bechtel will have Blackwater and other private armies at their disposal while our military struggles to recoup?

We have GOT to stop Halliburton's move of all their documents and paperwork.

Contact Waxman and Congress about Halliburton. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

We cannot let them get away with BANKRUPTING America while BANKROLLING New World Order.

Even the RW and the Freepers will have to notice this.

[gratuitous]

6. Gee, thanks for telling us, Newsweek

Like we haven't been aware of this and shouting it in your insipid monkey faces for the last five years. And Newsweek has had a ringside seat for this out of control office; they've apparently just been so enthralled by the spectacle that they just couldn't quite break away from their fascination to, you know, actually report the goings-on to their readers until now.

[Supersedeas]

8. Mary Madalein was on Imus disputing reports about the VP's office