Rich: Why Bush pardoning Libby is a slam dunk

[kpete]

Rich: Why Bush pardoning Libby is a slam dunk

According to New York Times columnist Frank Rich, it isn't a question of if President Bush will pardon a former White House aide convicted last Tuesday on charges of lying and making false statements but when. Rich calls the prospects of a pardon occurring a "slam dunk" proposition, which is a mocking reference to words that former CIA chief George Tenet reportedly used before the invasion of Iraq to describe the existence of WMD that were never found.

Either way, the pardon is a must for Bush. He needs Libby to keep his mouth shut. Cheney's Cheney knows too much about covert administration schemes far darker than the smearing of Joseph Wilson. Though Libby wrote a novel that sank without a trace a decade ago, he now has the makings of an explosive Washington tell-all that could be stranger than most fiction and far more salable.

Libby's novel was called "The Apprentice." His memoir could be titled "The Accomplice." Its first chapter would open in August 2002, when he and a small cadre of administration officials including Karl Rove formed the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), a secret task force to sell the Iraq war to the American people. The climactic chapter of the Libby saga unfolded last week when the guilty verdict in his trial coincided, all too fittingly, with the congressional appearance of two Iraq veterans, one without an ear and one without an eye, to recount their subhuman treatment at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

It was WHIG's secret machinations more than four years ago that led directly to those shredded lives. WHIG had been tasked, as The Washington Post would later uncover, to portray Iraq's supposedly imminent threat to America with "gripping images and stories not available in the hedged and austere language of intelligence." In other words, WHIG was to cook up the sexiest recipe for promoting the war, facts be damned. So it did, by hyping the scariest possible scenario: nuclear apocalypse.

....

What Libby did -- fabricating nuclear threats at WHIG and then lying under oath when he feared that sordid Pandora's box might be pried open by the Wilson case -- was despicable. Had there been no WHIG or other White House operation for drumming up fictional rationales for war, there would have been no bogus uranium from Africa in a presidential speech, no leak to commit perjury about, no amputees to shut away in filthy rooms at Walter Reed.

more at:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Rich_Why_Bush_pardoning_Libby_slam_0310.html

[kimmerspixelated]

1. Dream Scenario: In front of a million cameras....

Libby: Thanks for pardoning me, Mr. Bush.
Bush: No problem. You're a good man.
Libby: However,I'm still going to write the real story, since you're the one who got me in this mess to begin with.

[Esra Star]

4. I wouldn't do that. Look what happened to the pretzel.

It apparently got in one good right hook.
And then some poor bastard was found dead in a car.

[ComerPerro]

2. you are extremely optimistic

[kimmerspixelated]

3. I gave you the fantasy.

[Venus Dog]

5. Unfortunately, Rich is right

It's definitely going to happen.

[KharmaTrain]

6. It's The Timing Of The Pardon...

Precedence is you don't pardon someone who isn't in jail. An appeal right now may give some distance between the political fall out and the '08 elections, but it would just keep this story in the news for weeks or months to come and give political fodder to Democrats. Waiting for the appeals process to work out is what I think this regime is banking on. Scooter stays on ice as there's always the possibility the verdict is overturned or retried or appealed even higher...stalling for time. Methinks the game plan now is to drag this puppy out to prevent boooshie from having to pardon too soon.

I don't see Libby turning...no matter if he goes to the shitter. He's a "true believer"...who will take the "hard time" at a Club Fed and walk out with a nice reward on the other side. By playing "brave soldier", Scooter assures he'll get a nice book deal and speaking tour in the conservative haven...more than compensating him for his jail time.

[chelsea0011]

7. Wasn't Casper Weinberger pardoned while Bush(1) was in office?

I keep thinking that Bush will do this sooner than later because of what Rich says. It's one thing to say something on the heels of a trial, but it is also quite another thing to think about jail time a couple of weeks later and maybe ratting out to avoid it. Bush will save them all the worry. There was a short spurt of outrage over Weinberger that quickly quieted down.

[Garbo 2004]

10. Bush pardoned Weinberger Dec '92 & before Caspar went on trial.

Bush was on his way out.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

15. In 92, I vaguely remember this. Weinberger was the dregs, and because Bush, Sr. became irrelevant

it wasn't a huge story, but it made the mainstream.

My question is: Who pardons Bush? MKJ

[Supersedeas]

16. another gutless Bushist move

[upi402]

8. if he's impeached can the pardons be repealed? n/t

[Venus Dog]

9. And Waxman hearings to start possibly next week

with Plame and Fitzgerald both to testify, should make for some interesting weeks to come. Who needs "American Idol" when you got C-Span - the best reality TV ever!

Pass the popcorn! :popcorn:

[rwenos]

11. January 20, 2009, at 11:40 a.m.

Bush's term ends at noon that day. The pardon will be the last document he signs as President.

We've already seen the rushes. Jed Bartlett pardons Tobey at 11:40 a.m. on Inauguration Day, before Matt Santos takes the Presidential oath of office. The pardon power passes from Bush to the next President at noon that day.

Only 682 days from today, and counting.

[Garbo 2004]

12. And at that point, why would Bush bother? Reality, not TV. Not to reward "loyalty"

since Libby's Cheney's guy and their bungling on the Plame matter created a mess for the WH. Not because he's a "humanitarian" and gives a rat's ass about Scooter and his family.

I think Bush on his own, absent a compelling reason involving his own self-interest, would be happily inclined to let Libby rot in jail as his reward for being so sloppy and getting caught.

[Annces]

13. I think this is a possibility

Depending on how many years Libby has to serve.

[HappyWeasel]

14. so either way, we win.

[Swamp Rat]

17. I hope he does it. I really really really hope Bushler pardons Libby.

I really really really really really really really hope he pardons him.

This would prove that they are all criminals in the White House.

[grytpype]

18. It deserves to be repeated:

Had there been no WHIG or other White House operation for drumming up fictional rationales for war, there would have been no bogus uranium from Africa in a presidential speech, no leak to commit perjury about, no amputees to shut away in filthy rooms at Walter Reed.

[WillyT]

19. Frank Rich Hits It Out Of The Park Again !!! - K & R !!!

:applause::bounce::applause: