(no subject)

[novapsyche]

supergee mentions the "pardon pool" for Scooter Libby over at John Scalzi's blog.

[Poll #941757]

Comments

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

Libby's a flunky. He was following orders. The people who gave him those orders (Rove, Cheney, Bush) are the ones who need to be held accountable.

[bonerici.livejournal.com]

john n mitchel served 2.5 years in prison, hr haldeman served 18 months in prison, john ehrlichman served 18 months in prison, charles colson served 7 months, Nixon did not pardon a single one of these guys, the reason being that Nixon knew that the people needed a scapegoat.

Bush will never pardon Libby because that literally means that Bush is taking responsibility for Libby's action and wants to bear the consequences of what Libby did. When the hell has Bush ever felt responsible for anything?

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Actually, after reading comments, I find myself in agreement with bonerici (above). Libby won't get pardoned, he's the scapegoat. By convicting him further investigation is stopped.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Don't get me wrong: I think pardoning Libby would be the worst thing Bush could do politically as far as the Plame investigation is concerned. However, the option to pardon is being bandied around like it's actually viable. So, maybe Bush will be afflicted by more arrogance of power and step over one line too many. I'm actually starting to hope that he does pardon Libby.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Pardoning Libby is not an impeachable offense (heck, if pardoning Nixon wasn't...), but i think Bush has already committed numerous impeachable offenses, so i selected "yes" in your question above.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

A pardon in and of itself is not an impeachable offense, but I think in light of the circumstances (the conflict of interest), the act might trigger a Congressional investigation(s) into the leak itself.

I think Ford probably should have been punished for his blanket pardon of Nixon.

[murphyw.livejournal.com]

I too think a pardon isn't an impeachable offense. If there's grounds for investigating the leak, then we should do so w.r.t. pardons.

I also wanted an "impeachment yes, for the pardon no" option for that poll question.

--Bill

[timiathan.livejournal.com]

A pardon doesn't hold a feather to all the other crimes this administration has committed. The idea of him being impeached for a pardon is kind of silly, I think, when he should really be charged with treason.

And I'm SO SICK of this story being framed the wrong way. The White House didn't out Plame to get at Wilson -- they used Wilson as an excuse to out Plame and blow the cover of the entire Brewster Jennings operation in Iran, so they could use the intelligence blind spot for a war with Iran.

Why is that so hard to understand, when it's so similar to what they did in Iraq? Why do people insist on bringing up silly soap opera notions like 'revenge.'

[voiceandsalt.livejournal.com]

I don't think W gives a fuck about how it looks, he'll pardon Scooter right before he leaves office because it can't hurt his ratings anymore at that point. And a pardon is definitely within his constitutional authority and he cannot be impeached for it. But I think he should be impeached for authorizing crimes against humanity for the extraordinary rendition program and torture policies he's implemented. And for the crime of aggression in Iraq -- under the Nuremberg definition, that war is definitely one of aggression and a grave crime.

[xterminal.livejournal.com]

Somewhere between a few months and the maximum.

After all, Libby was only the poor altarboy bending over in front of Karl Rove.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

You say this like Libby had no role in his lying.

[xterminal.livejournal.com]

I say it as someone who think ol' Scoot lied in order to cover the ass of someone higher up the food chain, in whom the prosecutors should have been far more interested and didn't seem to give a shit about.

Rove is the teflon don. Libby's an enforcer demanding protection money from old ladies.