I've touched on these issues in some fashion many times before. This time I want to take it from a different angle. Here are some of the things the Left seems to gloss over when discussing this case and the commutation granted by the President.
- Plame was not covert, yet they continue to speak (sometimes without coming right out and saying it) as if she was. If she was, why wasn't the real leaker indicted? He (State Department windbag Richard Armitage) was never charged. Yet Dionne's entire premise is that Plame was covert when that clearly is not the case.
- Though Dionne touches on the Bill Clinton Pardons very lightly (by the tone of the comment "Bill Clinton and all that" you can tell that its an uncomfortable topic for him. He seems to focus solely on the Marc Rich pardon briefly and without much detail), he glosses over the FALN terrorist pardons, and the Rodham family Christmas tree of pardons that "Hillary knew nothing about." The Left in discussing this case seems to have a problem with putting this commutation in perspective.
- Why doesn't anyone on the Left ever acknowledge the fact that Joe Wilson had Plame listed in his entry in "Who's Who of America?"
- The Left discusses the case as though Richard Armitage doesn't exist.
"The core point is that "equal justice under law" either means something or it doesn't. In this case, all the facts we know tell us that Libby received far more than equal justice, evidenced by the irregular way his commutation was handled."
There was no crime, EJ. The minute Patrick Fitzgerald knew who the real leaker was, he should have either charged Armitage with the crime or shut the investigation down. So, that brings us to a couple of questions. First, if Plame was covert and Fitzgerald didn't charge him with the crime of leaking her name, isn't he negligent in his duties in the investigation? Or, if Plame wasn't covert, and Armitage's leaking of Plame's name to Robert Novack isn't worthy of an indictment, can't we all agree that its become clear that Fitzgerald is the one that needs to be investigated? I'd say so, especially given that anyone paying attention could see that this wasn't about punishing the person that "outted" Plame at all. It was typical "Get Bush" derangement. So, in this age of investigation, if you want to investigate anyone, investigate Patrick Fitzgerald.
"After you've finished your head-scratching, is it possible to avoid the conclusion that this was a one-time-only action rooted not in law, but in politics and favoritism for an aide who loyally misled the prosecution in a case that implicated top figures of Bush's own administration?"
Again, Dionne is taking us back to the twilight zone. The Bush administration was NOT implicated in the "outting" of Plame or any other crime. What it God's name is he talking about? And if we are going to say that Libby "loyally misled" the prosecution, rather than having a faulty memory after hours of grilling in front of a grand jury that should have been dismissed as soon as Fitzgerald knew who the leaker was; if we are going to make that assumption, shouldn't we also ask why the reporters who had memories as faulty as Libby's weren't investigated with the same vigor? More from Dionne, quoting a White House official:
"He also did not ask the chief prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, for his input, as routinely happens in cases routed through the Justice Department's pardon attorney."
Of course not, because the President knows who his enemies are in this case. For all the caterwauling about Bush's "stupidity" by those on the Left, they should know that he's smart enough to understand that Fitzgerald is a total hack out for his blood. His enemy in this case is the maverick Special Prosecutor who knew who the leaker was but wasn't satisfied until he got the big fish that he wanted. Suggesting Bush go before Fitzgerald and ask for his "advice" on this commutation would be like asking Tojo on July 31st what he thought about the Hiroshima bombing. Its stupid.
But it was this comment toward the end that really made me chuckle with incredulity:
"In the meantime, Libby has no incentive to tell prosecutors anything new about what happened in this case. As liberal blogs have noted, since he was not pardoned outright, he can use the pending appeal of his conviction to avoid testifying before Congress."
Patrick Fitzgerald has already said he will not pursue anyone further in this absurd case. Why? Because he knows its a dead end - there's nothing to it. So what is Dionne talking about? Libby has no incentive to tell prosecutors ANYTHING further BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING TO TELL! Its over! No one was charged with a crime, other than Libby's "perjury"! This continues my point that Dionne and his traveling companions ignore obvious facts about the case (those mentioned above). To the Left, Bush and Cheney "willfully outted" a "covert CIA Agent", Libby tried to lie to cover it up, and Valerie Plame and Used Car Salesman Joe Wilson are heroes, watch for their movie soon. But, we've clearly demonstrated that all of that is bunk.
EJ Dionne is like so many other "liberals" in politics today. They live in a parallel universe and refuse to come out of it when reality hits them like a cold shower. The Left was wrong about the Soviet Union. The Left has been consistently wrong about the "War on Poverty", and the Left is consistently wrong about Islamofascism and the threat we all face because of it. George W. Bush is the enemy of all mankind. Queue the Twilight Zone theme.
********Addendum 7/9
This below was taken from American Thinker's Blogsite.
I like this because it reminds me of a caller to a talk show a while back who made the comment that the Bush Administration (paraphrase) "will go down as the largest criminal gang to ever occupy the White House." I heard this idiot make this comment and it harkened back to Molly Ivins's reference to the Bush Clan as the "Texas Mafia". I feel a little guilty piling on someone posthumously, but Ivins spent the entire 1990s under Bill Clinton's desk. If anyone was ever silently jealous of Monica Lewinsky, it was Ivins. As the piece below demonstrates, if Ivins et. al. were honestly concerned about corruption in high office, they'd expose the goings-on of the ARKANSAS Mafia. Nope, Bush is the crook. Again, the Left lives in alternate universe. Its almost comical if it wasn't so dangerous. The AT author below is Mike Moseley (bold emphasis mine).
Bush's commuting the sentence of Lewis Scooter Libby caused quite a stir this week. Strangely enough, the people that had the most problem with it were Hillary and Bill Clinton, along with Schumer, Reid, Pelosi, and Durbin.
We can all look back at the Clinton years in some disgust because almost everyone in America was insulted in some way.
Memories of Johnny Chung, John Huang, Charlie Trie, and the sensitive transfer of missile and nuclear technology to China's military, all for campaign cash. That same technology has ended up in Pakistan and Iran.
Clinton allowed nuclear reactors into North Korea for a promise of good behavior from a communist dictator. Remember the 77 supercomputers that were also sent to the Chinese military. Bill obstructed justice and suborned and committed perjury out of the oval office. Impeachment, who can forget Monica's blue dress, Paula Jones, Kathleen Wiley and Gennifer Flowers and the many others .
I had to stop and look this up because I didn't want to get the best part wrong. During Bill and Hillary's terms, 47 individuals or businesses connected with the Clinton's were convicted, 14 people were convicted and imprisoned while working for the Clinton's {remember Attorney general Web Hubbell} and 45 witnesses or critics were subjected to IRS audits.
The Clinton's had their own problems with Pardongate. Mark Rich, drug dealers, the pardoning of 16 FALN terrorists, etc, etc, etc.
Eight years of non stop corruption was the benchmark of Mr and Mrs Bill Clinton. Bill and Hillary are upset that Bush commuted the sentence of a man that did not leak Valerie Plame's name. That leaker ended up being Richard Armitage of the State Dept and the prosecutor knew that fact the very first day. Libby was charged and convicted of false statements under oath. Are we to believe that Bill and Hillary, Schumer, Reid, Pelosi and Durbin now feel that a perjurer should go to jail for making false statements under oath. It is stunning how America has forgotten the absolute moral depravity that was the Clinton years. Are we to believe that Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Democrat leadership are somehow morally offended.
