Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Sully Doesn't Get It

In all of his outrage about the sentence commutation for Scooter Libby, Andrew seems to think that the issue here is that Libby is an elite and a friend of Bush and so Bush is doing him a favor. I have heard others talk about it on the news networks as well, and bemoan the "two-tier" justice system, where the rich and powerful get away with it.

That's not the issue, though, and it's stupid that so many think it is.

Libby wasn't convicted for a DUI or some other personal peccadillo. What Scooter Libby was convicted of was LYING IN ORDER TO ADVANCE THE INTERESTS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. What he was convicted of was protecting the administration by obstructing the investigation. (Whether this charge was justified or not is, I suppose, debatable, but I am rather agnosic on the issue, as there appear to be two sets of facts, one for each side, and I don't have the time or desire to go through them with a fine-tooth comb).

So if his commutation is in inappropriate, it is because Bush is commuting the sentences for crimes committed on behalf of his administration; that is, he is working to avoid accountability. That is, he commuted Libby's sentence for his own benefit, not as a favor to Libby as a person.

That is all.

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