President Bush defended yesterday his decision to commute the sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for lying to a federal grand jury and obstructing the CIA leak investigation. Bush even held open the possibility of a full pardon.
Bush called the prison time originally given to Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff "excessive." But when it comes to federal sentences for perjury and obstruction of justice, prison time is the rule, not the exception.
Three out of four people convicted of obstruction of justice serve time in prison, federal court records show....
....Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Upper Arlington, said Presidents Clinton, Reagan and Carter all "utilized the powers of executive clemency hundreds of times." She said Bush's decision "will be evaluated ultimately by the American people for its appropriateness."
Well, guess what! The American people think Bush was wrong! Once again the Republicans are covering up for their party, just like they did in the Ohio Republican scandals (Coingate, Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, ethics violations, etc.), and now on a national level that brought us to war.
TPM has reaction from people at their Election Central by quoting SurveyUSA's poll on the Libby decision:
• 60% say the prison sentence should have been left in place.
• 21% agree with the commutation.
• 17% say Libby should have been pardoned entirely.
But what has the White House gotten with letting Libby go free? Silence. Libby lied, was convicted, and the truth about the war, Cheney, and the White House's attacks on their political enemies gets swept under the rug.