Posted by johnhouk on Jul 05, 2007
Since Robert Novak was highly involved in Plamegate and the prosecutorial abuse case against I. Scooter Libby, I am going to post an excerpt form the email list of Evans-Novak Political Report sent out on July fifth. The excerpt deals with Libby’s Sentence Commutation and the responses from Democrats and Republicans.
Personally I was in the boat that President Bush should provide a FULL PARDON to Libby but I have since rethought that position. I was just so outraged that Fitzgerald would pursue such a minor indictment based on memory equated as perjury when Fitzgerald’s commission as Special Prosecutor was to nail those involved in outing Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA agent. At best Plame managed a pencil pushing network, maybe someone at Office Max had his identity exposed as a result of outing Plame – I don’t know.
Currently I am of the opinion that Libby will utilize the system to expose Fitzgerald as the vindictive creepy Prosecutor that he is. I am confident Libby will win on Appeals even if it goes to the Supreme Court.
JRH
************************
Libby Commutation (Excerpt)
Evans-Novak Political Report
Robert Novak
July 5, 2007
Washington, DC
Vol. 42, No. 14a
President Bush's commutation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence pleased conservatives if it did not fully satisfy them. It positively enraged his liberal critics. Libby himself can breathe a sigh of relief that he does not have to serve prison time, but hardly anybody else is
all that happy.
The conviction of Libby on perjury and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case has taken on overriding symbolic implications. Libby, as Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief-of-staff, is seen by Bush's enemies as typifying deception that led the U.S. into war in Iraq. His conviction was seen by conservatives as part of the bitter assault on the Bush Administration, targeting Cheney in particular.
By standing apart from the Plame affair and the Libby affair, Bush has subjected himself to abuse from both sides. Bush is blamed by friends of Libby for losing control of the Plame investigation by putting it in the hands of a special prosecutor -- the U.S. attorney in Chicago, Patrick Fitzgerald. The abuse from the left certainly will expand thanks to his decision Monday, while praise from the right is muted.
The word from the White House had been that Bush was not likely to pardon Libby, even on his way out of the Oval Office in January 2009. But more recently, Bush aides began spreading the word that there was no chance that Libby would do any jail time. When the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia refused Monday to review Libby's 30-month jail sentence, Bush's only recourse, short of a pardon, was to commute Libby's sentence.
The unique aspect of the Libby conviction was that there was no underlying crime whose prosecution he is accused of obstructing. Fitzgerald determined that no federal statute was broken when then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage revealed that Valerie Plame Wilson, the wife of Bush critic Joseph Wilson, worked for the CIA. But Fitzgerald prosecuted Libby for allegedly not telling the truth in the course of the investigation.
Republicans have raised millions of dollars for Libby's defense, painting him as the victim of prosecutorial abuse and the criminalization of politics. Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), a leading prospect for the Republican presidential nomination, has been calling for a pardon. While welcoming Bush's action, Thompson said he still would have issued a pardon. By endorsing the jury's verdict and not criticizing Fitzgerald, Bush makes it difficult to issue a subsequent full pardon, although the President on Tuesday hinted at an eventual pardon.
The commutation of Libby's sentence does not save Bush severe attacks from Democratic critics. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called the President's action "disgraceful," linking it to what he called Bush's manipulation in sending the country to war in Iraq. Reid's complaint: Libby was the person convicted what he views as a criminal conspiracy around Bush, and now he is not going to prison. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was already flogging the pardon story to raise money the morning after it was announced.
Mr. Novak is a syndicated columnist and editor of the Evans-Novak Political Report, a political newsletter he founded in 1967 with Rowland Evans. Click here to get a free subscription.
Copyright © 2007 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.
