I thought that George W. Bush would surely grant I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby a full pardon. Nope.
From TP:
Today is President Bush’s last full day in office, and according to Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff, he has decided not to pardon Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff Scooter Libby for his role in the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity. The move has left many conservatives very disappointed:
“I’m flabbergasted,” said one influential Republican activist, who had raised the issue with White House aides, but who asked not to be identified criticizing the president. Ambassador Richard Carlson, the vice chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a neo-conservative think tank, added that he too was “shocked” at Bush’s denial of a pardon for Libby.
“George Bush has always prided himself on doing the right thing regardless of the polls or the pundits,” Carlson said. “Now he is leaving office with a shameful cloud over his head.”
The right-wing had been mounting a fierce campaign to secure a pardon for Libby. Fred Barnes wrote in the Weekly Standard that Libby necessitated a pardon because he was “an indirect victim” of Bush’s policies. And the Wall Street Journal editorial board claimed that Bush “owe[d] it” to Libby. In July 2007, Bush commuted Libby’s prison sentence.
It makes no sense that Dubya would leave his partners in crime vulnerable to prosecution. If for no other reason, they might one day offer incriminating evidence against him in exchange for leniency.
I suspect we’re seeing no Libby pardon–or Cheney or Rummy or Condi or Gonzo pardons–because there’s been some no-investigate/no-prosecute for anything deal struck between the Bushers and everybody on the Democratic side. That’s both the Obama and congressional camps.
Neat, huh?
Bush and everyone else gets off scot-free. Plus, as former president Bush, he gets to brag that unlike Bill Clinton, he didn’t issue a bunch of funky last-minute pardons.
Ugh.
But it’s just 9:29 a.m. on the 20th. Pardons could still be forthcoming….