If you are interested in the clemency that President Bush just dropped on Scooter Libby, then pay attention to my friend Mark Morris's website. Mark is the man for all things pardon. If you have a question, feel free to contact him or add a comment.
Just some thoughts. First, Janis Joplin's words "when you got nothing you got nothing to lose" never rang truer than Bush's decision to short circuit the prison term. Public approval in the toilet and a so little time left in his presidency, what can he possibly lose by making this decision? Second, will he pardon Libby? Clemency doesn't do much for the felony conviction. Where will Libby possibly get a job now that he has a felony wrap? Third, why not pardon? Is it that Bush wishes to remain loyal and on the side of law? Fourth, if Libby was assured clemency, why not hire the local ambulance chaser, who bills at either $50 an hour or for a percentage of the take? Instead, let him rack up the kind of legal bills that would collapse a small country only to let him off the hook after the appeals court spoke? Fifth, will Representative Dan Burton (R. IN) demand that Bush be investigated for using his power to bestow clemency for political purposes in the same way that he blathered and bleated when Clinton did?
