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Crooks Take Care of Their Own
Scooter's sentence is commuted, presumably because The Dick told The Shrub that Scooter couldn't survive in the "pokey", due to a Paris Hilton-like pathalogical fear of imprisonment. No doubt, had Scooter been faced with incarceration, he would have refused to eat or drink for fear that some guard would shoot a photo of him sitting on the regulation toilet in his cell and it would be splashed all over the tabloids.
One can dream....and only dream, because true to his character, Bush ensured once again that if you are rich and powerful in this country, the laws do not apply to you. Why, it would be unsportsmanlike to require Mr. Libby to even set foot in a prison.
Of course, Bush is trying to retain the conservative "law and order" mantle by not giving him an outright pardon. Now, he can claim that "justice was done" since Libby had to pay some money and golly gee whillikers, that "stain" of conviction will haunt poor liddle Scooter to his dying day, which will occur after a long, comfortable and lucrative retirement with the Petroleum Institute as a "consultant" or some other such boondoggle.
Here you have it: Bush bitchslaps those good citizens who served on the jury and, in the exercise of their duty to the state, weighed the evidence and found Libby guilty. Bush bitchslaps everyone else who has ever bought into the idea of "mandatory minimum" sentences or who supports the federal sentencing guidelines.
Really, because Bush wants it both ways, he loses twice over: while there could potentially have been some legal theory on which to support a pardon, Bush instead commutes the sentence--gives Libby a literal "get out of jail, free" card--thereby underlining the fact that even he believes that Scooter was guilty. Next, this very emphasis likely galls those who supported Libby's pardon: instead of erasing the "stain" off that "fine public servant", he simply helps him to avoid jail.
Wonder how many other sentences he'll commute for some plain ole ordinary folks?
Of course, Bush's proferred explanation is just a bunch of BS. If the sentence was too long, why didn't Bush just shorten it, to 18 months or so? After all, most everyone knows that perjury is a felony, which is defined (at least in one fashion) as a crime for which a defendant is guaranteed at least a year in prison (as opposed to jail).
No. Clearly, this was just about Bush helping out one of his friends. Pretty reluctantly.
Let this be a lesson for those that support the President, who is, after all, a man who demands the utmost loyalty from his team. I guess when he "took one for the team" Scooter didn't hear Cheney say "bend over" first.