George Bush is a walking talking six foot pile of shit.

You know what? I really don't feel like celebrating the 4th of July this year. I think I'll just go to work instead, and, following Mark Twain's recommendation from the Spanish-American War, run the Skull and Crossbones up the ole flagpole.

George Bush is a walking talking six foot pile of shit.

Yen should be ashamed of yourself for saying such a thing.

George Bush isn't six foot tall!

the president has instead decided to "micromanage the sentence."

Nonsense Kevin. As Bush has already said in explaining his commuting of the sentence, "the district court rejected the advice of the probation office, which recommended a lesser sentence and the consideration of factors that could have led to a sentence of home confinement or probation."
All Bush is doing is giving Libby the same sentence as the probation board wanted to give him but the Judge unreasonably rejected the probation board's advice. This is not micromanagement at all.

I didn't know that the President could commute sentences. Pardon, yes, but not commute.

And Al is right -- Bush is All -- judge, jury, and anything he wants to be.

The judge was not bound by the probation office recommendation. The recommendation was essentially to make the sentence as light as possible when so many others get harsher sentences for lesser crimes. The judge, a law and order conservative type, said, in effect, I am not putting up with this law breaking. You did the crime, now do the time. It is amazing how many other law and order types wanted no punishment for criminal activity for one of their own.

“In my administration, we will ask not only what is legal but what is right. Not just what the lawyers allow, but what the public deserves.� - Worst President EVER

In the Constitutional convention George Mason argued that the President might use his pardoning power to "pardon crimes which were advised by himself" or, before indictment or conviction, "to stop inquiry and prevent detection." James Madison responded:

"If the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty..."

(h/t to Daily Kos)

we know the above will never happen. I'm really confused at the logic of this commutation. This was a thorough investigation by someone with no real political agenda. Additionally, Libby obstructed on a fairly serious issue: the identity of an undercover CIA agent. I'm just bewildered by this whole thing. I'm disappointed by it, but, when it all comes down to it, I'm really not surprised. At this point in time, nothing is surprising from this administration anymore. And that is why they are going to be worse than Buchanan, whose apparently the lowest ranked president on average according to wikipedia with little disagreement from this guy.

Nothing like hanging out with Vladimir Putin on a boat for a few days to remind one of the importance of the rule of law.

Our government absolutely cannot operate with the likes of Bush, Cheney, and Libby in positions of power. We have to have employees like Plame. We have to. To allow political assholes like the three mentioned above to ruin her just cannot stand.

All of us who have been slow to call for the impeachment of George Bush need to start using the word and using it to the right people.

There is ample precedent for Bush's commutation decision. After all, he found the middle ground on stem-cell research and pardoned nearly all the embryos facing the death penalty while still allowing science to flourish.

Al: I guess that means Bush will commute the sentences in all cases were a judge has ignored the recommendation of a parole office. Isn't that going to keep him awfully busy? Sounds like micromanaging to me.

Any Republican in Congress who would now prevent the removal of Bush by impeachment and conviction should lose his seat in the '08 election.

It's not difference-splitting, it's chicken-shitting. Unless it was done expressly to keep Libby from coming before Congress, as an e-mailer to Josh suggests, I don't see how this truly pleases the neo-cons.

But, if that IS why this was the option chosen, you can bet this boiled up in Arrington's brain.

trex, above, found this marvelous quote from James Madison that bears repeating,

"If the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty..."

To Madison a President using his power of pardon to shield himself would be grounds for impeachment. Indeed, Madison appears to say Congress could do this pre-emptively.

Actually, a growing number of people (see DeLong's and Josh Marshall's sites) have now noticed that commuting Libby's sentence, instead of flat-out pardoning him, is the only way Bush could keep Libby from being forced to testify before Congress about Bush's and Cheney's actions in the Plame Affair (as well as allowing them to keep refusing to answer reporters' questions about it on the grounds that it would "interfere with the legal appeals process" in Libby's attempt to get his sentence overturned altogether).

Sounds, once again, like Addington at work to me. Certainly somebody very intelligent -- and sharing Hobbes' and Bismarck's (and Pinochet's) opinion of democracy -- has spent the last few years identifying for this administration the legal weak points that allow the American Eagle to be unjointed.

Bush 2000 Flashback:
"So when I put my hand on the Bible, I will swear to not only uphold the laws of our land, I will swear to uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God."

"In my administration, we will ask not only what is legal but what is right. Not just what the lawyers allow, but what the public deserves."

For the history, see:
"Neither Right Nor Legal: Libby and the Bush 2000 Standard."

As for Madison's touching belief: like most of the Founders' supposed "Constitutional protections against tyranny", it's based entirely on their weird belief that political parties could and should be kept from coming into existence at all in the US. (It took them about a week to discover their error once the country was up and running, but by then it was too late.) Certainly any party will be almost certain to control at least 1/3 of the Senate and thus keep any crook of that same party from being removed -- which, with extremely rare exceptions like Nixon, is precisely what has happened and will continue to happen (until we finally get the sense to scrap this Constitution and install a radically new one).

I want to see Fitz reopen the case and investigate GWB for obstruction of justice.

Does Bush's commutation of Libby create any kind of sentencing precedent that other criminal lawyers can cite?

When Ford pardoned Nixon, at least Ford could rationalize he was trying to heal a divided nation. Bush's commutation of the Libby sentence was a craven, self-serving act that only exacerbates the bitter, partisan divisiveness Bush brought to Washington along with Rove, Cheney and Rumsfeld. At this point I wouldn't believe anything Bush tells me. He has zero credibility in our house.

I'll be flying a distress flag (upside down) on the Fourth of July this year.

When Ford pardoned Nixon, at least Ford could rationalize he was trying to heal a divided nation. Bush's commutation of the Libby sentence was a craven, self-serving act

GWB is just modeling himself after his father, who pardon Cap Weinberger (before he was even indicted) in order to keep Lawrence Walsh from using Cap to get to him.

"If the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty..."

James Madison

ITMFA!

ace >"...Libby obstructed on a fairly serious issue: the identity of an undercover CIA agent. I'm just bewildered by this whole thing..."

Let me try and assist you understanding

This whole Plame affair is just one more scene in the long running adventure of which Iran-Contra was an earlier scene

This has been going on for a very very long time and has to do with the togetherness of the Petroleum Brotherhood (hint - petroleum is thicker than blood - hint)

Research the behavior of Bush Senior over his lifetime; this is all part of a much larger story

You might not want to believe it but the real world doesn`t care what you want, only what is

Grok it

"Eventually, the truth will emerge. And when it does, this house of cards, built of deceit, will fall." - Robert C. Byrd

"If the White House wanted to argue that Libby's prosecution never should have happened in the first place, the Bush gang could at least try to make the case. But that's not what's happened here -- as Josh Marshall explained, the president has instead decided to "micromanage the sentence.""

Sure but you have to acknowledge that that is in fact a presidential power. If they weren't meant to use it ever they wouldn't have it in the first place.

Complaining about it like this, that is in the sense that he has done something extraordinary, is BS. This isn't like the warrantless wiretaps. This is a power of the president. There's nothing bizarre or inappropriate about his choosing commutation over pardon.

This talk about granting this clemency being an act of obstruction of justice is hysterical. It might be good rabble rousing but frankly I doubt it. Bush made a good call here, one of the very few of his two terms of presidency. Let's move on to more important issues like the various oversight committee hearings.

lampwick >"...following Mark Twain's recommendation from the Spanish-American War, run the Skull and Crossbones up the ole flagpole."

I really like the way you think...

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain

Wow, Paris goes to jail and Scooter doesn't????!!!!

Nice concern trolling there, Tlaloc.

I have been waiting for the House of Cards to fall for six years.

Ain't gonna happen.

Ours has become a banana republic without the benefit of an explicit coup to raise the ire of the people against the leaders of the coup.

Tlaloc ignores the whole notion of "abuse of power," which we are certainly seeing here. An employer may fire an "at will" employee at any time. But if that employer does so because the employee has refused sexual relations with that employer then a crime has been committed. Just so here. Bush used the power granted him by the Constitution in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy to violate the rights of a CIA agent. There is nothing hysterical here, only a bunch of apologists for the Republican Party's assault on the Rule of Law.

Tlaloc ignores the whole notion of "abuse of power,"

Tlaloc doesn't ignore it -- he embraces it.

Tlaloc >"...This talk about granting this clemency being an act of obstruction of justice is hysterical..."

You obviously have no clue how utterly wrong you are

Nice try though

Oh, and gregor, have some real patience because the real world doesn`t ever operate on your personal schedule

"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we know for sure that just ain't so." - Mark Twain

At least Republicans can't say, "Well, Clinton did it too", in this case. The closest historical parallel is probably the conviction of Webster Hubbell on tax charges, who Clinton could have pardoned but did not.

Look, this was clearly done to buy Libby's silence, since he could have ratted and sent both Bush and Cheney to the federal penitentiary where they belong. All this blather about Libby paying a $250k fine is hopelessly naive. Democrats should wait six months and then subpoena every bank account Libby owns. Any deposit over $1.00 should be traced to it's source. I'll bet well over $250k will find it's way there, much of it with the RNC logo on it...

This Al guy above is being his usual dishonest self.

In Libby's case, the Probation Office calculated his offense severity at a sentencing range of 15-21 months, but opined that the period of imprisonment could be less that that. The Probation Office did not recommend probation only as Al claims.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/lazarus/20070607.html

The could be a problem.

Now we must demand a CIA damage assessment to see who of Valerie's contacts overseas are now dead, or in some torture prison. Justice? I think commuting the death sentence for someone who is mentally handicapped would have been a brave thing to do. Bush is incapable of discernment. A hornet's nest has been stirred with this. He should just resign and move to Paraguay early. He has no credibility left. Some outlandish "Tinfoil" hat stuff way more credibility than these criminals.

Bush intervened in a criminal sentence in a case that involved the WHITE HOUSE. Being President does not give him the right to break the law with impunity. IMPEACH. We must restrain this type of activity once and for all and prevent this evil precedent from recurring.

FYI... Looks like Drudge just referenced the Clinton explanation for the Marc Rich et al pardons in the following NY Times article cite:

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/18/opinion/18CLIN.html?pagewanted=all&ei=5070&en=66ba82eaf117b24b&ex=1183521600

i have one thing to say: impeach the bastard.

daCascadian: This has been going on for a very very long time and has to do with the togetherness of the Petroleum Brotherhood (hint - petroleum is thicker than blood - hint) ...Research the behavior of Bush Senior over his lifetime; this is all part of a much larger story

Yes, completely agree. And in my mind, it goes back as far as 1953.

I'd anticipate that the White House switchboard will be rather busy tomorrow, so here's a copy of the White House phonebook so you can keep calling until you get through. Naturally, you'll be courteous when you do, since our civil servants have important work to do!

Or maybe some enterprising person could organize a phone tree....

I think Patrick Fitgerald said it best.

AFTER THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION, can't all these pigs (Bush, Cheney, Libby, etc.) be hauled in front of Congress? Congress and the Senate will still be there. Bush will just be an ex-president. How could he claim presidential immunity for each and every little thing. I want some answers, dammit! I want to know who participated in Cheney's goddam energy meetings!

And regarding Chance's comment that Bush is a "six foot pile of shit," he isn't. Bush wears lifts!!! Have you ever seen how weird his everyday "dress shoes" are? He wears lifts! He's so insecure, such a fake, such a phony, that he can't be happy being 5'10" or 5'11", he has to pose as a big hotshot in hopes of cowing people.

Apollo 13 >"...And in my mind, it goes back as far as 1953."

More likely to the Red Line Agreement of which the current Iran scenes are only a branch of the main story...

"Considering the many productive uses of petroleum, burning it for fuel is like burning a Picasso for heat." - some Big Oil Executive

Karla Faye Tucker -- remember her? -- appealed to then-Governor Bush for commutation of her death sentence to life in prison. Here's how that rabid liberal, Tucker Crossan, recounts his interview with the campaigning Bush:

"In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, a number of protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Karla Faye Tucker. "Did you meet with any of them?" I ask. Bush whips around and stares at me. "No, I didn't meet with any of them", he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. "I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with Tucker, though. He asked her real difficult questions like, 'What would you say to Governor Bush?'" "What was her answer?" I wonder. "'Please,'" Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "'don't kill me.'" I must look shocked -- ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel -- because he immediately stops smirking."

Things are a little different when you know the secret handshake.

"I respect the jury's verdict," Mr. Bush said in a statement. "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive."

It's not that he misrepresented himself -- he simply meant that his compassion is reserved for conservatives. You doubt me? He told us, himself:

"There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of."

Little did we know how well that person would be taken care of.

It wasn't a pardon, or commutation, it was omertá in action.

"Nice country you got here -- shame if anything 'happened' to it...."

Junebug, I am so glad you decided to join us and I hope you stick around! Your comments are primo!

: "George Bush isn't six foot tall!"

You're right. His 2001 physical states that he is merely a 5' 11-3/4" pile of shit.

When Ford pardoned Nixon, at least Ford could rationalize he was trying to heal a divided nation.

It was mainly done so that Nixon would not be on trial or testifying at trial during the 1976 elections. It was a purely partisan ploy.

Same here. Lots of people in Bush's base still think that Libby was innocent, and this is a sop to those people. On the whole, I'd have been happier with an actual pardon after actual jail time.

: "George Bush isn't six foot tall!"

::You're right. His 2001 physical states that he is merely a 5' 11-3/4" pile of shit.

I would most want to hear about people's opinions about finally getting justice in the next administration, and I don't want to bother people too much with off-topic stuff, but what I can find about Bush's height online is this: The August 2000 physical says 6', his National Guard medical records say he was 5'11" in his mid-twenties, and USA Today said he was 5'11-3/4". A medical student points out that reports of height on physicals for adults are all self-reported. And a lot of people spout anecdotal stuff about meeting Bush and how he's definitely 5'10" or even 5'9".

I think 5'9" is obviously too low, and 5'10" I don't know. 5'11" seems the best figure, although he might have shrunk since his mid-20s. And he wears lifts to make himself 6' or 6'1".

My father is another 5'11" guy who has gone through life being 6' tall--the magical figure that determines whether a man is worthy of respect and employment.

tlaloc: Bush made a good call here, one of the very few of his two terms of presidency. Let's move on to more important issues like the various oversight committee hearings.

Yes to more oversight committee hearings, but this is really galling considering Libby's actual obstruction of justice, and the president's generally unsympathetic (to say the least) attitude toward criminal defendants.

I think that this is a black mark on his presidency.

i have one thing to say: impeach the bastard.

Was a time, we'd have done it:

Article 1, paragraph nine, of the Articles approved by the House Judiciary Committee in July, 1974:

9. Endeavoring to cause prospective defendants, and individuals duly tried and convicted, to expect favored treatment and consideration in return for their silence or false testimony, or rewarding individuals for their silence or false testimony.

Yada,yada,yada...I don't know why anyone is still wasting their time discussing Bush-Cheney-Neo's Inc....in any political or legal context or expressing any surprise at anything they do.

Look, get this thru your heads...they are psychopaths...yes psychopaths...much as it suprises anyone that psychopaths could end up in elected office.

Definition

The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is a diagnostic tool used to rate a person's psychopathic or antisocial tendencies. People who are psychopathic prey ruthlessly on others using charm, deceit, violence or other methods that allow them to get what they want. The symptoms of psychopathy include: lack of a conscience or sense of guilt, lack of empathy, egocentricity, pathological lying, repeated violations of social norms, disregard for the law, shallow emotions, and a history of victimizing others."

You can whine about law and politics till the cows come home...these freaks need to be whacked any way anyone do it.
Yea, I know the liberal whine..."but then we would be just like them" and so on...well guess what..everyone is already like them...because no one is willing to call a spade a spade..or in this case a psychopath...if they were living in a trailer park instead of DC they would all be in a cell for criminaly insane. Period.

junebug >"...he simply meant that his compassion is reserved for conservatives..."

How long before you folks admit/realize that these people are NOT conservatives ?

They are hard core rightwing reactionaries; they wouldn`t know conservative if they were run over by it

"Tyranny is yielding to the lust of the governing" - John Fletcher Moulton

Josh Marshall had a canny comment up -- by commuting the sentence rather than pardoning Libby completely, he's still shielded by his right against self-incrimination. It's a move to keep his tongue stilled. I tell you, we're just a banana republic nowadays.

Andrew Sullivan has this to say: "What more do we need to know? These people think they are above the law. This president thinks he is above the law. The vice-president believes he is above the law. And when democratic leaders act as if they are the law unto themselves, and are prepared to upend the justice system to serve their own political ends, it's time for a revolt. ... It's a final straw, a call to wake up before these criminals get away with it one more time."

A corollary of Irrational Bush Hatred is Bush Outrage Fatique. The Republicans, evidently, are completely incapable of irony: Congress impeached the last president for the same crime that Bush just commuted Scooter Libby's sentence.

The US is in a dangerous fix--We need to impeach both the Republican President and his VP but if we did that, Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, would become President. I hate the fact that Republicans Bush-Cheney were elected in 2004, but I can't imagine that the Constitution has any provisions to support a change of political leadership through impeachment rather than through election.

I'm not sure if it has to do with self-incrimination, but there is very little doubt in my mind that all is not what it seems.. I'm sure Libby's lawyers and Cheney were all in on the conversation with Bush to commute Libby's sentence.

I think it's past time for Bush to hold a press conference, and I'd like someone in the press corps to ask Bush if he will he rule out issuing Libby a pardon on his way out of the White House.

Josh Marshall had a canny comment up -- by commuting the sentence rather than pardoning Libby completely, he's still shielded by his right against self-incrimination. It's a move to keep his tongue stilled. I tell you, we're just a banana republic nowadays.

Libby would still have his right against self-incrimination if he was pardoned. He's been convicted of perjury and obstruction - a pardon wouldn't cover any crimes that his lying was intended to conceal.

This is clearly an action done out of fear that Scooter (or his wife) will start talking to Fitzgerald to reduce his time in prison. The timing with the last court of appeals able to hear his appeal to stay out on bail prior to his having to report to prison unanimously refusing to grant it being a few hours before this commutation makes it rather difficult to come to any other conclusion. Many have said Libby would never talk, but that assumes he is someone that can handle being in jail an untested assumption, not to mention the pressure from his wife for going to jail over this affair and acting as a fall guy. I think Bushco was worried that he would spill, but were hoping the system would save them the necessity of acting which it did not and so they did this, using the most absurd and easy to disprove basis for doing so, that this was excessive.

For those that want to claim this was a bogus conviction, indeed investigation, you are wrong. You are wrong that there was no underlying crime, there was, a CIA confirmed active NOC whose last out of country as a NOC mission was no earlier than 2002 meant she was clearly fully covered by the requirements of the IIPA regardless of what Toensing claims. This was not a partisan witch-hunt, to have that one must have the power to do so and the Dems had none throughout the critical period of this act. No, this was an investigation being requested by the GOP run CIA under the GOP President, with the GOP/Bush appointed Attorney-General recusing himself AFTER it was known to DoJ that Armitage was Novak's source (which shows that this was clearly more than about who leaked to Novak despite all the arguments to the contrary) which led to the appointment of Fitzgerald a Bush43 appointed USA, was heard by a Reagan/Bush41/Bush43 appointed judge in Walton, and was convicted of lying, perjury and obstruction of justice into a national security investigation which makes them by definition national security crimes themselves.

What Bush did in this matter was to continue the conspiracy against Wilson by protecting those ultimately responsible for conceiving and then enacting the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson and the destruction of her unit dealing with nuclear counter proliferation in the ME region and destroyed the networks where her cover business could be connected to, not just in her own case but in every single NOC that also ever used BJ&a as a cover. This was one of if not the most egregious cases of a covert asset having their covers blown, when it happens by enemy/foreign agents that is understandable since that is their job. When it is done by sellouts and traitors within to foreign powers it is far more reprehensible. However what we have here is where those charged with the protection and enforcement of said protections for the entire intelligence/security communities of the USA the uppermost level of that government deliberately outed a member of the most covert level operative within the CIA and one involved in crucial work (unless you want to argue tracking loose nukes is not so, which in the so called war on terror is utterly nonsensical and even in the more sane actual fight against terrorism you still want to do all possible to prevent terrorists from ever getting their hands on a loose nuke) essential to the further protection/safety of the USA.

Anyone that argues this was a good thing was a fair or reasonable thing is complicit after the fact in treasonous behaviour to the detriment of the security of the USA, period. This is an Administration/Presidency that is run by traitors to the Constitution of the USA and the Republic itself, and there is no defence for such by any true believer in America as defined by the Constitution and the precedents of the past 224 years prior to GWB and the Cheney Presidency.

It is also amazing that Paris Hilton was able to face more jail time than Scooter Libby, and the idea that Libby is so special that he does not require prison time for his felony criminal conviction of perjury and obstruction in a national security case underscores that this was done purely out of personal considerations (either loyalty or as I think to protect themselves from Scooter breaking down in jail and confessing to his crimes and potentially providing more evidence that this originated with either the VP or President, me I think it originated with the VP but GWB got in on the act when he heard about it, this type of smear job was what he loved doing most as Lee Atwater's understudy and he did demonstrate an actual knack/talent for it, about the only thing in his adult life he ever did I might add) and in complete disregard/indifference to the law. The sole reason he was not pardoned (politically speaking that is, legally the continuation of the 5th protections being available for Libby to continue shielding the WH is certainly another) was because the political firestorm that would have sent out by doing so well before the next election let alone his last day was something to be feared. Even so the average American will likely see this as a magic "get out of jail free card" that only exists for the most powerful and connected to this Administration, everyone else be damned. I rather think that is going to rankle all but the most die hard Bushies within the GOP, everyone else is going to find this stinks to high heaven of massive cronyism and corruption at best, and a continuation of a cover-up of serious criminal wrongdoing in the outing of Plame at worst. Me, I'd bet good money it is the latter myself.

One possible upside to this though is that if there is enough outrage at that get out of jail card being used in the wider American general public it may finally prompt hardnosed solid journalism coverage of the actual facts in this case instead of the nonstop spin that the beltway punditry class and too many of the beltway reporters have been mistakenly passing off as fact/truth/reality. It also can be used as the ultimate easy to understand symbol of how Bush and the GOP Congress that enabled him have abandoned the rule of law and substituted it for the rule of Bush for the good of the GOP in maintaining permanent power (which was clearly the intent until they finally had the setback of the GOP repudiation in the 2006 midterms). Not to mention how can one claim to be serious about fighting terrorism and protecting America when one can defend such an egregious case of destroying a priceless asset in that fight in tracking and controlling loose nukes as the court docs in the Libby trial show the Bushies were engaged in and the GOP Congress actively aided them in covering up (see the SSCI report the GOP used to smear Wilson with a few years back). One can only hope. I'd do more if I could, but alas not being a citizen I have no ability to do so beyond what I am already doing here and elsewhere in trying to make sure the facts in this case are not buried in the massive snow jobs the Libby defenders have been generating at maximum power all along. Good luck America, you need it like you have never needed it before if you are to remain a free society where the rule of law and that all are equal before the law is concerned. You have already fallen very far, this example is only a particularly blatant and offensive example of this contempt by Bushco and far too many within the GOP structure/leadership.

What does Mr. Libby know that makes him so important that he has to be protected in a way that degrades the image of the U.S. Presidency?

And if he knows so much that is dangerous to the present administration, couldn't he simply have been whacked long ago?

Impeach 'em all, let god sort 'em out.

But no "amnesty" for Mexican immigrants!

> George Bush is a walking talking six
> foot pile of shit.

That is an unfair and odious comparison.

A six foot pile of shit has substantial value as fertilizer, feedstock for biofuel, etc. Your comparison is insulting to shit.

Cranky

HELLO...we knew back when he said it "what he meant"...although many (including Hillary yesterday) like to say the president said he would fire anyone involved in "the leak"...he never did say that...he said, "taken care of"...and if folks didn't know what this sad excuse for a man/president was saying they haven't been paying attention!

Incredibly, the wash post editorial today says: Mr. Libby's trial provided convincing evidence that the revelation of Ms. Plame's identity was not the result of a conspiracy to punish her husband, administration critic Joseph C. Wilson IV -- the allegation that caused all the partisan furor surrounding the case and that led to Mr. Fitzgerald's appointment.

"Mr. Libby's trial provided convincing evidence that the revelation of Ms. Plame's identity was not the result of a conspiracy to punish her husband, administration critic Joseph C. Wilson IV -- the allegation that caused all the partisan furor surrounding the case and that led to Mr. Fitzgerald's appointment."

That pretty much says it all.

How long before you folks admit/realize that these people are NOT conservatives ? They are hard core rightwing reactionaries; they wouldn`t know conservative if they were run over by it

Conservatives are by nature reactionaries. It's the same thing, really; "conservative" is just a more socially acceptable name for the underlying basic worship of power, money and authoritarianism.

Conservatives have done a very good job in the last twenty years of demonizing the word "liberal." Let's not give them an out on the word "conservative" -- let's make it synomomous with the criminal, traitorous GOP.

a Citizen with a Long record of service to the nation.

You know who else had a long record of service to the nation? Richard Nixon. H.R. Haldeman. G. Gordon Liddy. John Erlichman.

Vs. amnesty to a bunch of illegals who snuk across the border. Hmmm, tough call, that.

How many of those illegal immigrants engaged in a conspiracy to betray national security secrets in a time of war as Libby did? Hmm, tough call, that.

[deleted]

This comes as no surprise. Typical Bush.
Elections have consequences. Nice job America.

This case SHOULD shine a light on this GOP. This is NOT a "law and order" party, this is not a "national security" party. This is a bastardized version of conservatism and a party run amok on power and money.

If only the American electorate would pay attention.

That pretty much says it all.

Pretty much says it all about the Washington Post, yes.