WASHINGTON —AP- [1]President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case Monday, stepping into a criminal case with heavy political overtones on grounds that the sentence was just too harsh.
Bush’s move came hours after a federal appeals panel ruled Libby could not delay his prison term in the CIA leak case. That meant Libby was likely to have to report to prison soon and put new pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby’s allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
“I respect the jury’s verdict,” Bush said in a statement. “But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.”
Certainly not surprising, and certainly justified.
I’m quite sure we’re going to see the usual suspects complaining about this, but screw them.
Here’s a message for Democrats: If your need for a pound of flesh extends so far as to include conviction over a “crime” that had nothing to do with the original allegations which started that multi billion dollar investigation /fiasco /witch hunt… you remember, the one you never got any convictions on…then you have larger problems than sticking an old man in jail for 30 months is going to solve… a man who, it should be pointed out, who has served his country faithfully for longer than most of you have been wasting air.
Particularly after I watched the majority of you defending the crimes of Bill Clinton.