Unpardonable
I'm not talking about any of Scooter Libby's offenses. I'm talking about Bush's commuting Libby's prison sentence. I'm not certain that is in any way, technically, a criminal act. Nevertheless, it is an offense.
Bushie claims that he intervened and misused his presidential privilege because he considered the jail time to which Libby had been sentenced "too severe" a punishment. Given the nature of the incarceration to which he was doubtless headed (I don't imagine that Scooter was likely to find himself prison wife to anyone where he was going), Libby's sentence -- thirty months, I believe -- was far short of "severe." That Bushie chose to step in and act before Libby had served even a moment of that sentence indicates that this really has nothing to do with "severity" at all.
This action is yet another in the frighteningly long list of examples of what I see as the consistent priority of this administration: avoidance of responsibility. It seems to be the belief of Bush & Co. that they can operate however they choose without any accountability. This is certainly the situation they have at all times in every way possible striven to contrive and maintain. If even one in each dozen examples of their bending, rewriting or outright ignoring the policies, rules and laws to which they are subject were prosecuted as a genuinely criminal offense, the list of charges would form a hefty volume.
At this point in his presidency, Bushie's corruption has become shockingly flagrant. It's as if there's no longer any concern with concealing it, no interest in appearing as anything other than corrupt. The dissembling is not merely embarrassingly uninterested and inept, it is insultingly so.
Finally, there is something about Bush's presidency that infuriates me more deeply than his incompetence. His arrogance. Bad enough that an idiot occupy the presidency. Worse that he so tragically mishandle practically every aspect of his reponsibilities. Worse still that he engage in activities both sweepingly corrupt and blatant in their opposition to the core principles of the office. But the worst may be the ease with which he smugly flaunts his disregard for the damage he does and his contempt for the governmental legacy that he is exploiting and systematically dismantling to satisfy his own immoral and pathetic self-interests.
Bush has had my contempt since before the first faux election that inflicted him upon the presidency. He has spent every moment of both undeserved terms vigorously earning it.
Bushie claims that he intervened and misused his presidential privilege because he considered the jail time to which Libby had been sentenced "too severe" a punishment. Given the nature of the incarceration to which he was doubtless headed (I don't imagine that Scooter was likely to find himself prison wife to anyone where he was going), Libby's sentence -- thirty months, I believe -- was far short of "severe." That Bushie chose to step in and act before Libby had served even a moment of that sentence indicates that this really has nothing to do with "severity" at all.
This action is yet another in the frighteningly long list of examples of what I see as the consistent priority of this administration: avoidance of responsibility. It seems to be the belief of Bush & Co. that they can operate however they choose without any accountability. This is certainly the situation they have at all times in every way possible striven to contrive and maintain. If even one in each dozen examples of their bending, rewriting or outright ignoring the policies, rules and laws to which they are subject were prosecuted as a genuinely criminal offense, the list of charges would form a hefty volume.
At this point in his presidency, Bushie's corruption has become shockingly flagrant. It's as if there's no longer any concern with concealing it, no interest in appearing as anything other than corrupt. The dissembling is not merely embarrassingly uninterested and inept, it is insultingly so.
Finally, there is something about Bush's presidency that infuriates me more deeply than his incompetence. His arrogance. Bad enough that an idiot occupy the presidency. Worse that he so tragically mishandle practically every aspect of his reponsibilities. Worse still that he engage in activities both sweepingly corrupt and blatant in their opposition to the core principles of the office. But the worst may be the ease with which he smugly flaunts his disregard for the damage he does and his contempt for the governmental legacy that he is exploiting and systematically dismantling to satisfy his own immoral and pathetic self-interests.
Bush has had my contempt since before the first faux election that inflicted him upon the presidency. He has spent every moment of both undeserved terms vigorously earning it.
posted by Greg! | 10:27 PM
3 Comments:
Well said, Greg.
On Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night, someone made the observation that Bush campaigned on a platform of "bringing honor and dignity back to the White House." As if president Clinton erased it. Now, with the heat of the Libby [strike]pardon[/strike] commutation bearing down on them, the response is "Well, Clinton did it, so it's no big deal."
They went from being the self-described moral superiiors to Clinton to the "us too" crowd.
Hear, hear.
What makes it worse are that there are folks who got similar sentences for the same crime...
I don't hear W moaning about them...
Of course, they aren't protecting his butt...
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