Give Firedoglake’s servers a break and head over to this thread at Kos. The Libby jury just handed down guilty verdicts on four out of the five charges against him.
As for what comes next, expect a pardon. The president has no personal stake in the next election and he could give a rat’s ass about public opinion. As for what would make him want to do it, I suspect that it means something that team Libby threatened to compel Cheney to testify and then reneged at the last minute. They didn’t put their own guy on the stand to defend himself. It almost seemed as if the defense didn’t care too deeply about winning.
We’ll see of course. But I suspect that justice for Scooter Libby will be short-lived.
Andrew
I think that “Scooter” is a great prison nickname.
Third Eye Open
Anyone wanna guess what the spin is going to be once Shrub pardons Libby?
I’ve got my money staked on the “Witch-hunt” and “librul jury-pool” in DC gambit…any guesses?
Punchy
I’m not so sure. A pardon is REALLY hard to swallow, as unpopular as this prez is. See, while Bush cares not a whit about re-election, Rove must know that a pardon could just devestate his party’s rep (yeah, laugh) come 2008.
If the Senate ever gets the 60 Dems necessary….what an incredlble few years that will be. Rove must know this.
Jimmmm
What happens next is kind of academic. The GOP sat on its hands while its party’s leaders outed an undercover intel field operative, and then conspired to cover up the crime.
To any one with an open mind, this will stick to the GOP as long as the Watergate break-in cover-up did.
Zifnab
PWNED!
cd6
The only thing that Libby is guilt of is being a patriot.
Bush should pardon Libby immediately, award him a Medal of Freedom, and then appoint him governor of some state. And a good one like Oregon, not one of those shitty Dakotas.
The real criminal here is Joe Wilson, who emboldened the terrorists by reporting “the truth.” Real Americans know to make shit up to help the cause.
Jimmmm
CD6: A lot of our soldiers come from the Dakotas.
Why do you hate America?
legion
A pardon, at least before the 11th hour of Bush’s term, would raise a real firestorm. I know Libby’s team didn’t call Cheney to testify, but could Congress subpoena the bastard for their own investigation? That would be hi-larious.
jcricket
I’m so confused. I thought this whole trial was going to expose Joe Wilson as a “lying sack of shit” (source: Powerline, FreeRepublic, et. al.).
Damn you reality and your liberal bias! Damn you all to hell.
Otto Man
I’m waiting to hear from Darrell about how this is a victory for the conservative movement.
The Other Steve
But I thought there was no crime committed here.
Darrell told me so.
Jimmmm
I’d love to have Cheney appear before the Senate Intel Subcommittee. They could put a vote to the Senate for censure, and Cheney would have to recuse himself (assuming Unbelieberman votes with the objectively pro-terrorist GOP caucus).
Jake
“Libby who?”
I wonder what this means re: The Plame/Wilson civil suit. Scooter might look forward to testifying in court as a nice break from the monotony of jail.
Jimmmm
So when Tony Snow hosts the next presser, can he use the appeal as a dodge to not comment on an “ongoing legal matter”?
The Veep’s Chief-of-Staff is a convicted felon. What did the Veep know and when did he know it?
Myrtle Parker
I don’t think the INEVITABLE pardon will come until Appeals have been exhausted.
The real question is what Fitz will do now if anything. If he continues investigating the VP and demands Libby testify, who knows what will happen. A pardon will not relieve Libby of his need to testify.
annie's granny
No wonder Cheney’s popping the blood thinners. It’s only a matter of time before Scooter pulls a Brownie and decides that if he’s going down, the rest of the gang’s going down with him.
Myrtle Parker
Tony Snow won’t say shit about it. Will not touch this in the slightest. Yah, the appeal will be his mantra. Nevertheless the white house press corps should ask about this continuously from here to the end of the Bush presidency.
Myrtle Parker
Was anyone from Clinton’s presidency (at such a HIGH LEVEL) ever convicted?
Otto Man
Between the Libby verdict, the Walter Reed mess, and the new probes into the fired US Attorneys, we’ll soon find out what percentage of Americans are counted as the core, rock-bottom Bush cultists.
We’re already at 29% approval. How low can it go — 25%? 20%?
If you’re still with this administration of assclowns after all this, there’s nothing he could do to dissuade you. The people still applauding this clown wouldn’t change their opinion if he raped and then cannibalized a small child on national TV.
RSA
How soon will it be before liberals are being castigated for unseemly happiness about Libby’s conviction? What will the accusation be?
On the pardon issue, I think it depends on how much influence Cheney has with Bush. An enormous amount, sure, but Bush has to weigh Cheney’s preferences against his own legacy: the worst President in the last quarter century, or the worst President ever? Choices, choices. . .
Otto Man
Actually, as far as Clinton administration convictions, there was only one — Asst. Attorney-General Webster Hubbell, convicted of embezzlement for a crime he committed before joining the administration.
All the other “scandals” netted no convictions of officials for things done during their terms in office.
ThymeZone
This is what happens when a man allows himself to be called “Scooter.”
Richard 23
This is such a travesty. My heart goes out to Mr. Libby and his family.
Teak111
I’m no lawyer, but my guess is 684 days of appeals followed by a pardon few will hear or care about.
Andrew
The Pardon(tm) will occur shortly after November 4, 2008 but before January 20, 2009. I’d would put a good amount of money on this.
Myrtle Parker
Short of personally discovering a cure for cancer, there is virtually nothing President Bush can do in his remaining time in office that would absolve him of the title, “Worst President Ever!”
Might as well inscribe it on his gravestone now.
Andrew
Boy, I’d sure like to have a press conference with Dep. Press Secretary Dana Perino, if you know what I mean.
Bubblegum Tate
Exactly. Also, Valerie Plame’s favorite T-shirt says, “Ask me about my job at the CIA!” The only reason she’s not doing 25-to-life is because of librul act’vist judges.
Bubblegum Tate
OMG! Deranged librul BDS sufferer calls for Bush’s immediate execution! And the Dhimmicrats in Congress don’t disavoy him! BDS! BDS! BDS!
Jake
Fired US Attnys and convicted Scooters will have 0% impact on De Base’s opinion (too esoteric). The Walter Reed/Military health system mess…meh. Hard-core
worshippersapologists will say he did react (eventually), it wasn’t his fault, mistakes were made, war is hell, Clinton started it, etc. If he is at an average of 29% he might go down to 25%.Myrtle Parker
BREAKING NEWS: Fox news analysts all agree, libby verdict flawed, no underlying crime.
Also, reports are coming in that the Sun is indeed likely to rise in the east tomorrow!
Tsulagi
I thought the same when Cheney didn’t testify. My guess is Bush/Cheney probably didn’t want to give Libby assurances he would get a pardon, but when he played them in a game of chicken, they caved. Then Cheney wasn’t called and Libby didn’t take the stand providing more embarrassment.
Given the time until sentencing, then appeals, Libby probably won’t see a day in prison. The honor and integrity president will pardon him on his way out.
Did like Libby’s defense, though. “Hey, there was so much lying, backstabbing and bullshit creation going on that I couldn’t’ be expected to remember pissant Plame stuff during the investigation, much less be accountable for it.”
dreggas
Heh Shrub is on giving some speech to Veterans claiming that he is doing a ton for veterans. He’s even shedding crocodile tears over walter reed….
Oregonian
My money says December 31, 2008. And when reporters try to ask questions the next day, the administration will just brush it off as “last year’s news.”
Otto Man
Didn’t Bush Sr. pass out the Iran-Contra pardons on Christmas during his lame duck period? I know Jr. doesn’t like to mimic his father in anything, but he might try the same.
Oregonian
You send us Scooter and I will smack you. I will smack you like a bad, bad donkey.
Should be working
But… but.. the libruls use dirty words on their websites!
dreggas
but hey this is no big deal because Shrub’s big priority is the flag burning ammendment…
Richard 23
I guess it’s time for the appeal. I suggest strongly that Libby’s lawyers file for a change of venue. BDS seems endemic in DC.
Pixie
/Pixie scribbles a note earnestly on the piece of parchment by candlelight
“Scooter, you went into jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to lie about–Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work—and life. Until then, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers…”
/seals the letter with wax
/gentle blows out the candle as the wind whispers his name~
fin.
Andrew
Shh! He could be full of chocolate, okay?!
Punchy
He’ll get fired. It’s fucking amazing he hasn’t been canned yet.
Fitz’s career is as good as dead, IMO, at this point. The Bush Admin simply will not allow a non-team player on their payroll.
Myrtle Parker
Hey Richard 23,
Better extradite Libby to France for a change of venue. If you look at the polls it seems all of America is afflicted with BDS.
AkaDad
This is a victory for America, because an unnamed senior administration official tells me that Bush is going to eliminate the Jury system, in a signing statement.
Face
Fucking bastard.
(wipes off keyboard and desk)
Punchy
DING DING DING!!! WE HAVE A WINNER!
Per some hootch named “Dana Perino”:
An appeal is “ongoing”? “Prinicpled stand of not commenting”?? Who’s writing this tripe, Carrot Top???
Kirk Spencer
Punchy, Possibly. On the other hand, it was tried before. I direct your attention to October 20, 1973.
This is not a good thing from the GOP point of view.
Pb
Got that, folks? Perjury isn’t a crime anymore, Fox told me so! Someone call Clinton and get him unimpeached! Let’s see this headline: BREAKING NEWS: Fox news analysts all agree, Clinton impeachment flawed, no underlying crime.
Yeah, I’m not holding my breath… of course, unlike Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, Irve Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Jr., (or John Poindexter, or Oliver North) Clinton wasn’t found guilty, so go figure.
AkaDad
Mission Accomplished!
Richard 23
France? *spit*
They hate America at least as much as the liberals do!
I wonder how many of those jurors donated money to the Kerry campaign. I wonder how many voted for Bush (hint: it’s most likely a round number).
Richard 23
The horrible thing about all this is that Joe Wilson – the one man who indisputably lied to the country – gets off scot-free.
Libby should receive a medal, not a pardon. What I mean is that he shouldn’t have to be pardoned in the first place. He is undeniably an American patriot and hero. Unlike sleazy Wilson and desk jockey Plame.
gopindrag
I don’t hate America. I just hate Americans.
Punchy
This is a good point. The longer they stay mum, the more questions are asked. It’s like when the husband comes home with lipstick on his shirt, instead of just explaining to his wife about the rabid attack co-worker how runs around and kisses everyone (about as believable as what the Bush Team would offer), he just clams up and goes all 5th on her ass.
She no longer ever trusts him, and continues to badger him about this forever. Like what the pundits will do with Libbs, should Team Bush just shut their holes and point to the Dems eating tomato-basil fetuses and marrying their gay cousins. Sometimes even a lame excuse beats none at all.
Zifnab
And why would a Wookie live with Ewoks on Endor? It does. not. make. sense!
cd6
Richard 23:
That’s pretty much exactly what I said way back in post #7:
Jill
Medal of freedom for Libby is on its way!
Richard 23
cd6, I bow to your superior intellect! Great minds and all that….
We both came up with the truth independently which proves it’s true.
sglover
I believe that Republicans refer to that kind of thing as “blowing off steam” and “fraternity hijinks”.
You angry liberals just hate it when people have a little fun, don’t you?
Myrtle Parker
Richard 23, now it is your patriotic duty to kill the truth. The truth just emboldens the enemy.
Myrtle Parker
Hell, they’d probably be pissed off Bush didn’t ask Bigtime to shoot the kid in the face first after telling the kid to go fuck himself.
Pb
Check out the wailing of the FReepers (to the tune of 1,000+ comments) at this travesty of justice, waaah! Any bets on what their pre-trial (or pre-indictment!) predictions looked like? Bonus points if you can explain how a group of people can be so consistently wrong and never even notice.
RSA
“I’m sorry, sir, you will not be allowed to take that medal back to your cell. It might be used to endanger other prisoners.”
sglover
You can make a good case that the worthless space-fillers who occupied the White House just before the Civil War were the absolute worst. But I think Bush gets the “honor” for the balance of American history since then, easily. He combines Warren Harding’s intellect and competence with Richard Nixon’s integrity and sense of fair play.
cd6
If this case proves anything, its that the liberal “Trial by Jury” system is fatally flawed and should be removed immediately.
The entire judiaciary system is nothing but a hotbed of anti-Jesus, liberal, homobortion agenda advancing activist judges and jurors.
If Libby had been given a trial by his TRUE peers – god fearing, heterosexual patriots – not only would he have been acquitted, by Fitzgerald would have been thrown in jail instead. Because this trial was a waste of America’s time and money.
Myrtle Parker
What is a waste of America’s time? -> wall-to-wall coverage of Anna Nicole Smith. BREAKING NEWS!! She is _still_ dead!
What is a waste of America’s money? -> see Iraq via Halliburton.
Democrab
My thoughts and prayers go out to Brace Beamer and his family.
His Lone Ranger identity on the radio has been exposed.
The base isn’t going to be happy when they find out.
President Putsch will be furious.
Sorry, I thought we were waiting for the ethics committe probe into the Mark Foley coverup?
“Pardon” me boy, is that the Chatanooga Scooter?
AkaDad
We need to start reigning in Government spending. This trial was a complete waste of our tax dollars.
Our priority should be to only investigate lies about blowjobs.
Zifnab
I think even E! has moved on at this point.
Jake
Hellz yeah. There’s Britney’s foray into Sinead O’Connordom to investigate.
cd6
Riddle me this, you Bush bashing moonbats: If the jurors didn’t have anything to hide, why did they hold deliberations in secret?
Maybe it was so they could conceal their fact free leftist agenda from the press? Hmmm indeed.
Jake
Duh! You right-wing pearl clutchers would drop dead if you witnessed the frozen fetus feeding frenzies/goat sacrificing/coke-fueled jello-wrestling orgies that take place during the average activist moonbat jury deliberations.
Myrtle Parker
cd6, you sir, are priceless! Carry on.
SnakeBall Lambretta
Ted Haggard should rush to aid Scooter in what the press could only claim to be another miraculous healing of a shaft-obsessed New American Sphincter.
not the senator
Check out this article in Vanity Fair by Michael Wolff explaining why Libby lied.
Richard 23
Sad to say that there’s no such thing as justice any more. Nowadays, you can have a “special prosecutor” investigate a ‘crime’ (that never actually happened) on the taxpayers’ dime for over a year until he trips up somebody enough to indict a ham sandwich.
This somehow justifies the cost of paying a staff and his living high on the hog. It’s a total disgrace and a travesty.
Of course the moonbats are howling and salivating for the Vice President’s blood clot. Typical of the un-American vampyres.
Fifteen Minutes of Fame
ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG!!! Forget Anna Nicole, Brittney and even Scooter! The Dirty Sanchez story is breaking now!
chopper
LOL, the GOP is on LSD.
chopper
you forgot to mention that whitewater was an exception, as it was true justice(tm) in the making. needs work.
canuckistani
I’m going to go and listen to “Dad, I’m In Jail” by Was Not Was, and think of Scooter phoning Dick.
Mr Furious
What’s Cheney’s problem? He can just take the stand as an anonymous “senior Administration official.”
Pb
Hi, canuckistani, happy birthday, I’m calling you from jail…
Zifnab
Phoning? Is that what they’re calling it these days?
Marcus Wellby
Well, we have:
1. Walter Reed scandal
2. Fired prosecutors testifying
3. Libby verdict
Anyone care to guess how soon before some white woman goes missing or Anna Nicole comes back from the dead? Team Bush needs a MAJOR distraction, stat.
skip
“Team Bush needs a MAJOR distraction, stat.”
Can you spell I-R-A-N?
The neocon elements in the US press are still there. The Lobby is still there. Hell, Cheney is still there. They will be happy to provide the distraction. All that is required now is for the “Maine” to be blown up in the harbor.
Baby Jane
Too bad he wasn’t busted with pot. That’s the kind of offense that could really do a fella in.
dreggas
I can see the headlines now:
“Freedom is on the March.”
followed by the byline:
“At least at levenworth federal penitentiary where former Cheney chief of Staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was released following a full presidential pardon.”
—————————————————-
In all seriousness I doubt he gets a pardon, you want to see the masses go into full torch and pitch fork mode just pardon the guy who was one of your “good fellas” after he’s convicted, not just accused, of a felony.
The Other Steve
Anybody go look to see what the wingnut blogosphere is saying?
Captain’s quarters is silent.
redstate.com shut the doors and is not responding
proteinwisdom has no comment, other than an appeal for welfare money so he can buy a cadillac
Malkin is point to NRO which blames the jury
Right Wing Nutcake tries to make the case that it’s no big deal
In other words… a whole lot of denial going on
The Other Steve
More…
Hugh Hewitt has no comment
Glenn Reynolds ponders if he’ll be pardoned
Tom Maguire is trying to down play it… Interesting considering all the effort he put into claiming there was no crime there
Justin
National Review has a lot of comments – all attacking the verdict and asking for a pardon.
Perry Como
Nothing to see here, moonbats!
matt
Entirely off topic and random question: Just wondering which is generally considered more “prestigious”, West Point or the Naval Academy?
I think West Point is more prominent in our popular culture, but from what I’ve read, and I could be way off, it’s actually more difficult to get through the Naval Academy.
I know this is a silly question, but thanks in advance for any insight.
RSA
Hey, Tim F., you’ve hit the big time: a quote by name in Slate.
lard lad
Bush and Cheney could avoid a messy pardon… by paying some yuppie doing a five-year jolt for insider trading to shank Libby in the exercise yard with a sharpened toothbrush.
Just saying.
srv
Probably a product of the ratio of the size of the Army vs. the Navy. Also, there is a higher percentage of engineers in the Navy (nukular, etc). They probably have to compensate in those fields, expecting more to wash out.
I’ve met plenty of smart West Point folks. Almost as many as the assholes I’ve met from the AF and Naval Academies.
Steve D
It’s hard to keep a straight face in this country. I remember a quote from Sitting Bull, about the Whites, that Hunter S. Thompson put in his book: Fear And Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972. It, still, works for me, now: (Chief Sitting Bull, speaking at the Powder River Conference in 1877)
“Hear me, people:
We have now to deal with another race-small and feeble when our fathers first met them, but now great and overbearing. Strangely enough they have a mind to till the soil and the love of possession is a disease with them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break but the poor may not. They take their tithes from the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule.”
Amen, Brother.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
I agree with Red State:
Amen, fuckers. Appoint Libby to the Presidency! I suppose changing the Constitution might be necessary, but Bush can probably do that with a signing statement.
Nick Kasoff - The Thug Report
You’re kidding, right? I’m a libertarian myself, and was oppposed to most of Clinton’s policies, but I certainly never said anything to the effect of, “Anyone who supports Slick Willie must be a pedophile or a crackhead.” Indeed, throughout the Clinton years, I continued to refer to him as President Clinton. It would be nice if the left had the same level of courtesy.
Nick Kasoff
The Thug Report
Sojourner
I hope Ken Starr has been watching Patrick Fitgerald in action. Perhaps Starr would finally understand how a prosecutor should behave.
RSA
Rightwingers still don’t realize that Clinton wasn’t convicted of perjury. I imagine that years from now the same group of people will be saying, “Libby? Oh, he was the guy found not guilty of making a false statement to the FBI.”
chopper
if you wish hard enough, it becomes true. like tax cuts stimulating the economy, iraqis greeting our soldiers with candy and blowjobs, etc etc.
Jimmm
Impeached
The Other Steve
You just did.
jake
Fixed.
Some of those hominids still think we could have won Vietnam if it weren’t for the gosh danged libruls and feel Nixon was unjustly persecuted. They’ll catch on to what happened with Clinton around the fourth of Never.
RSA
This made me laugh. Enlistment inducements are getting better and better. “Up to $40,000 for your college education. . .or blowjobs.”
Otto Man
I know libertarians don’t believe in government. Now I know they don’t believe in hyperbole.
You may wish to go back and reread what I actually wrote. I never asserted that Bush supporters rape and eat children. I said that if Bush himself were to rape and eat children — a scenario so ludicrous it was meant to evoke shock — even then his hardest core of supporters wouldn’t flinch.
In any case, I really don’t give a crap about your sense of civility or worries about bad language. This administration has gutted our government, set the economy up for disaster, defiled the Constitution, and ruined our reputation abroad. I think by comparison calling them bad names is small potatoes.
TR
Yes, courtesy is the biggest threat facing this country right now.
Oh, those leftists are so uncivil! Not like the right-wingers — they talk about assassinating Supreme Court Justices and blowing up newspaper offices and nuking entire countries, but they do so without ever using a single dirty word.
The country’s in flames, and you’ve got your panties in a wad over foul language? Fuck you, get a clue.
Otto Man
Nick, whatever you do, don’t read this piece by Jonathan Swift.
He actually advocates eating children! For real!
Pb
Fixed.
RSA
Holy shit.
demimondian
Otto! How dare you point to the work of Jonathan Swift? Didn’t you know that he was celibate? And an ardent nationalist? And Dean of a Cathedral, to boot?
What kind of traitorous leftard are you, anyway?
mrmobi
Umm, from your website, you appear to be a racist piece of shite. I don’t want to be “intemperate” here, but if your website is any indication, you have yet to join the human race, of which I am a proud member.
Are we really going to dialog with the white power movement? John? Tim?
mrmobi
Hey everybody, go on over to Nick Kasoff’s site “the Thug Report.” I recommend it. Apparently, through extensive research, he has learned that only black people commit crimes! Who knew?
Ain’t the intertubes wonderful?
So Nick, what is your “solution” to this problem of only blacks committing crimes? It isn’t by any chance that “final solution,” is it?
dslak
Just to forestall the defense of “You don’t have to be black to be a thug,” I want to relate something my (racist) uncle told me:
Funny how he only ever used that word to describe a person who was black, or I might have found it believable.
Da Bombz Diggity
EXCLUSIVE: CHECK OUT THE HUFFINGTON POST FOR WHAT THE JURY THOUGHT, DAY BY DAY, WITNESS BY WITNESS, AT THE SCOOTER LIBBY TRIAL!!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/docs/libby/
This case proves that the Bush administration would do anything to have the Iraq war!
Punchy
fixed.
dreggas
They are worthy of nothing but contempt and derision. I happily will heap it upon them.
Bubblegum Tate
And if you don’t wish hard enough, it means you hate America.