# No "Pound Me In The Ass Prison" for Scooter
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [July 2, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281 "2007-07-02T22:13:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/1 "2007-07-02T22:13:42Z")
[Shrub commutes his sentence.](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2WQ_iYK.XEI&refer=home)
> [@](#):
>
> President George W. Bush commuted Lewis `Scooter'' Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence in the CIA leak case, sparing him from punishment the president called `excessive.‘’
>
> Bush acted after a U.S. appellate court today refused to let Libby, 56, stay out of prison during his appeal. Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying to investigators probing the 2003 leak of CIA official Valerie Plame’s identity. Libby’s backers had argued for a pardon.
Call it Pardon Lite[sup]TM[/sup].
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/2 "2007-07-02T22:16:22Z")
Dick made George an offer he couldn’t refuse.
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### Author:  [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/3 "2007-07-02T22:23:08Z")
Libby’s lucky. Judging from his tenure as governor of Texas, clemency for convicts isn’t exactly Bush’s strong suit.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/4 "2007-07-02T22:23:54Z")
Color me fucking shocked.
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/5 "2007-07-02T22:24:12Z")
Scooter skating is an excellent example of the Leader of the Free World standing up to the plate to patriotically protect the freedom of a United States’ citizen, praise be to God.
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### Author:  [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/6 "2007-07-02T22:25:35Z")
[QUOTE=Orbifold]
Libby’s lucky. Judging from his tenure as governor of Texas, clemency for convicts isn’t exactly Bush’s strong suit.
[/QUOTE]
Good point! Could this be the first sentence that GeeDub has ever commuted? Or have there been other rich Republicans who needed his help staying out of jail?
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### Author:  [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/7 "2007-07-02T22:25:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> With Bush already suffering poor approval ratings, a Cable News Network/Opinion Research survey conducted after Libby’s March 6 conviction found that 69 percent of respondents opposed a pardon while 18 percent favored it. Congressional Democrats, including Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, demanded that Bush promise not to pardon Libby.
So may we assume from this that his approval rating will never dip below 18 percent?
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/8 "2007-07-02T22:26:01Z")
Hmmm… From what I see in some conservative blogs, some folks actually are mad at Bush for this too… for not giving Libby a full pardon. Since, y’know, he is totally innocent of wrongdoing, and only convicted because he was smeared in a totally partisan sham witch hunt of a prosecution.
Can’t win sometimes.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/9 "2007-07-02T22:27:41Z")
Well, at least he didn’t go all the way and pardon him.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/10 "2007-07-02T22:32:36Z")
Well, now we know exactly what he meant when he said:
[“If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is,” Bush told reporters at an impromptu news conference during a fund-raising stop in Chicago, Illinois. “If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.”](http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/30/wilson.cia/)
back in 2004. He took care of him!
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/11 "2007-07-02T22:32:39Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Well, at least he didn’t go all the way and pardon him.
[/QUOTE]
Yet. I expect that will come.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/12 "2007-07-02T22:33:23Z")
[QUOTE=Plynck]
So may we assume from this that his approval rating will never dip below 18 percent?
[/QUOTE]
Yup. I’d say that 18% of the population would also like to be a firetruck.
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### Author:  [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/13 "2007-07-02T22:33:48Z")
[QUOTE=Rhubarb]
Good point! Could this be the first sentence that GeeDub has ever commuted? Or have there been other rich Republicans who needed his help staying out of jail?
[/QUOTE]
Not quite. I was curious and tried to look up the numbers; as far as I can tell, this isn’t the first time Bush has used executive powers to grant clemency to a convict.
Some details here, if you’re curious:
[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/20106/tsl-20106.html](http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/20106/tsl-20106.html)
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/14 "2007-07-02T22:34:54Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Well, at least he didn’t go all the way and pardon him.
[/QUOTE]
Does he still have that option? (Serious question, by the way)
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/15 "2007-07-02T22:36:47Z")
[QUOTE=LouisB]
Does he still have that option? (Serious question, by the way)
[/QUOTE]
I don’t see why not. His constitutional authority to pardon is plenary, as they like to say in the trade.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/16 "2007-07-02T22:40:59Z")
Look for the pardon to be among the last things signed by Bush on his way out of the White House. No need to inflame the masses while they can still do something about it. Just slip it into all the others he’ll be issuing that last day.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/17 "2007-07-02T22:42:18Z")
_post deleted as this president isn’t worth it_
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/18 "2007-07-02T22:44:46Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace]
Well, now we know exactly what he meant when he said:
[“If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is,” Bush told reporters at an impromptu news conference during a fund-raising stop in Chicago, Illinois. “If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.”](http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/30/wilson.cia/)
back in 2004. He took care of him!
[/QUOTE]
Oh, come now, John, certainly you can’t be surprised? The phrase “if the person has violated law” SCREAMS “wiggle room” and “weasel words,” after all!
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/19 "2007-07-02T22:45:49Z")
[QUOTE=silenus]
Look for the pardon to be among the last things signed by Bush on his way out of the White House. No need to inflame the masses while they can still do something about it. Just slip it into all the others he’ll be issuing that last day.
[/QUOTE]
Isn’t that how his father pardoned Hitler? 😉
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### Author:  [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison-for-scooter/410281/20 "2007-07-02T23:05:10Z")
But Scooter still has to pay the fine!
Of course, it’ll take him about fifteen minutes to make that in the cushy Wingnut Welfare job he almost certainly has waiting for him.
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