I prefer to show off my knowledge of the classics and simply refer to him as “Little Boots”.
I don’t know about commutations, but there have certainly been pardons of people convicted of perjury.
Oh, and I saw Office Space on basic cable the other day, and the line is actually “We’re going to federal pound me into ash prison”.
“Hey Peter-man, watch your corn [serving], bud.”
All right, I’ll be the odd person out here. (When am I not?)
Commuting Libby’s sentence was the right and decent thing to do. I’m fairly certain that every single poster to this thread agrees that Scooter Libby was just the fall guy. Bush and Cheney undoubtedly know that, too – and, indeed, they are far better off for Scooter having taken that fall. As such, doesn’t it make sense for Bush to try to soften the fall a little bit?
Of course, the real issue is why someone had to take a fall in the first place – and who got away with their crimes.
With Bubba-Hotep, JFK and The King? 
Well, there’s a fall guy who’s an innocent pawn, and a fall guy who’s a willing participant but keeps his mouth shut.
Scooter is the latter. He deserves even more than he got, IMO, because his obstruction of justice actually worked.
Indeed. Are people seriously proposing that, “But I didn’t commit a REALLY big crime!” ought to be a legitimate defense against the charge of perjury?
It’s not just that he kept his mouth shut: it’s that he lied to the courts about his actions. Even minnows aren’t allowed to do that.
Daniel
Which part of “you break the law, you do the time” don’t you understand? If a group of criminals robs a bank, do you support letting the driver of the getaway car escape jail time if the prosecutor can’t put away the guy who held the gun to the teller’s head?
It’s significantly easier to get away with crimes when people in the know perjure themselves to protect you.
Once you put yourself in the position of commiting crimes to protect criminals, you deserve jail just as much as they do.
Hey! This is a nation of laws… unless you’re friends with the president.
Well, that’s what happens when you meet a stranger in the Alps.
Ken Lay did not have a closed-casket funeral. He died in Colorado & was cremated there. So there were two memorial services–up there & down here in Houston. Nary a casket in sight.
I long ago exchanged my tinfoil hat for a mylar burka.
I don’t have the details for “minor” offenses. But I do known that Bush signed death warrants for 153 inmates. More than any Texas governor before him.
However, he did commute one death sentence. Henry Lee Lucas claimed to have murdered more than 3,000 people. Then he admited he’d been lying; nobody knows the actual total. The lowest estimate is a mere 15. Including his mother.
Bush commuted his death sentence to life in prison. Three years later, Lucas died there of natural causes.
Craig Crawford on MSNBC: “Why did I know that only a journalist would ever do time over this case?”
Me on SDMB: “Why did I know that only an absolute nasty-ass waste of human skin would ever have his death sentence commuted by Duhbya?”
Oh, well 15 is nothing like 3,000. 15 dead people could have been an accident and lots of people kill their mothers. He probably didn’t have a nice cookie-baking mom like Dubya. Poor little murderer.
Yippie-ki-yay, Mr. Falcon!
Why not a full pardon? One explanation making the blog rounds is that leaving the conviction in place lets Libby keep his Fifth Amendment rights not to talk if/when he’s called before Congress to testify on the matter.
In Mr. (not President, he hasn’t earned the title) Bush’s world, friends take care of each other, get each other out of jams, whether that’s in business or politics or the law. He’s been taken care of many times in the past, and it was just his turn to do the same.
Those damn prosecuters should have gotten to the core of this case!
only, someone was obstructing that ultimate justice. Who could that have been?
Damnit lads and lasses I’m rather envious of all this - our monarchy does bugger all these days, but yours seems to be throwing itself into the role with wild abandon.
I’d love to be a Senator or Congressman - i’d be happily waxing poetic at what remained of Bush’s support right now:
“It’s granted the king has broken his trust… look on the people you represent, and break not your trust, and expose not the honest party of your kingdom, who have bled for you, and suffer not misery to fall upon them for want of courage and resolution in you, else the honest people may take such courses as nature dictates to them.”
(To butcher a Cromwell quote)
Score 1 point for ElvisL1ves!
This is what actually went through my head when i saw the word “commute” rather than “pardon.”
Commute the sentence and the judgement still remains, therefore Libby’s appeal still stands and he can plead the Fifth if Congress try to get him to answer any nasty questions about Bush and the Super Fiends.
I have to say that I was genuinely impressed. I mean that’s not just cunning, that’s British cunning - everyone knows that we’re the ones who are meant to come up with devious shit like that.
I didn’t know the ol’ cowboy had it in him.
OK, quick question. We all know that Cheney was the one who ordered this whole thing. So…was ORDERING Libby and Rove and Armitage to reveal Plame’s status a crime, but actually doing it wasn’t a crime? Because Libby and Rove and Armitage, the people who actually made the calls, were never charged for revealing Plame’s status.
Sure, Cheney was part of the conspiracy, if he ordered them to do it, he’s as guilty as they are. But why would Cheney be charged with a crime if his minions were never charged with a crime? It’s not like the chain goes very far. Libby and Rove work directly for Cheney (and, er, well, Bush).
What crime would Cheney be prosecuted for? I suppose you want something like Libby testifying in court that Cheney made him do it? Except if Cheney committed a crime doing so, why weren’t Libby and Rove prosecuted for doing so? It isn’t like the crime of actually talking to the journalists and revealing Plame’s status was covered up, because we have the testimony of the journalists themselves. So Libby’s perjury didn’t cover up the actual reveal of Plame’s status. So what would Cheney be charged with? I suppose if Libby had testified that Cheney ordered him to do it, then Cheney would have had to testify, and therefore probably would have committed perjury himself. But Cheney didn’t commit perjury in this case because he never testified. So what crime would Cheney be charged with, if his underlings weren’t charged with the crime?