Mark My Words - commentary on news, politics, religion, philosophy, science and social issues

This long drawn out trial, the crown jewel for some partisans, and only an appetizer with fantasies of more gluttony down the road for others, has served to confirm several things about the media and some Democrats. Unfortunately, it has come at the expense of a man who may only have failed to maintain a perfect memory when being questioned by federal prosecutors.

I'm going to continue with a round up from several commentators who pretty much cover my views of this matter.

From the editors at National Review we have a call for Libby to be pardoned. Along with that, they cover the horribly politicized farce that this became, indeed, was from the very beginning.

President Bush should pardon I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. The trial that concluded in a guilty verdict on four of five counts conclusively proved only one thing: A White House aide became the target of a politicized prosecution set in motion by bureaucratic infighting and political cowardice.

[...]

Reasonable people can conclude that it was only Scooter Libby’s imperfect memory—not willful deception—that gave rise to the charges of lying under oath and obstruction of justice. Among the supporting players—including CIA officials, Bob Novak, Woodward and Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, and Time’s Matthew Cooper—no two participants in any conversation about Valerie Plame had the same recollection.

[...]

There should have been no referral, no special counsel, no indictments, and no trial. The “CIA-leak case” has been a travesty. A good man has paid a very heavy price for the Left’s fevers, the media’s scandal-mongering, and President Bush’s failure to unify his own administration. Justice demands that Bush issue a pardon and lower the curtain on an embarrassing drama that shouldn’t have lasted beyond its opening act. (source)

"Captain Ed" notes that if Libby lied he should be held accountable.

Not to say that Libby should have been let off the hook, if he indeed lied to investigators and the grand jury, as this jury concluded he did. Regardless of the pettiness of the probe, people cannot be allowed to lie to the police or under oath at hearings and trials. It undermines our system of justice even more than out-of-control special prosecutors.

But he also notes the circus this had been and that there is plenty to consider in appeal and good reason to do so.

The case will eventually find its way to an appellate court, where the justices will have plenty of issues on which to chew. Chiefly, the panel should look at the circus which preceded this prosecution and determine whether the lack of any underlying crime should mitigate towards a dismissal. Only when these special-prosecutor cases start getting tossed out will we finally see an end to that plague.

Finally, if Scooter Libby did lie and should be held accountable, then how much more should others be held accountable for their actions or at least face trial for the charges brought against them?

Pamela at Atlas Shrugs lays down a list of clearly more serious crimes and charges for which a number have gotten off with a mere wrist slap, if even that.

The Nation is Sick Libby is Guilty
Scooter Libby is guilty
And Jefferson is free. Federal agents seized $90,000 of the $100,000 crammed into plastic bags and stashed in Jefferson's home freezer. Hence the moniker, "Cold Cash."
Scooter Libby is guilty
And Sandy Berger is free. Berger stole highly classified 9/11 documents from the National Archives in 2003 and hid them in his pants, socks, and under a construction trailer.
[...]

The list continues and is well worth the read, as are the previous articles. I'll let the reader note the common denominator running through that list and what it says about the MSM, a particular party that controls Congress right now, and the frothing at the mouth KosKiddies and moveon.org types.

Addendum:

Local cBS news on the story, makes no mention of Armitage and gets a sound bite from that liar Joe Wilson. Ain't that special?

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Filed under: NewsPolitics -- MSM

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