Go Ron Paul!!!

Wake up America! Of course he pardoned Libby to protect himself and other members of the administration. Why else? Do you really think this man did it for compasionate reasons?

Once the Democrats begin to understand that the Congress and the Senate are gridlocked in partisanship, the sooner they will realize that they need to put these issues in the courts to decide.

Once they have a legal foot to stand on, they will have more leverage to confront this secretive White House. The White House gives up nothing and they have no "executive priivlege" to hide everything. Even if some conversations were to be labeled "executive privilege" many conversations and emails would not be labeled as such.

The courts need to decide. Subpoena the rascals and get them in a court of law as soon as possible, for the good of the country. Otherwise, this unhealthy partisanship will go until the day that Bush and Cheney leave office and afterwards. They must get this resolved.

If the MSM, including the Post (minus Pincus) wants to save America from the Chimp and Deadeye Dick, they can.

But the MSM would much rather be LOVED by the Bushies, and invited to their Easter Egg Hunts, than respected.

SL
Former CNN DC Bureau News Producer

George Mason (1725-1792), the father of the Bill of Rights (1791-2002), argued at the Constitutional Convention in favor of providing the House of Representatives the power of impeachment by pointing out that the President might use his pardoning power to "pardon crimes which were advised by himself" or, before indictment or conviction, "to stop inquiry and prevent detection."

James Madison (1751-1836), the father of the U.S. Constitution (1788-2007), added that "if the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty."

IMPEACH THEM NOW!!!!

One would have to be very naive to believe that this was not thought out well in advance. It is no coincidence that Bush used a commutation to prevent Libby from serving his well-earned prison sentence.

"If there were a pardon, Libby could be called before Congress to testify on a whole bunch of things. Commutation makes it much, much harder to do that," Schumer said.

By commuting the sentence rather then pardoning Libby the administration keeps Libby's right against self-incrimination in effect and it is unlikely that he will be called to testify by congress as he could refuse to talk by asserting his 5th amendment rights. A pardon would have removed this privilege. Makes him a good fall guy and protects Bush,Cheney,Rove et al...

'Hey, look, there are certain confidential things in the White House that we're not going to share with Congress,' just like there are certain confidential things in Congress we're not going to share with the White House."

--And what might those things that congress keeps from the whitehouse be?

'Hey, look, there are certain confidential things in the White House that we're not going to share with Congress,' just like there are certain confidential things in Congress we're not going to share with the White House."

--And what might those things that congress keeps from the whitehouse be?

It's a Cover Up.

Impeach, now.

well, well, congress finally admits that the intel group (fbi/cia)are out of control;yet, the killing and torturing goes on.
When will they ever learn [ ...to accept resoponsibility for a failed government and a murderous culture that is the uSA].

The fact that this column along with ABC "News" is giving coverage to the discredited Ron "Blame America For 9/11" Paul and his fatally flawed (and, speaking as an NYC resident who lost his home near WTC that day, cruel and immoral) arguments means that this will be my last visit to this "blog" - and if current trends continue, my last visit to this Web site, without regrets.

It's difficult to fathom that when Jerry Falwell said, "Blame Gays For 9/11" he was roundly and rightly excoriated, but when Ron Paul paraphrases Falwell, he's lauded as some kind of right-thinking hero by this column and other Washington Post properties.

(RHETORICAL QUESTION) Where, oh where is there an Internet refuge for those of us who are still in the real world regarding this kook? (/RHETORICAL QUESTION)

Libby has confidential information linking Bush and Cheney to private arms sales to Saudi insurgents with Al Quaeda connections. He threatened to reveal this if not protected.

Do the "certain, confidential things" the executive branch is now allowed to hide from the Congress include figuring out ways to break federal laws?

so tough to design atrocious torture methods to appease their sadistic
lust and so terrified to spend some time in a spa prison style.
Something is terribly wrong.

UNITY '08
Kucinich
Paul

dream team

If you really want to get to the bottom of the Iraq War build up and Libby's role in it, then vote Ron Paul into office. I guarantee you, Ron Paul isn't about to protect anyone after the way the Republicans have treated him the last ten years.

Scooter Libowics....that's his real name. he's covering for someone else....guess who?

Libby was going to take the fall.

His wife wasn't so self sacrificing, she said she'd out everybody if Scooter went to prison.

Too bad Dubya believed her.

Wonder how long Cheney will wait to reimburse him for the fine?

Wonder if Marc Rich called him to congradulate him on the commutation?

And let's hear it for Dumbhead Dubya, managing to alienate every single person in the country by picking a middle course that satisfies neither democrat nor republican and smacks of half hearted cronyism. Didn't have the guts to honor his word and let Scooter serve his time, didn't have the guts to actually pardon him and make the Neonazicons happy.

Wonder which stooge Cheney will be puppetmaster/vice president for next time around?

the presidential pardoning power doesn't extend to the president himself, and shouldn't extend to those who are covering up the president's misconduct.

Do the people who call for impeachment think? Can we afford to have Congress focused on impeachment with a war going on? And if Bush is impeached and convicted, you get Cheney!

I suggest, instead, that Americans think back to the Nixon era. Every American should write their congressman to pressure Bush to force Cheney to resign (ala Agnew) so that he has to select someone else to the VP slot. After there's an acceptable alternate, apply the same pressure for Bush to resign (ala Nixon), so that the newly appointed VP can become president for the remainder of the term.

No republican, regardless of quality, can win a fairly run election in 08 due to the past crimes committed by their predecessors. Intelligent Americans wait only for the next "terrorist" assault to cover up the septic truth of the Bush legacy just as it is about to spew forth in the "liberal" media. No amount of "terrorist" perpetuated death and destruction will prevent the wrath of the world's population should we allow another of the skull and bones mafia to assume a position of "leadership". America can no longer survive the crimminal acts of the blood for money group rulling the world's "free" countries. It is way past time for a return to strong moral & ethical leadership and to accomplish that we must severly punish those who have subverted religous beliefs and used them to excuse a return to the dark ages. The current crussade is not for cristianity or for Allah, but for money, nothing more, and the money leads right to daddy & company. Beheadings anyone? Sure would regain some lost respect if the punishment fit the crimes once in a while, don't you think??

This is TRADITION. Since Nixon, every Republican administration has been guity of out and out criminality. And from the payments to the plumbers in Watergate, to the mass pardons of Iran Contra, now to the Libby felony, Republican administations continue to abuse the power of pardon to coverup illegal acts. TRADITION and a cancer on our republican values. (Has Iran Contra been flushed down the memory hole like the memo O'Neil showed on 60 Minutes showing the division of Iraqi oil, the Blix investigation and the sytematic torture of Isamlic prisoners thoughout the World? No one seems to remember it.) Phrank

This is TRADITION. Since Nixon, every Republican administration has been guity of out and out criminality. And from the payments to the plumbers in Watergate, to the mass pardons of Iran Contra, now to the Libby felony, Republican administations continue to abuse the power of pardon to coverup illegal acts. TRADITION and a cancer on our republican values. (Has Iran Contra been flushed down the memory hole like the memo O'Neil showed on 60 Minutes showing the division of Iraqi oil, the Blix investigation and the sytematic torture of Isamlic prisoners thoughout the World? No one seems to remember it.) Phrank

When has President Bush or the puppetmaster Dick Cheney ever done anything that was good for all of the American People? Bush is crass enough to pardon Libby just because he is a flunkie and fulfills Cheney's will. He commuted Libby's sentence because Scooter most probably would have become quite talkative if sent to prison and found himself taking a shower between two fellow inmates (one named Jesus and the other Jaamal) who would abuse Scooter. Bush will give him a full pardon to rally his base, but there is no way that he will win his war in Iraq and his fellow Republicans are trying to save their own "bacon" by deserting his sinking ships as all rats desert a ship that is sinking. God is Great.

Joe,

To equate Falwell's blaming of gays for 9/11 to Paul's blaming of American Foreign Policy for 9/11 is to equate apples to a 1990 Buick Skylark.

Paul at least has the CIA, 9/11 Commission, American history, and logic on his side. Falwell's was at best, personal opinion.

My sincerest prayers for your personal tragedy because of 9/11. However, since you did not back up anything you said; other than appealing to an emotional argument rooted in a horrific personal experience, I remained convinced that the blowback theory raised by the CIA's Osama Bin Laden unit is the correct view, which is also Ron Paul's view.

Respectfully, Dave

Considering the alternatives, Ron Paul is definitely the most qualified for the job of President!

But my God People, WE CAN DO BETTER!

How about the Former and Current Sec.s of State, for example!

As far as the newest and latest borderline and below Slanderous accusations by the Dims, Feces stinks, and so do their aurguments and reasonings! Smells like Partisan driven Stink to me!

Knock it off! Pass the Funding bills, and HR-1940!

Print all future Subpoenas on Soft, Absorbant, Two-Ply Paper, for proper handling!

Impeach now! Ask questions later!!

I'd say impeachment is about the best thing the congress can do for the republican party.
Congress' ratings not drop any lower for doing it, but it would do a lot to show the blood thirsty nature of certain members of congress and make it provide much needed fodder for challengers to those seats for next term. And all of this without any substantive evidence of any cover up. I would think most republicans would see an impeachment attempt as a good opportunity to demonstrate the disfunctional and rash democrat leadership.

Ron Paul talks common sense - something the Republican Party doesn't understand and is afraid of. The entire Republican Party including platform would unravel over-night if the common denominator was common sense.

John McCain is a classic example of the self-destruction Republicans represent.

Mitt Romney's train wreck is just around the corner once the myth of his power associated with bucket loads of money fully sink in The American People.

Romney's absolute lack of an original campaign platform is just now beginning to be fully understood - it exactly mirrors public opinion polls and with exception - the far right agenda.

Mitt Romney's campaign including financing and media control greatly resemble George Bush and Karl Rove to a T.

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY THAT I AGREE WITH JDB'S ASSESMENT OF THIS ISSUE

...so basically, I assume the reason the Republicans keep referring back to the Clinton Administration when defending bush, "the great uniter" is because it appears to be the republicans understanding that the bush mis-administration has based all their administrations behaviors on the Clinton Administration, why else would they keep referencing back to Clinton as their explanation for bush's commuting Scooter Libby's Prison sentence? hmmmmmmmmm????

Remember when George said this on his first day in the White House? Reported in NEWSMAX on January 23, 2001:
"Today, everything is so promising and new," the new president said. "I'm hoping the day will never come when any of us take this place for granted."
Bush warned that he expected his White House staff to meet the highest ethical standards, avoiding not only violations of law, but even the appearance of impropriety.
"We must remember the high standards that come with high office," he said. "This begins careful adherence with the rules. I expect every member of this administration to stay well within the boundaries [that] define legal and ethical conduct.
"No one in the White House should be afraid to confront the people they work for over ethical concerns, and no one should hesitate to confront me as well."
Bush told his staff that he sees civility as a central part of the required behavior of White House staff. "There is no excuse for arrogance and never a reason for disrespect toward others," he said. "I expect each of you ... to be an example of humility and decency and fairness."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/1/22/213715.shtml

Go George W!! Everyone can cry about everything you do, but SO WHAT?! You are the Decider, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Don't think Clinton would have commuted? Yeah, right. If it is LEGAL within our system to commute, then no one has any reason to cry about it. DemoRATS be damned!

HA!

Dick "Halliburton" Cheney must feel so smug by this point, knowing how much control he has over George "WMD" Bush and his mis-administration of fools, to the point of having George commute Scooter Libby's prison sentence and totally destroying any sign of integrity Bush may have had left with Compassionate Conservative CHRISTIAN Republicans...
Daddy Bush and Barbara must be so proud, don't you think?

What kind of crime must this "Great Uniter" commit in order for Congress to start the IMPEACHMENT process? hmmmmmmm?

Bush granted the commutation because Cheney told him to.

Anything Uncle Dick needs done, he puts a piece of paper in front of Pinocchio and tells him what the daily spin on it is. Bush hasn't had an original thought since 1972.

""We're hoping that, as the cries for the removal of both Cheney and Bush now reach 46 percent and 58 percent, respectively, for impeachment, that we could begin to become a little bit more cooperative, if not amicable, in trying to get to the truth of these matters," Conyers said. He added that he was not trying to put impeachment on the table."

I don't know where Conyers got his numbers, but if they are accurate, then Conyers and his Democratic buddies are just shooting themselves in heads again. They won't act on getting us out of Iraq, and they won't act on kicking this brutal and corrupt Administration out of office. America to the Democratic Party: GROW A SPINE AND DO THE JOB WE SENT YOU TO CONGRESS TO DO! End this stupid war and IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY! What are you cowards waiting for? If you won't DO YOUR JOBS then you will find yourselves the minority party again in 2008.

There is no coverup, this is simply the compromise the president had to come up with in order to protect his very limited amount of remaining credibility.

If Libby went to jail, Bush would never hear the end of it from republicans. If Libby got pardoned, democrats would fight tooth and nail for a long, drawn out witch hunt. Now the president can somewhat defend himself from the left-wing attacks by saying, "This is not a pardon and I respect the jury's decision."

If Americans are so disgusted by Iraq then they will vote in a Democrat and that Democrat will have the ability to pull the troops on day one without congresses permission. As for impeachment, so what? It's just a word for congress to yell that will go no where in the Senate. I personally wouldn't mind a Cheney Presidency. I really wish the ghetto rats would get on with the business of congress instead of the rat and donkey show.

WOW the Libs have their pantys in a bunch over this .... I mean MARC RICH... Ring a bell anyone come on. Look I know the left hates bush but get over it you lost 2 times so you have 18 months to go. Then we will beat you azz again.... Please put clinton in you couldnt find a better person to get the vote out for the right..

And for all you gun grabbing LIBBS the reason you have a 1st is because we have a 2nd.... O yeah why are the most violent placeses have the most strict gun laws just a Q I live in Baltimore and we have some strict gun laws and we kill people here like its the national past time.

WOW the Libs have their pantys in a bunch over this .... I mean MARC RICH... Ring a bell anyone come on. Look I know the left hates bush but get over it you lost 2 times so you have 18 months to go. Then we will beat you azz again.... Please put clinton in you couldnt find a better person to get the vote out for the right..

And for all you gun grabbing LIBBS the reason you have a 1st is because we have a 2nd.... O yeah why are the most violent placeses have the most strict gun laws just a Q I live in Baltimore and we have some strict gun laws and we kill people here like its the national past time.

7-9-07 - It is just a matter of time between now and January of 2009 that we begin deploying our troops away from the civil strife between Sunni and Shia, - a no win battle for us. We need to build a concensus in this country how and when we do this, - one which will get by a Senate filibuster, - over 60% of voting senators. All other efforts will fail in Congress. Secretary Gates appears to be moving in this direction, as are more and more Republican senators as we near the 2008 Elections. So, public, relax, stop demanding the congressionally impossible, work toward a realistic goal. Follow Senator John Warner's lead. Listen to Senator Hagel, - a truthful man.

Really, toby? What democrat has proposed that we pull the troops out on day one? Which one? Isn't that what people were thinking would happen in '06? Did it? Please point me to a clear statement where one of the democrats have said this.

If people want to see an end to the Iraq war, they will vote for Ron Paul. The problem is that we will have to do it at the primaries, because he isn't going to make it to the general election without us.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/primaries/

Find out when your state is holding the Republican primary and vote. If we get Ron Paul through that part, the rest will simply take care of itself.

The fact of the matter is that the President does not have the authority to keep anything from the American people. Granted, there may be some things that are in our "national security" interests, but even then, he is required to tell the people's Representatives about it. He works for us. He doesn't work for any one person or any Party. He is the President of the United States - not the President of the Republican Party. Anyway, they would probably disown him, if they did not have the Democrats to blame for their mistakes and fiascoes...Subpoena the materials and witnesses and put it into our court system and let's stop the partisan bickering. Let the courts decide if the people have the right to know or if the President has sole "executive privilege" of everything done in our names. Let the courts decide...

kalford,

Yeah we saw how well that just worked out. This administration has thumbed it's nose at the law. Turn it over to the courts? Bush's strongest supporter is head of the judicial system, who has also proven he is willing to commit crimes against this country.

Yeah, that'll sure work.

We need to vote for Ron Paul because it ISN'T about partisan politics. He simply represents Americans. Neither party has been representing us for decades.

kralford,

Yeah we saw how well that just worked out. This administration has thumbed it's nose at the law. Turn it over to the courts? Bush's strongest supporter is head of the judicial system, who has also proven he is willing to commit crimes against this country.

Yeah, that'll sure work.

We need to vote for Ron Paul because it ISN'T about partisan politics. He simply represents Americans. Neither party has been representing us for decades.

All Presidents have used their power to issue pardons and commutations for political reasons including Democrats and Republicans. As to Rep. Ron Paul, I think his fundraising numbers and support shows that the American People are not stupid nor dumb. The American People knows the President got us into bloodbath in Iraq. The American People are tired of being manipulated and lied to for the last six years. Impeachment would give the Republicans a new campaign issue to use in the 08 elections about a Democratic Congress who impeached a President in wartime. Do not give the Republicans the issue to use and drop the impeachment idea. The best course is to contain the President to what he can do now, and that is not much and force his hand on Iraq.

Paul/Hagel ticket?

Bush's commuting of Libby's prison term is very different from any of Clinton's pardons. In particular, Bush's action serves to directly insulate VP Cheney and Bush him from possible prosecution for an act of treason. The underlying crime in the case of the White House *betrayal* of an undercover agent of the CIA, helped to ensure that the unjustified war in Iraq would go forward. Because of this potentially treasonous crime, and the subsequent cover-up by White House officials, many thousands of people died unnecessarily.

Note the actual court documents filed by Fitzgerald detail the covert status of Ms. Wilson at the time of her betrayal (not simply an outing) by the White House, see:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18927332/site/newsweek/page/2/

"She traveled at least seven times to more than 10 countries," the document states. "When traveling overseas, Ms. Wilson always traveled under a cover identity ... At the time of the initial unauthorized disclosure in the media of Ms. Wilson's employment relationship with the CIA on 14 July 2003, Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States."

What always blows me away is WHY anyone supports this administration on any level. Well, they must achieve some type of vicarious thrill, such as giving the prisoners of America to the "faith-based" folks so they can be about their ambition of "harvesting souls." So Bush traded the souls of 1.6 million sinners for votes. What a deal! The Devil wanted in on this action so insisted on being made Vice President...it didn't seem too much to ask.

Some have pointed out that Richard Armitage was the first person to betray Ms Wilson, a covert CIA agent, for what apparently were political reasons. At least three persons leaked the info about Ms Wilson to journalists, including Richard Armitage, Karl Rove and Ari Fleischer according to court testimony.

However to focus on Armitage is like focusing on which assassin's bullet hit the target first. The ultimate focus should be on who hired the assassin. These leaks or betrayals 'according to Libby's own testimony', "may have been sanctioned by the Vice President."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18927332/site/newsweek/page/3/

Certainly these three men did not independently decide to take the action to betray Ms Wilson. The real focus should be on determining if the VP or President conspired to betray the trust of a covert CIA agent for political gain. Given Bush's commuting of Libby's sentence, Congress is the only body who can investigate this potential act of treason. Cheney and Bush should both be impeached and tried to determine the facts. With an impeachment, executive privilege cannot protect them.

Bloomberg
Michelle Obama
'08

I find it absolutely pathetic when people who consider themselves fit to represent Americans can offer nothing more to justify "the decider's" poor decisions than the old, worn out tactic of whining "Clinton did it too!" (which is untrue in the case of Bush's unprecedented rescue of Scooter). What exactly are they attempting to say? That they now approve of Clinton or that Bush is actually no better than the man they've targeted for well over a decade? The right wing's defense of Bush is pathetic ... but then again, so is the man they are attempting to defend.

I came over here to read some real discussions on the topics written about in the article and find myself in the middle of the DNC.

Can someone rationally tell me what benefit it would be to Libby to sing while in prison, since he'd already be in prison? If he had anything to sing about it seems he would have done that as a plea deal because Fitz was really after Cheney or Bush.

When someone has been rolled over by an over zealous prosecutor and judge who is in the palm of his hand, is it not surprising someone would say the sentence is overkill? The punishment did not fit the crime?

You all say impeach as though it's such an easy thing for the country to endure. Now some nut says to get Cheney to resign so we can have a new VP and then force Bush from office.

You poor people must not have gone through the trauma of the sixties with assassinations of a president, senator and civil rights leader. No matter how one felt about any of them it was a tragedy and it was an uncertain time for our country.

You don't throw words like impeachment around just because it sounds good to you. There have to be grounds and if the Dems thought they had the grounds they'd be on it in a heartbeat.

You have 17 more months to your hoped for utopia of a socialist democrat president. Put that along with your socialist democrat congress and see how well off you are and how much you talk about the good old days of Bush.

I won't be reading this trash anymore. Hello and goodbye.

To the poster who remarked {{"I came over here to read some real discussions on the topics written about in the article and find myself in the middle of the DNC."}} Sorry, JKL, but it appears the majority of Americans -- Democrats, Indpendents as well as a large number of Republicans -- disapprove of Bush's rescue of convicted felon Libby. The Bush apologist whining points ("overzealous prosecuter", "judge in the palm of his hand" -- both Bush appointees) aren't washing with a public who is fed up with the arrogance, incompetence and cronyism of this administration. You're in the minority, and for good reason.
Bush's unprecedented commutation appears to be a reward for Libby having been "a good little soldier", a "fall guy" who obstructed the investigation into a matter of national security so that the full facts could not emerge. It's heartening to see that only a small percentage of Americans are willing to overlook this abuse of power.

"This is TRADITION. Since Nixon, every Republican administration has been guity of out and out criminality. And from the payments to the plumbers in Watergate, to the mass pardons of Iran Contra, now to the Libby felony, Republican administations continue to abuse the power of pardon to coverup illegal acts"

right that makes sense, republicans are the only ones ever to commit crimes. it would be great to read a post that wasnt just a bunch of people spewing partisan b.s. around.

sent to prison and found himself taking a shower between two fellow inmates (one named Jesus and the other Jaamal)

are you serious? of course the inmates would have to be black and mexican right? because he would go to a general population prison and not some club med prison for rich people. just admit it, your racist.

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