Scooter Libby’s Sentence Is Commuted

Scooter Libby’s sentence is commuted by George Bush. As Governor of Texas George Bush would prefer to cut his mother’s throat than pardon a prisoner or commute a sentence of an innocent man or woman being crushed in the grinder referred to as the Texas Department of Justice. Mr. Bush couldn’t take a chance on looking too soft on crime. It sells too well in Texas and across the nation to a lot of people who think the key to fighting crime is more incarcerations and executions. A little black girl caught in the grinder’s gears could scream her head off but nobody in the state government is going to come to her rescue. But the thought of Mr. Libby sitting in a federal country club was just too much for the President to bear.

According to Tucker Carlson’s article Devil May Care in the September 1999 edition of Talk Magazine, when asked about meeting with protestors who came to Austin to demand clemency for Karla Faye Tucker, Bush replied, ”No, I didn’t meet with any of them, I didn’t meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with her, though. He asked her real difficult questions, like ‘What would you say to Governor Bush?’ ‘What was her answer I wonder?” Bush pursed his lips in mock desperation and whimpers, “’Please don’t kill me.’ It’s tough stuff, but my job is to enforce the law.”

When asked why he continued to deny a moratorium on capital punishment when the Fort Worth Star discovered serious lapses and substandard justice, George Bush responded, “The reason why is I’m confident that every person that has been put to death under our state is guilty of the crime charged…I analyze each case when it comes across my desk, looking at innocence or guilt. As far as I’m concerned, there has not been one innocent person executed since I’ve been Governor.”

On September 30, 2003, Mr. Bush said of the Valerie Plame leak, “I want to know who it is … and if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.” I thought he meant that they will be punished and not literally “taken care of“.  Initially, the White House denied that Mr. Libby or Karl Rove was even involved in the leak. However, special consul Patrick Fitzgerald alleged that Mr. Libby had told several reporters about Ms. Plame’s CIA affiliation. Libby was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

As Governor, the President has a history of standing idly by while people are dying in the Texas prison system. Mr. Bush had no problem paying Texas Department of Justice’s electric bill from all that excessive electric chair usage. It isn’t a problem to kill a man or woman who has been railroaded by that ultra efficient execution system of Texas. Mr. Libby and others moved fast and furious to cover his tracks, deny his culpability, minimize the damage from his crimes. His cooperation with Mr. Fitzgerald was minimal. His recollection of events was fuzzy. But as far as Mr. Libby spending thirty months in a federal country club Mr. Bush says that the sentence was too excessive for someone who betrayed his country through an act of treason. Mr. Libby still has to pay his quarter of a million dollar fine so in Mr. Bush’s opinion this is punishment enough. No fear of looking soft on federal crimes against the country.

When it comes to reviewing crimes and sentences and making sure people are treated fairly, Mr. Bush isn’t known for his speediness or thoroughness. But in this situation, he must’ve taken an Evelyn Woods’ speed reading course to get through all the details on this case. And the President must’ve taken a course on the principles of compassion as well since there is no such evidence of consideration in Mr. Bush’s term as Governor for the one hundred fifty two people killed in the name of the people of the great state of Texas.