Libby's Commuted Sentence

President Bush has commuted the sentence for "Scooter" Libby, saying that the sentence was excessive.

By what standard does Bush make this judgment?

And if the President is going to commute the sentence of an individual based on the standard that he judges the sentence to be excesive - we have over 2,000,000 people in prison, many of them suffering from excessive sentences as well. Can they get a pardon from Bush?

Not likely.

And the reason? Because they did not engage in criminal activities for the sake of protecting President Bush and his friends.

Really, this is the message that President Bush sent to his staff. "Object justice. Block investigations. Do what you can to protect me, and I will use my power to protect you."

Some people are complaining that Bush did not give Libby a full pardon. These are people who do not care what this will mean for accountability - for the possibility of establishing a tyranny that is above the law. The only way to prevent this type of state is if the people are appropriately outraged that Bush would support obstruction of justice and purjury as business as usual for Administration employees.

I'm waiting now to see if there is the appropriate outrage. If not, the only reasonable conclusion is that truth and justice are no longer to be considered American values - since exactly the crimes that Libby was convicted of were purjury and obstruction of justice.

I covered the moral issue in detail in "Pardoning Libby"