Cheney: Scooter 'deserved a pardon'

[kpete]

Source: MSNBC

Cheney: Scooter 'deserved a pardon'
Posted: Thursday, July 23, 2009 2:10 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Republicans, Security

From NBC's Chuck Todd and Mark Murray
In response to the Time magazine story detailing former Vice President Cheney's
intense (and ultimately successful) campaign to get George W. Bush to pardon Scooter Libby, Cheney has issued this press release:

"Scooter Libby is an innocent man who was the victim of a severe miscarriage of justice.
He was not the source of the leak of Valerie Plame's name. Former Deputy Secretary of State, Rich Armitage, leaked the name and hid that fact from most of his colleagues, including the President. Mr. Libby is an honorable man and a faithful public servant who served the President, the Vice President and the nation with distinction for many years. He deserved a presidential pardon."

Read more: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/23/2006632.aspx

[Kittycat]

1. Kiss my @ss Cheney.

If it means he'll never have a job that requires security clearance again, I don't care.

[24601]

30. It doesn't necessarily mean that. I know a guy who went to jail and

kept his TS clearance and SCI access. After getting out, he even was cleared for a shitload of DoD SAPs. Now he's a Senior Executive Service big shot at TSA.

[melm00se]

2. opinions are like

assholes and everyone...errr....does an asshole have an asshole?

[cosmicone]

3. If this is so, why didn't Dubya pardon him?

Even Dubya knew he was had by Cheney and was pissed off enough to not pardon Scooter.

[totodeinhere]

9. Yes, Dubya finallly gets a clue eight years too late. n/t

[blm]

19. No, this is more DOGandPONY show and press is eating it up. Both Bush and Cheney knew a pardon

of Libby would trigger hearings the way Mark Rich's pardon did.

Neither Bush or Cheney wanted that to happen, hence, the dog and pony show where it seems like the two are at odds and Bush comes off as an independent decider.

[Politicalboi]

23. I'm not kidding now

Bush said Libby lied and that was good enough for him. LOL! I hope those words echo back to Bush real soon coming from a judge.

[tularetom]

4. Ultimately successful? Did I miss something?

Last I heard, bush's testicles finally descended and he defied Cheney's attempts to beg plead cajole threaten or blackmail him into pardoning Libby.

Don't tell me Obama pardoned him.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. I actually agree - he was an innocent fall guy.

It should have been Cheney that went to the pen in the first place.

[sabrina 1]

16. He wasn't innocent, although I agree that Cheney too

should have been indicted and convicted since he was the main conspirator. What Scooter was convicted of was 'obstructing justice'. He protected his boss, Cheney, from the prosecutor. He was rightfully convicted of that crime. Cheney knows he was being protected by Scooter which is why he wants him pardoned.

Armitage was a side issue, always used by the right to distract from the plot to destroy Wilson by outing his wife. If anything, by using the 'Armitage' excuse, Cheney reveals himself to be part of that part of the deception also.

[theothersnippywshrub]

25. Good post. Concise, precise and totally accurate. n/t

[Hepburn]

36. +1...n/t

[SFnomad]

6. Scooter deserved a jail cell

... right next to Cheney's

[kimmylavin]

11. Thank you! :) nt

[The Hope Mobile]

27. Welcome to DU! nt

[Downwinder]

7. Martha deserved a pardon, too.

[bluesmail]

8. I think * when told of jets slamming into WTC was one of the

first moments of realization who the real pRESident was. I hope it's true that * made a deal. I'm also under the impression * had the last laugh, not pardoning Libby.

[gratuitous]

10. Innocent men don't need to be pardoned

I would think that Scooter, of all people, should be able to afford competent and effective criminal defense representation. Is Cheney saying that Scooter's lawyer malpracticed in allowing his innocent client to be found guilty? Why aren't there appeals winding their way through the system? Why isn't Scooter suing his attorney for malpractice?

Cheney's statement doesn't make any sense. Thankfully, no one at NBC will see fit to point that out.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

34. That's just asinine. Many innocent people have been wrongfully convicted and pardoned.

If Cheney's assertion was true in Scooter's case an acquittal should have been easy to obtain.

David

[Mnpaul]

12. Perjury is only bad

when a Democrat does it.

"Willful, corrupt, and false sworn testimony before a Federal grand jury is a separate and distinct crime under applicable law and is material and perjurious if it is 'capable' of influencing the grand jury in any matter before it, including any collateral matters that it may consider." I vote `Guilty' on Article I, Perjury. I vote`Guilty' on Article II, Obstruction of Justice."
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), 1999

Sen. Frist: "There is no serious question that perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes and misdemeanors...Indeed, our own Senate precedent establishes that perjury is a high crime and misdemeanor...The crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice are public crimes threatening the administration of justice."

Sen. Kyl: "...there can be no doubt that perjurious, false, and misleading statements made under oath in federal court proceedings are indeed impeachable offenses...John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States, said `there is no crime more extensively pernicious to society' than perjury, precisely because it `discolors and poisons the streams of justice.'"

Sen. DeWine: "Obstruction of justice and perjury strike at the very heart of our system of justice...Perjury is also a very serious crime...The judiciary is designed to be a mechanism for finding the truth-so that justice can be done. Perjury perverts the judiciary, turning it into a mechanism that accepts lies-so that injustice may prevail."

Sen. Talent: "Nobody else in a position of trust, not a CEO, not a labor union leader, not a principal of a school could do half of what the president has done and stay in office. I mean, who would have said a year ago that a president and those in his circle could perjure himself and obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses... and stay in office."

Sen. McConnell: "I am completely and utterly perplexed by those who argue that perjury and obstruction of justice are not high crimes and misdemeanors...Perjury and obstruction hammer away at the twin pillars of our legal system: truth and justice."

[TacticalPeek]

13. Lies.

Lies, and lies on lies.

[fascisthunter]

14. nah... you both deserve a jail cell to separate you from the World you hate so much

[notadmblnd]

15. it's what happens when you don't man up to your own crimes and let your cornies take the fall

if it still bothers you dick, why don't confess?

[pleah]

17. Fuck you "dick", you both should be in jail. n/t

[David Zephyr]

18. Cheney is scared shitless because Rove & Meirs are talking under oath.

If Cheney had really wanted a pardon for Scooter whose crime was following Cheney's orders, then Cheney would have gotten the pardon just as he got his war in Iraq.

Cheney got what Cheney wanted. Period.

[Zorra]

20. This is true in "Cheney World", where personal corruption and evil are valued virtues

and lying, stealing, and murdering are admirable activities.

[Unvanguard]

21. Nobody "deserves" a pardon. That's not the point. n/t

[tj2001]

22. How come Cheney is not in jail

for treason and crimes against humanity

[mascarax]

24. WTF?! What is the DEAL on this, Dick?

Are you in love with Scooter?
For months - MONTHS - you were hitting the airwaves on this one.
The *only* reason Scooter wasn't pardoned is because Dubya decided to defy you.

Go away.
And take Scotter with ya.

[proud patriot]

26. Prosecute Cheney

[Uncle Joe]

39. Seconded!

[daleo]

28. Cheney and Scooter Libby should share a prison cell

Then they could pardon each other all day long.

[Neil_in_Chicago]

29. Chency's not wrong for the reason you think

Remarkably, this is a major error on Cheney's part.
If Libby were pardoned, not just commuted, he couldn't be tried again, and would lose Fifth Amendment protection, and could be forced to testify. I assume the audience here agrees that Cheney does NOT want that!

[24601]

31. Yeah, but he can be compelled to testify just by granting him

"use immunity" for anything about which he truthfully testifies. It happens all the time but isn't as well-known because they are low-profile cases, very often in drug cases.

[Vidar]

32. Cheney deserves an execution.

[Mad_Dem_X]

33. F you, Darth

Why can't you just retire from public life and disappear forever, you piece of shit?

[Hepburn]

35. Both Cheney and Scooter deserved JAIL TIME on the Plame case.

Traitors...pure treason in their conduct, IMO.

[yellowcanine]

37. Cheney appears to suffer from "survivor's guilt" because Libby took the rap for him.

Dick knows that he orchestrated the defamation of Wilson and exposure of Plame and that Libby took the fall for it. That is why this gets him so worked up.

[The Backlash Cometh]

38. Who is going to bell that cat?

Who is going to tell Cheney that he's no longer in power?