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Metropolis Reality Forums Ť Bush Commutes Libby Sentence ť

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   Bush Commutes Libby Sentence

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Topic: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence (Read 603 times)

yesteach
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Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« on: Jul 2^nd, 2007, 5:02pm »

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And is anyone surprised??

I'm looking for a news article, just heard it on a news break..

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yesteach
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #1 on: Jul 2^nd, 2007, 5:13pm »

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Bush Spares Libby From Prison
Associated Press 07.02.07, 5:45 PM ET

President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison term on Monday, issuing an order that commutes his sentence.

This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals panel unanimously ruled Monday.

The decision is a major setback for Libby, who is running out of legal options and who probably will have to surrender to prison in weeks. The ruling puts pressure on President Bush, who has been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Libby was convicted in March of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. He is the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra affair.

Libby believed he had a good chance of overturning the conviction on appeal and asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to put the sentence on hold. In a two-sentence ruling, the court refused.

The White House had no immediate reaction to the decision.

Libby's supporters, who raised millions of dollars for his defense fund, immediately renewed calls for a pardon.

"I hope it puts pressure on the president. He's a man of pronounced loyalties and he should have loyalty to Scooter Libby," said former Ambassador Richard Carlson, a member of Libby's defense fund. "It would be a travesty for him to go off to prison. The president will take some heat for it. So what? He takes heat for everything."

Attorney William Jeffress said only that Libby's defense team was weighing its options.

Those options are dwindling, however. The most likely move is an appeal to Chief Justice John Roberts, but it's unlikely that Roberts would overturn a unanimous ruling to spare Libby prison. Barring such an intervention, it seems only Bush could spare Libby prison time.

Roberts is a Bush appointee but judicial politics haven't helped Libby so far. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, who sentenced Libby and refused to delay the prison term, was a Bush appointee. Two of the three appellate judges who denied Libby's request Monday were appointed by Republicans.

Last week, the U.S. bureau of Prisons designated Libby as federal inmate No. 28301-016. He soon will receive a time and place to surrender. The agency tries to place inmates close to home, which means candidates include prisons in Cumberland, Md.; Petersburg, Va.; Fairton, N.J.; Fort Dix, N.J. and Schuylkill, Pa.

As a first-time offender, Libby likely would be assigned to a minimum-security prison camp, where inmates sleep in bunks arranged in small cubicles with shared toilets. Whether drug dealers, insider traders, tax cheats or disgraced politicians, all prisoners are ordered to strip and submit to cavity searches on their way through the doors.

Bush and Cheney have said throughout the case that they felt sorry for Libby's wife and children. But Bush has publicly dodged questions about whether he plans to pardon Libby or commute his sentence.

The leak investigation was a political cloud over the Bush administration for years. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald interviewed Bush and Cheney and ordered key White House aides to testify before a grand jury.

Nobody was charged with leaking Plame's identity but Libby was convicted of lying about his conversations with reporters regarding the outed operative. Fitzgerald says his investigation is complete.

The appellate judges who turned down Libby's request were: David Tatel, nominated by President Clinton; David Sentelle, selected by President Ronald Reagan; and Karen LeCraft Henderson, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, father of the current president.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

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MediaScribe
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #2 on: Jul 2^nd, 2007, 5:28pm »

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on Jul 2^nd, 2007, 5:02pm, yesteach wrote:

And is anyone surprised??

Not really. Presidents do that all the time. It's a benefit of being in office. It's akin to Clinton pardoning Marc Rich.

Here's a link to a list of Clinton's commutations...
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/pardons6b.htm

« Last Edit: Jul 2^nd, 2007, 7:01pm by MediaScribe »

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Pocket
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #3 on: Jul 2^nd, 2007, 7:19pm »

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Outing an active CIA agent, if it isn't treason, is damned close. To do it because you don't like the husband's politics is dangerous in all kinds of ways. Sorry, I think he should have done time, even if it was in one of those country club prisons.

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MediaScribe
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #4 on: Jul 3^rd, 2007, 8:11am »

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Check your facts, Pocket, before you post, okay?

Libby was NOT charged with/convicted of leaking the name of the agent, only of lying about what he knew to investigators and obstructing justice when it came to the investigation. He's still on 2 years of probation, just won't have to serve the excessive 30 month prison term.

Try and stay away from the Kool Aid.

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Pocket
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #5 on: Jul 3^rd, 2007, 12:15pm »

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Check your superior tone at the door, MediaScribe. There are people who are guilty and those that take the fall. Eventually, it all comes out in the wash of dirty laundry, of which there is plenty in this administration.

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MediaScribe
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #6 on: Jul 3^rd, 2007, 12:29pm »

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There was no superior tone, I was telling you to check your facts before you post because you were 100% inaccurate in your post about Libby being convicted for leaking the CIA agents name. As a mod here it is my responsibility to monitor and correct innaccuracies and lies in our forums.

And please link me to factual information that documents all this 'dirty laundry' you espouse in the administration. I'm so very curious as to how the administration could still be in charge if so many actual laws have been broken and not just things being done that the opposite party doesn't agree with.

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Pocket
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #7 on: Jul 3^rd, 2007, 1:18pm »

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As I said, superior! Grin

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lakelady
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #8 on: Jul 4^th, 2007, 2:27am »

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Eventually, it all comes out in the wash of dirty laundry, of which there is plenty in this administration.

Same as with the Clinton administration.

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Rhune
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #9 on: Jul 11^th, 2007, 8:00pm »

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It's just sad to grow up in a day and age where you're mortified at the thought of your son becoming president (or a senator/congressman for that matter), because you hope & pray he'll never turn out to be a politician...I just think the current environment corrupts, regardless of what party you run for. We almost expect our politicians to be scumbags, because the ones that aren't are ineffective in the political machine. How sad is that?

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Isle_be_back
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #10 on: Jul 11^th, 2007, 9:57pm »

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Quote:

Bush Commutes Libby Sentence

on Jul 2^nd, 2007, 5:02pm, yesteach wrote:

And is anyone surprised?

I'd be more surprised if he could actually punctuate it correctly.

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MediaScribe
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #11 on: Jul 11^th, 2007, 10:02pm »

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You're so right, Rhune. We won't truly have real servents in government until it is no longer an institution where you can plan to stay for dozens of years and get rich while doing it. In NH our State Representatives get basically $1 as salary and limited benefits...and I've found them to be some of the more respectable, honest political leaders I've ever encountered. Perhaps we should run our Federal government the same way...so only people who truly want to serve will do so.

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MediaScribe
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Re: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence
« Reply #12 on: Jul 11^th, 2007, 10:04pm »

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on Jul 11^th, 2007, 9:57pm, ExIsle_be_back wrote:

I'd be more surprised if he could actually punctuate it correctly.

That was a good one, IBB!!

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