Bush: to pardon or not to pardon, that is the question.

There's an hysterical article in today's New York Times which sets out the pros and cons of Bush giving "Scooter" Libby a pardon.

The pros:

A pardon for Mr. Libby would attract more painful attention to a case from which Mr. Bush had managed to keep his distance for more than three years, a case inextricably linked to the flawed intelligence used to justify the Iraq war and an administration effort to discredit a critic that ultimately exposed a C.I.A. officer. The Democrats who control Congress would be none too pleased, either.

The cons:

A decision not to pardon Mr. Libby would further alienate members of Mr. Bush’s traditional base of support in the conservative movement, a group already angry about his proposed immigration policy, his administration’s spending and his approach to Iran.

So, basically if he pardons him it brings up the whole rationale behind the Iraq war and the fact that Libby was lying in order to protect us finding out more about that flawed rationale. If he doesn't then his own supporters will go ape.

The quote that made me smile was this one:

A conservative with close ties to the administration, who requested anonymity to speak frankly, put it another way: “Letting Scooter go to jail would be a politically irrational symbol to the last chunk of the 29 percent upon which he stands,” a reference to the low percentage of Americans who tell pollsters they support Mr. Bush.

In other words, the logic goes that Bush is so deeply unpopular, with only the sort of lunatic base of the Republican party now supporting him, that it would be insanity to alienate even the loons! It's a sort of "everybody hates you anyway, so why not just do it" kind of argument.

From Kristol at the Weekly Standard to many others on the right wing there has been a sort of desperation at the thought of one of their own actually being punished for committing a crime, and the various rationales they are employing to keep Libby from serving any time are changing by the second. Kristol has argued that Bush should pardon Libby if for no other reason than, "It would drive the Dems nuts!" Various others have tried the "No crime was actually committed here" line, which ignores the fact that Libby was actually found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice, not of leaking Valerie Plame's name.

The puzzlement of Bush's supporters is best summed up by David Frum:

“I don’t understand it,” said David Frum, a former speech writer for Mr. Bush who is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research group with close ties to the White House. “A lot of people in the conservative world are weighted down by the sheer, glaring unfairness here.”

So there we have it, the conservative world is "weighed down" such is it's sorrow to see one of their own fall.

However, the article did give some very good reasons as to why Bush would be ill advised to pardon Libby.

A former senior administration official with his own ties to the case said Mr. Libby had failed to meet the general standard for a pardon by not showing contrition or serving any time. This official also noted that Mr. Libby had also been found guilty of lying to investigators, the same offense that led to the impeachment of Mr. Clinton.

The former official, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about the president, said: “It would show a deep disregard for the rule of law if he was to do it right now, when there has been no remorse shown by a convicted felon and no time has been served. How’s this going to fit in his long-term legacy?”

Two points here, the first is that Libby has, of course, show no remorse and neither Kristol nor any of the people calling for him to be pardoned have even expected that he show remorse as they refuse to believe that any crime has ever taken place.

The second point is the almost hysterically funny thought that Bush might be worried about his "long term legacy" as it relates to the rule of law. The man who ripped up Habeas Corpus, who attempted to legalise torture in the United States, who flew people on secret renditions flights to secret jails in God knows where, to have God knows what done to them, really doesn't have to worry about how his pardoning of "Scooter" Libby plays against his "long term legacy" on the subject of law and order.

Bush doesn't have a legacy when it come to the subject of law and order, he already enjoys infamy on that subject.

Therefore if that's all that's holding back from pardoning his little criminal accomplice, I know what result my money's going on.

The 29% nutters may very well get their wish...

Click title for full article.

Tags: Bush, Guantanamo Bay, Habeas Corpus, Scooter Libby, pardon