by William Neikirk
As it turned out, Paris Hilton spent more time in the pokey than Scooter Libby. To many people, that might seem unfair. But as famous and recognizable as she is, Hilton lacked one thing--she didn't work for President Bush (or Dick Cheney for that matter).
Despite his poor showing in the polls and stinging criticism by some that he could turn out to be one of the worst presidents in history, Bush has demonstrated that he tries very hard to look out for those who have shown him loyalty. By contrast, Paris had the wrong friends.
Bush kept Donald Rumsfeld in the defense secretary's job for many months past the time that it was politically smart to do, and finally asked him to go after Democrats captured control of Congress. Many Republicans felt that if Rummy had been relieved earlier, they might have retained control.
He tried his hardest to get John Bolton confirmed as the ambassador to the United Nations. He named him to the job in a "recess" appointment, when Congress was out of town, but lawmakers finally balked when the time for a vote arrived, and Bolton resigned.
Paul Wolfowitz was, like Rumsfeld, an architect of the Iraqi war who was rewarded with the presidency of the World Bank. Rather than insist upon his immediate removal when news broke that Wolfowitz had arranged a cushy, high-paying job for his girlfriend, Bush stuck behind him until it became clear that his stand was untenable.
Bush commuted Libby's sentence so that he would not have to go to prison, but said in a statement that Libby had suffered enough, and would continue to suffer in the future. By contrast, the judge who sentenced him expressed deep distress that Libby had allegedly lied to federal investigators.
The president said he respected the jury's decision to convict Libby but thought the sentence excessive. He did not pardon Libby, as some had urged, but did set hiw own standard of justice about how lying to investigators should be treated. This standard differs from president to president, of course, and it is often a highly personal (and sometimes political) decision.
Poor Paris Hilton. She has a lot of friends, but none powerful enough to give her freedom. It's too bad that CNN's Larry King doesn't have executive authority.
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Comments
Even Paris Hilton has more of a backbone than these criminal Republicans do.
You can put a fork in the GOP, they're done.
Take back your country America:
Vote Democratic in 08 !!!
Posted by: John E | July 3, 2007 12:25 PM
President Bush already helped Paris Hilton out by tilting the Federal Income Tax reform benefits towards the ultra-rich and getting rid of the Estate Tax
Posted by: jethro | July 3, 2007 12:40 PM
Maybe thats because Scooter Libby didn't "out" Plame. Remember Richard Armitage? The prosecutor new it, but prosecuted Libby anyway for a faultyu memory. Libby should have taken a page from the Clinton playbook and just claimed 'I don't recall. I can't remember. I don't think you'll find', etc, etc, etc.
Posted by: Mike | July 3, 2007 12:44 PM
Maybe thats because Scooter Libby didn't "out" Plame. Remember Richard Armitage? The prosecutor new it, but prosecuted Libby anyway for a faulty memory. Libby should have taken a page from the Clinton playbook and just claimed 'I don't recall. I can't remember. I don't think you'll find', etc, etc, etc.
Posted by: Mike | July 3, 2007 12:44 PM
Well, this makes it final for me. Any last hope that this blog would be an open forum for both the left and the right has now been removed by this topic. Mark Silva, Fank James enjoy yourselves, and good-bye to the rest of you extremely narrow-minded liberal "wingnuts". Enjoy preaching to the choir.
Posted by: no name | July 3, 2007 1:41 PM
Only the lamebrain media would drudge up Paris Hilton again!
Heavens, is the U.S. media that fixated with Paris Hilton that we cannot go one day without some dumbass story on her or related to her???
Posted by: John D | July 3, 2007 2:26 PM
and good-bye to the rest of you extremely narrow-minded liberal "wingnuts". Enjoy preaching to the choir.
Posted by: no name | July 3, 2007 1:41 PM
Ya gonna "cut and run"?
Posted by: bill r. | July 3, 2007 2:28 PM
Scooter Libby spent more time in jail than Bill Clinton.
Posted by: Bruce | July 3, 2007 2:39 PM
See ya no name Juanito/Leo T/heartburn/anonymous, you should go on over to redstate.com where they creat their own reality and the Republicans are always right no matter how much they break the law.
They'd love to have a spineless phony like you to agree with.
Posted by: The Chimp in Chief | July 3, 2007 2:42 PM
Mike and all you other neocons--Libby was NOT convicted because he "outed" anyone--he was convicted because he obstructed justice. How many freakin' times do you have to be reminded of this fact? And talk about taking a page out of the "I don't recall" book, look no further than Gonzelez. Geez. . .get a grip already, all you neocons. If you don't think--at least for a nanosecond--that Dubya's admin is anything but corrupt to the core, you certainly haven't been reading and listening to any news reports with a critical mind!
Posted by: Janstress | July 3, 2007 2:42 PM
Scooter didn't spend a day in jail. You are wrong again Bruce.
Posted by: jethro | July 3, 2007 3:34 PM
Hello?
Posted by: Bubba | July 3, 2007 4:20 PM
The media is just as fixated with Paris Hilton as you are with Bill Clinton RNC John D. Actually 'Scooter' and smarmy chickenhawk Cheney should go patrol the streets of Baghdad to keep us safe from all the terrorists over yonder. Spineless cowards they are.
Posted by: Doug R. | July 3, 2007 5:24 PM
Folks,
Can we cut the comparisons with Paris Hilton already? They were different offenses, committed under different circumstances, and in different jurisdictions. (Like it or not the "federal" courts are considered to have a different jurisdiction than the States in which they sit.) In each case, there were different authorities involved - inasmuch as the Governator of California never got involved in Ms. Hilton's case. The only thing in common was that the court's in each case were dealing with fruit cocktail.
Come on! Everybody sing along:
"When it says
Liby's Libby's Libby's on the
label, label, label, you will
like it, like it, like it, on your
table, table, table.
when it says
Liby's Libby's Libby's on the
label, label, label."
[Sigh] Showing my age again.
Posted by: John W. | July 3, 2007 8:20 PM
Scooter Libby, Libby, Libby's not going to jail, jail, jail.
Those who believe in equal protection under the law now must, wail, wail, wail.
Posted by: Doug Zook | July 4, 2007 10:11 AM
Doug:
I agree. But this still doesn't justify the less than valuable comparisons to Paris Hilton that we've been seeing at every other turn around here.
Posted by: John W. | July 4, 2007 6:19 PM
John W.,
Of course you are correct. I was just joining in a little advertising jingo trip down memory lane.
Posted by: Doug Zook | July 5, 2007 11:32 AM