Random Thoughts on the Libby Verdict…

I’ve watched and read a lot of coverage on the four guilty verdicts in the Scooter Libby trial today. Here are some random thoughts off the top of my head…
1. Scooter Libby ought not be pardoned.
That’s right, you heard me. Libby was convicted of perjuring himself and obstruction of justice. You can’t lie to investigators or to a federal grand jury. You just can’t. I don’t care what the context was, he committed a crime.
2. These verdicts have absolutely nothing to do with the Iraq war.
I’ve heard people in the MSM today invoking the consequences for the Iraq war and…well…I’ll tell you a little secret: there are none. Despite what Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann would have you believe, today’s verdicts have zero to do with Iraq.
3. Scooter Libby was not convicted of treason. Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame are NOT vindicated.
This is kind of that same bittersweet feeling that people had when Al Capone was sent to prison for tax evasion and not organized crime or murder. They got Scooter on what amounts to a procedural violation and not for what they really wanted to get him for. Well, actually, they wanted to get Cheney, but the Libs will take Scooter…for now.
4. Bubba did the same thing as Scooter and got off easy.
The Libs don’t like hearing it, but Bill Clinton was also prosecuted for felony perjury and felony obstruction of justice. The Libs also say that you can’t compare the two, and they’re right in one sense: Clinton was PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES and not Chief of Staff to the Vice President. Bubba’s prosecution was NOT about a blow job, as the Daily Kos would have you believe. It was about lying to a federal grand jury—the same thing that Scooter Libby did. Libby is facing jail time for what he did—what did Clinton get? Uh-huh. That’s right: a slap on the wrist. They like to obfuscate the issue, but clearly they’re nothing but hypocrites. They did the same thing and the response to Libby—someone who didn’t take the Presidential Oath of Office—was much more severe.
5. Valerie Plame was NOT a covert operative of the CIA.
I just can’t stress this one enough.
6. There will be no further charges filed in the Valerie Plame case.
What does that mean? It means the investigation is over. No one is guilty of outing Valerie Plame as a CIA operative because no one did.
Clearly, a man was found guilty of breaking the law on four counts today. Whether or not justice was served is a different question entirely.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com