Friday, June 15, 2007

Why I Hope Bush Pardons Libby

Not least of the vileness that Bush, Cheney and Rove have brought into our public life is the rage of those who cherish traditional American respect for law and decency.

That’s why I hope Bush pardons Scooter Libby. His doing so would frustrate our desire for retribution but at the cost of implicating his entire Administration in the hateful enterprise of which Libby’s actions were a part.

How could he believably justify it? He has nothing like Gerald Ford’s excuse that a Nixon pardon would put an ugly period in history behind us? Saving Libby would clearly end nothing but the pressure on Bush not to let an underling go to prison for serving him loyally.

I have no sympathy for Libby but neither do I have a burning desire to see him behind bars. His bosses haven’t reduced me to that. It would be a fair trade-off to see him free if it meant making Bush associate himself with the sordid work Libby was doing on his behalf.

If that sounds too high-minded, so be it. We used to be a country where politicians could disagree without trying to destroy each other. We won’t get that back by letting Bush and Cheney drag us down to their level of vindictiveness.

Now if Congressional investigations can prove criminal behavior by Karl Rove, that would be another matter entirely.

1 comment:

m said...

I understand your point but public opinion has not stopped Bush in the past from doing what he d--- well pleases so why should he care if there is no "good" reason for pardoning Libby or if it implicates his administration? He has been held accountable to nothing so far, so why should he think anything bad would come to him if he pardons Libby?