by Calvin Robinson

Created on: July 07, 2007

Whether or not President Bush was right or wrong in commuting Mr. Libby's Sentence is actually a complicated question, more so than one may at first think. I would hope that if I ever am found guilty of a crime, the judge would go easy on me as a first offender. That is commonly practiced and expected given our legal system as it exists today. I dare think that each of you would feel the same way if you were the person who was convicted of a crime. In the case of Mr. Libby, not only was he a first time offender, he was fined hundreds of thousands of dollars and given a substantial jail term. This seems to be a bit harsh when you consider that Mr. Libby really did not blow the cover of Ms. Plame. In fact, it appears she may not have been under cover at all and this whole issue may have been used to make an attack on the Bush White House. If you can't get Bush, then go after his underlings. It appears that this case is a case of the design of our government's checks and balances being implemented. Checks and balances are an important part of our system and in this case the judicial system may have needed to be checked a bit. There was no wholesale pardon as President Clinton did for so many criminals in the eleventh hour of his presidency. Some of those that Mr. Clinton pardoned had been guilty of very serious crimes and with the stroke of a pen he took that away. It is interesting to look at what appears to be a money trail in that case. If people want to raise a stink about the sentence of Mr. Libby being commuted, they have to speak up also about the treatment of justice issued by Mr. Clinton or their arguments are relegated to simply being political in nature. Let us not attack Mr. Libby for political reasons simply because we do not like President Bush and can not get him directly.

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