June 05, 2007
For those of you who dared to dream that the Halls of Justice were not the personal property of the Frat Boys running this country, today was a good day. It seems that lying, cheating and threatening are no longer the Teflon tools of this administration. Perhaps the ruling in this high-profile case (centered on the outing of a Bush opponent’s CIA spouse) will give future leakers pause. Putting aside the lack of morality exercised by Bush & his cohorts, and putting aside the administration’s disregard of laws and civil rights, this ruling can be seen as a scathing indictment of the recent spate of absentmindedness as a defense, first used by Regan and perfected under Bush. No one in this administration seems to remember much. It must be the White House water. All Grand Juries can expect to hear these days is a parade of witnesses who can’t seem to remember anything. What a great strategy for this modern version of poisoning.
Watching this all go down, it was striking, the change in Libby’s demeanor, from the grinning crony secure in his legal defense, to the wilted and bewildered convicted perjurer, about to be toted off to jail. If ever bravado and self congratulation drained instantly out of a man, it was there for us to see en vivo today. It was an impressive wilt, as if Libby had never even considered this trial a real game. It was in fact as if this had been make believe all along, and he was just waiting there, for someone from his cadre of so-called friends to pluck him from the scene and take him away to safety. But that did not happen, and the Grand Jury to which he lied and the American Constitution, upon which he shat, and the American People, upon whom he spat, can now have some modicum of respect for The Justice Department of Gonzalez.
But before we dance in the street to celebrate that the balances of Justices have been recalibrated, we must all remember that Bush is likely to pardon his rattled friend, to leave office with a sigh while performing that peculiar political act of benevolence, parallel to the Annulment of a Catholic marriage. It’s not the fact of consummation that is “forgiven”, but rather its intent. Bush is likely to “forgive” Libby, not for having committed perjury, but rather for failing to forget himself out of it.
Sad indeed has been the condition of this nation’s moral compass. Not only has the Bush Administration built an empire based on the notion that the ends justifies the means and that might makes right, it has also subscribed to the notion that the rest of us are dumbasses. Perhaps this ruling will be a caveat for those strategizing against the system. (Uh, Carl, Dick & friends….) Also, let us hope that this Scooter disaster has put chinks in the Rovain Armored Dream, his notion of this country as a meritocracy based on his own skewed vision of right, wrong, truth and lies. It may be too late for old Scooter, but Rove.. oh, never mind. He'll never get it.
Tags:
breaking the law, Bush, Dick Cheney, Libby, Rove, Rovian dream, Scooter Libby goes to jail
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Posted on 6/5/2007
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