George Bush has commuted Libby’s prison sentence because two and a half years in prison is excessive for merely perverting the course of justice and committing perjury. This is merely the last in a “long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinc[ing] a design to reduce [us] under absolute Despotism.” . So why do I feel nearly nothing? Why can’t I revive that delicious outrage I felt on the night of the Saturday Night Massacre, or, for that matter, the outrage I felt when Bushco stole the first election? After all, look at just some of the things I’ve got to be outraged about:
First, there’s the very act itself-pardoning (okay, not technically, but that may be coming) an unrepentant criminal who has been convicted by a jury of serious crimes.
Then there’s the given reason for the act:. A president who tortures innocent people, who jokes about people he has put to death, who has shown no evidence of compassion for normal human beings feels that two and a half years for obstruction of justice is “excessive”. And since he commuted the entire sentence, we must conclude that he feels those crimes deserve no jail time at all, which is probably true because everyone in his Administration, including himself, is guilty of the former.
Then there’s the probable press coverage: Pro forma condemnation here in the hinterlands, but can you doubt that at pundit central Bush will be praised for his Solomonic wisdom, for after all he did split the baby. He left the conviction intact, for now, while removing the sting. Scooter won’t be going to jail. He may lose his law license, but he won’t need that anyway, as the cabal that runs this country will make sure he does just fine. After all, Scooter threw himself under the bus for them, and they won’t forget. The Beltway pundits have been almost unanimous in their inability to see that Libby did anything wrong. They will merely nod their collective heads in approval and turn to other things. Funny, does anyone remember how long they obsessed about Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich, which gained Clinton nothing? Bush has put the finishing touches on a massive cover-up and the story will be forgotten in a day.
Then there’s the probable pubic reaction, which can be summed up in a sentence: What else is new, can you hand me the sports page?
Then there’s the probable Democratic Congressional reaction. “Tut, tut, what’s one more impeachable offense?” (A criminal conspiracy can be furthered by acts both legal and illegal.)
And of course, finally (on this list only, I haven’t got all day), there’s the further damage done to our already tattered Constitution. But after the job the Supreme Court did last week, does it really matter?
I would be giddily happy if it turns out that I’m wrong-that this usurpation evokes the kind of reaction Nixon did on that long ago Saturday Night. I can still remember John Chancellor, almost bug-eyed with shock, repeating, over and over, in a stunned voice: “This has never happened before!”. Neither has this-a sitting President pardoning someone in order to further an ongoing coverup. Chancellor and his like are gone. They’ve been replaced with people that will give this act their seal of approval. Within a week of that act the wheels started moving toward impeachment. In less than a year, Nixon was gone. At that point in his presidency, Nixon was higher in the polls than Bush is now, but no matter, Bush, such a petty man (if we must go the way of Rome, can’t it at least be at the hands of a man like Caesar?), continues to “bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus“, proving how much more petty we have become.
It’s OUTRAGEOUS!
Ahh, that’s better, I’ve worked myself up. I know it won’t do me much good, but it’s all I can do, so I might as well do it. Outrage alone may not save us, but we won’t be saved without it.
