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Posted on Friday 23 January 2009


Cheney Speaks Out on Libby
Former vice president calls prosecution a "serious miscarriage of justice" and disagrees with Bush’s decision.
Weekly Standard
01/22/2009

Former Vice President Dick Cheney disagreed publicly with his boss just four times in the eight years they served together. Yesterday, however, on the first day after the official end of the Bush administration, Cheney disagreed with George W. Bush once more.

Cheney told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, whom he described as a "victim of a serious miscarriage of justice," deserved a presidential pardon.

Asked for his reaction to Bush’s decision Cheney said: "Scooter Libby is one of the most capable and honorable men I’ve ever known. He’s been an outstanding public servant throughout his career. He was the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice, and I strongly believe that he deserved a presidential pardon. Obviously, I disagree with President Bush’s decision"…
I guess I believe Cheney ["Scooter Libby is one of the most capable and honorable men I’ve ever known"]. But the way I read it, for him "capable" means doing Cheney’s dirty work and "honorable" means loyal to Cheney. I suppose the "miscarriage of justice" was that the jury didn’t uphold the Divine Right of the Vice Presidents passed on by Richard Nixon, a former Vice President – who later became Divine.

What I wonder is why Cheney bothers to say such things. He must think that there are still people who think what he says matters. It’s not the case. Even the loyal are kind of embarrassed by him, but he doesn’t yet seem to know that. They all know that Scooter Libby threw himself onto the coals to protect Cheney. And maybe that’s why Cheney says it, to keep Libby bound in his oath of loyalty. Libby is still a real danger to Cheney. As Fitzgerald said, Scooter Libby blocked the real prosecution in that case – Dick Cheney.

The term "honor among thieves" describes a real phenomenon. Perhaps that’s the honor Cheney’s talking about – kind of like Scooter’s Aspen roots metaphor. But I’ll bet that Bush and Cheney had a pact that maybe Scooter will figure out some day. If Libby is pardoned, he can no longer take the fifth, since he would no longer be a felon. He might then either talk, or tell the truth if subpoenaed to avoid another conviction. So, "don’t pardon him, but let me object in the Weekly Standard."
  1.  
    Ralph Roughton
    January 23, 2009 | 12:21 PM
     

    Your explanation for the non-pardon makes sense. I hadn’t quite figured it out. It would also explain no preemptive pardons for all the others who could spill beans if their own legal jeopardy were removed.

    At the inauguration, Chene in his wheelchair reminds me so much of the old, evil curmudgeons that used to be played in old movies by Lionel Barrymore in his wheelchair. I could almost see him snarling and hitting people with his cane.

  2.  
    Joy
    January 23, 2009 | 5:31 PM
     

    Ralph, you describe Cheney in the wheelchair so well. It’s like an old time movie with Lionel Barrymore.

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