It is common beltway knowledge that Libby took the rap for Cheney and that this administration is, in essence, a Dick Cheney administration with Bush serving as its titular head and oblivious cheerleader.
As such, it is just a matter of when ( not if ) before Bush ( who answers to Cheney ) will pardon Libby and it most likely will be during the July Independence day recess or the Summer Congressional recess in early August ~ which is when most of the Cheney/Bush dirty work is done ( Bolton appointment to the UN is a classic example )
That gives the White House plenty of time to build their pardon case ~ for the prospect of Cheney's chief of staff in the clinker ~ as visible evidence of this corrupt administration's abuse of power ~ would be too much for these arrogant moral cowards to face.
The pressure to pardon Libby will come from outside led by the neocon pipe organ THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Peter Baker writes in the Washington Post last week of their strategy ~ The Weekly Standard followed with a cutting article accusing Bush of abandoning Libby: "So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he's for as long as he doesn't have to take any risks in its behalf; and courage -- well, that's nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?"Bush will be seen, or spun, as bowing to the pressure from within his party to do the compassionate thing and pardon Libby ~ while, in reality, the decision has already been made and only the date remains a question mark.
Meanwhile U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton is rightfully holding the line on prison time ~ as the Center for American Progress reports.
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2007/06/18.html
ADMINISTRATION -- LIBBY MUST REPORT TO PRISON PENDING APPEAL
by Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, and Matt Corley / Under The Radar / Center for American Progress
6/15/07
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ordered Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff Scooter Libby to "surrender in six to eight weeks to begin serving his 30-month prison term," rejecting "Libby's request to remain free while appealing his conviction."
Walton, who received threatening letters and phone calls from Libby's supporters in the case, said that "clearly, under the statute, I'm required to detain him. ... And I just think blue-collar criminals are entitled to the same kind of justice as white-collar criminals." "A dozen prominent constitutional scholars," most of them outspoken conservatives, filed a brief last week "urging that Libby remain free pending appeal." Walton dismissed the brief as "not something I would expect from a first-year law student" and said that "it appeared to be produced...for the sole purpose of throwing their names out there so somehow I'd feel pressure."
Libby's last hope for a get-out-of-jail-free card is President Bush. While the White House yesterday released a statement stating that "the president will continue not to intervene in the judicial process,"
Walton's ruling to send Libby to jail increases "the pressure for President Bush to decide soon whether he will pardon Libby."
