Posted: 7/11/07
Final Draft - by Cliff Buchan
Didn’t Paris Hilton need a friend, too?
Where was George W. Bush when Paris Hilton needed him the most?
By now just about everybody in the world knows who Paris Hilton is after her 23 days in jail and the saga leading up to her time in the slammer. The Hollywood socialite and hotel chain heiress was probably the major news maker of the summer, so far.
Even more so than Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
In America, one would think the saga of a person convicted of grand jury perjury and obstruction of justice would be more important than a ditsy blonde who went to jail for violating probation.
Probation, of course, and a $250,000 fine remain on the books for Libby, but no jail time, thanks to the presidential commutation of Libby’s 30 months prison sentence.
Scooter skates while Paris sits on ice.
People probably shouldn’t be surprised that Bush let off the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. The commuting of the prison sentence did come sooner than some would expect, but the possibility of a full pardon remains, of course.
Libby got into trouble while working for Cheney. Libby was never charged nor tried for leaking the identity of a covert CIA agent who happened to be the wife of a former ambassador to Iraq who had been critical of the Bush Administration and its motives for going to war. (“What I Didn’t Find in Africa” by Joseph C. Wilson 4th, New York Times commentary, July 6, 2003).
But Libby was caught for lying to a federal grand jury. In essence, the good solider that he is, Libby fell on his sword for the higher ups.
What is troubling in the decision is President Bush’s disregard for the legal process. He labeled the 30 month sentence excessive, even though it fell well within guidelines for such crimes.
Once again, George W. Bush, the decider, made a decision that only sends a terrible message.
Here is a situation where a high level federal official who is convicted of a serious wrongdoing is handed a get-out-jail card. He remains on probation while the fine is more than likely paid by donations from political fat cats.
Naturally, those who defend the Libby commutation bark loudly about President Clinton’s 11th hour pardons. They seem to forget the pardons handed out by the current president’s father as he left the presidency.
And what about perhaps the greatest pardon of all time — President Gerald Ford’s pardon of President Richard Nixon who left office in disgrace following the Watergate scandal and trial.
That one never seems to come to mind.
It truly is amazing that we live in a time when the government can lock up individuals for years with no formal charges and no legal representation, but when a person is convicted by a jury of his peers in the full light of day and sentenced accordingly, he skates.
Free as a bird.
And poor Paris Hilton has to go to jail but not Scooter Libby.
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