The Scooter Libby trial is over. After the long search for an unbiased jury, the weeks of testimony (featuring an impressive, lunching-at-Michael's-worthy array of media personalities) and nearly three weeks of deliberation, the jury has finally reached a verdict.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Dick Cheney, has been found guilty of lying about how he learned the identity of former CIA agent, Valerie Plame, and obstructing a leak investigation that "reached into the highest levels of the Bush administration."
And while the trial was, at times, less captivating than the Anna Nicole Smith Media Circus, we're suddenly reminded of all the moments that made the Libby affair so memorable.
From the judge's initial inability to find twelve people who weren't already predisposed against the Bush administration to the reports that Libby entertained two hot 20-something ladies (possibly sisters!) at a swanky D.C. hotel bar on the night of his trial, to the A-list cast of journalists who took the stand and swore up and down that Karl Rove really is the Devil, it's been on hell of a wild ride.
And there's a lot more where that came from.
There's still the delicate matter of sentencing. Technically, Libby is free to continue his hotel room romps up until June 5th, but eventually faces up to thirty years in prison, (primarily due to that unfortunate "obstruction of justice" count). And if you think he's got a shot at a pardon, think again. Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, has already cautioned Bush against issuing a pardon, stating ""it's about time someone in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics."
Plus, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, still have lawsuits pending against Rove and other top White House officials, and one jury member (and former Washington Post reporter) has already spoken out to the press and admitted his concern that Libby was merely a fall guy for higher-ups like, say, Vice President Dick Cheney.
And no matter how much Bill Maher may hope that juror is right, all we can do is wait and see.
Editorial Director
In your story on the conviction of "Scooter" Libby, you write "if you think he's got a shot at a pardon, think again. Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, has already cautioned Bush against issuing a pardon, stating 'it's about time someone in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics.' "
I would be delighted to be wrong, but my guess is that Harry Reid or no Harry Reid, President Bush will, in the final days of his Administration, pardon Mr. Libby.
I believe it would be correct to say that Mr. Reid should consider it time for making Mr. Berger and the Democrats accountable for the missuse and destruction of Classified Documents, which would seem, by most national security standards, to be a more serious manipulation of intelligence and the Democratic political agenda of placing the buck somewhere else. I think Mr. Reid has commented in the past about no man is above the law, but usually applied by him and whoever else that adheres to his liberal mindset agenda to undermine and discredit the Republican caucus, usually at a cost to the American Taxpayer in the name of justice and at the same time without a care for what is morally right. Of course if we suggest the left wing agenda of the Democratic Party is immoral in anything, we would be confronted with accuasations of political bias and only less we forget the Clinton years, when forgetting something in a conversation, were there memory losses in the testimony changes of Mr. Clinton, or were they just denials covered over by the Democratic caucus to save the face of the President. So, Why not hear exactly what is immoral to Mr. Reid and his friends. Sodomy? Adultry?
Think