Random author on Libby pardons

Ah, the professionals come up with the best rants...

I wished my ears deceived me. How is it that people are saying they hope Lewis "Scooter" Libby, recently convicted on four felony counts, including perjury, will be pardoned, after a lengthy and expensive trial (paid for by our tax dollars, thank you very much) which followed a lengthy and expensive grand jury hearing (also paid for by our tax dollars). He had pricey attorneys and the full attention of the media, so it's not like his trial was conducted in a dirty little corner where the prosecution, judge, and jury got away with all kinds of moneyshines. He got the very best the American judicial system has to offer, and he was duly convicted.

Yet people are either wishing for a pardon or saying he will get one. Has our legal system become this much of a laughing stock? Or do we think our president is this contemptuous of it?

For those who want him to get one: why? Didn't the Nuremberg trials teach the world that just because someone is given an illegal order, it doesn't mean that the person who follows it is absolved of blame? Libby is an attorney. He lied under oath; he knew better than the average citizen what the penalties of perjury are. It doesn't matter who he lied for. He is a grown man and he is responsible for his own conduct. If he is asked to do something illegal, he is bound by law and as an officer of the court not to do it. If he breaks that law, he goes to jail. He does not get a "get out of jail free" card.

And if our president pardons him, he shows once again that he--the person most responsible to the law in this country--doesn't feel he is answerable to the law. And there's only one way to cure a president like that. Impeach him.