I might have interpreted this as snark, but actually, it rings quite true, considering the treehouse boy’s clug atmosphere the Cheney and his neoR’s have built for themselves in this Bush administration…

I don’t believe that OBL story, given that the $25 million bounty on his head is still in force AFAIK.

Of course, if you’re a French special forces soldier newly rich, your court martial prevents you from spending it.

Steal half a billion like Michael Milken, 8 years.

Kill hundreds of thousands of innocents like Bush & Co., … look Anna Nicole Smith died.

The MSM has a lot of splainin’ to do.

Why is it the Rich in America, those who run corporations and give the most money to control who gets heard or elected don’t seem to trust in our Democracy? Why do they hate America?

Seriously, Diane Rehm is such a tool. She’s practically built a little cult around herself, what with all her callers always fawning over her and how she presents both sides, a reasonable tone, blah, blah, blah… All you have to do is look at how skewed right her guest list is; typical bunch of bobbleheads, with very few and very seldom any real progressives…

I agree. Plus her comments/questions always seem to be about her.

I’m neither a prosecutor nor a criminal defense lawyer but I’d expect something along the lines of 2 to 4 years if Libby’s convicted of all counts. Chris Matthews often talks about Libby facing 20 or 30 years, but that seems way too high to me. First of all, he’s just adding up the maximum statutory sentence on each count, but sentences for multiple convictions generally run not consecutively but concurrently. In other words, the defendant gets sentenced to prison time based on the worst offense and serves the time for the other offenses at the same time as s/he serves out the longest sentence. In addition, 20 years is more like something a repeat violent offender would get — just way too long for a first-time offender on a white-collar offense.
Federal criminal sentences are pretty well spelled out in the sentencing guidelines. There isn’t too much room for the judge’s individual discretion. The guy who made the estimate of 2-3 years is an experienced criminal defense attorney who does this for a living. I’d take his figure over Matthews’.
And don’t take a prison sentence of 2 years too lightly. Put yourself in Libby’s shoes (or those of his wife or kids) should he some day be asked to rise as the judge walks in to pronounce his sentence.

Yes, I can see that the sentences might be served concurrently, especially for a first-time offender. I actually wondered if the 20 years was a deliberate overestimate setting up the 2-3 year estimate in “camp”. The use of the word “camp” rather than “prison” or “facility” raised a red flag for me. Perhaps that’s an accepted term in prison lingo but given the number of talking point vendors that have appeared on Hardball, it came across as a “Libby’s not actually going to go to jail“.

If two years is the prison sentence Libby was hoping to avoid by going to trial, I’ve got to wonder what sort of deal Fitzgerald was offering that Libby found so unattractive — and whether Libby is having second thoughts about rejecting that deal now.

We just got word that Anna Nicole Smith just died.
does Cheney have an alibi?

Moron @ 38

At about 4:05 pm today, I learned from yahoo.com that Anna Nicole Smith had died.
I then forget this.
At about 4:30 pm, I went to msnbc.com and saw that Anna Nicole Smith had died. I was taken aback. I learned this news as if anew.

Snarkspear at the Lake – half the reason I come here.
Top notch, TOP NOTCH

Seriously, Diane Rehm is such a tool. She’s practically built a little cult around herself, what with all her callers always fawning over her and how she presents both sides, a reasonable tone, blah, blah, blah… All you have to do is look at how skewed right her guest list is; typical bunch of bobbleheads, with very few and very seldom any real progressives…

My main beef with her is having shows with wingnut welfare hacks (from organizations that explicitly state their purpose is to advocate for conservative causes) “balanced” with journalists, thus entirely knuckling under to the “liberal press bias” canard and reinforcing it.

That is what drove me permanently away, combined with allowing conservatives to tell bald-faced lies without being called on it or denied a return invitation, and their constant interruptions (the conservative gets to speak his piece and then interrupts when the non-conservative is halfway through.)

Re: Anna Nicole Smith….

Okay, so the MSM will run amuck with this story, and once again bury coverage of the Libby trial on the back page.

But let’s remember that with her death, an infant daughter has been left motherless, and the now very important matter of who’s her daddy is a matter of dispute. The poor kid is going to be a legal football for God knows how long.

That makes me sad. And however trashy and vulgar ANS was in life, she was a bereaved mother and clearly a very confused woman. That makes me sad too.

End of lecture. Back to our regularly scheduled program: LIBBY IS GOING DOWN!!!!!

All true, and yet, all none of my business. The corruption of elected federal officials and their staffs is definitely my business. Pity the MSM don’t use that as their criterion for deciding what to overplay.