balloonankle.jpgVia Bloomberg:

A quick pardon for Libby would go against Justice Department guidelines, which recommend that a supplicant wait five years after conviction or release from confinement before seeking a pardon. On the other hand, there’s no requirement that a president wait; President Gerald Ford pardoned his disgraced predecessor, Richard Nixon, shortly after taking office in 1974, and before Nixon was convicted of anything.The focus on a Libby pardon is obscuring other options available to Bush, including conditional pardons, commutations, remissions of fines and amnesties, Ruckman said.

One possibility would be to issue a respite directive, which simply delays carrying out a sentence and lets passions cool, he said. George Washington first granted respites in June, 1795, delaying the executions of two men involved in the Whiskey Rebellion; they were later pardoned, Ruckman said.

“Bush can keep Libby out of jail without exercising a pardon,” Ruckman said.

Good lord, if they are reaching all the way back to the Whiskey Rebellion for some obscure out for Libby, then it sounds to me like the pardon beg is falling on entirely deaf ears in the West Wing.  Maybe the rumors about Fred Fielding keeping them away from the President are more than just rumors?  Whatever the cause, desperation is setting in among the Free Scooter brigades. 

A respite directive?  You are telling me that Mrs. Libby is content to settle for a “respite directive” after all the crap that she and her kids have gone through on Dick Cheney and George Bush’s behalf?  No freaking way.  And if they are getting down to the point where they are grovelling publicly for a “respite directive,” they are getting pretty desperate for something…anything…to keep the Libbys and their pals on the protecting Dick Cheney bandwagon.  This isn’t the first time that a “pardon trial balloon” has fallen flat — the Joe DiGenova attempts got bogged down early on in the proceedings prior to trial and conviction — but truly, the Whiskey Rebellion?   Pa.  The.  Tic.

I’m with Joe Wilson on this one:  No pardon.  No way.  (H/T to ThinkProgress for the great interview video — well worth the watching.)  And that means no pretend pardon on a technicality either.

And, for your reading pleasure, if you haven’t read Emptywheel’s speculation on the Novak testimony gaps, you really ought to do so.  Intriguing stuff.  Also, here and here for more background on this.

(Photo via Amnesix.)

UPDATE:  Tucker Carlson’s daddy — one of the big shots of the Free Scooter Defense Fund – had this to say today:

“I hope it puts pressure on the president. He’s a man of pronounced loyalties and he should have loyalty to Scooter Libby,” said former Ambassador Richard Carlson, a member of Libby’s defense fund. “It would be a travesty for him to go off to prison. The president will take some heat for it. So what? He takes heat for everything.”  (emphasis mine)

Really respectful tone to take about the President on whom you are dependent for largesse for your man Scooter, eh?  Yes, Richard Carlson, so what if Libby disrespected the rule of law and was convicted of multiple federal felonies — your personal loyalty toward Dick Cheney’s minion should trump everything for President Bush. And you and all your Free Scooter peeps will stamp your feet and hold your breath until you turn blue until he does what you want. Does that about cover it?

Good lord, the nation is being run by a bunch of petulant, selfish, narcissistic 11 year olds.  Some days it is just more obvious than others, isn’t it?

Related posts:

  1. The Bush Fairy Tale on the Libby Pardon
  2. The Taxpayers Paid Dick Cheney’s Personal Defense Attorney to Obstruct Any Inquiries Into His Crimes
  3. Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, and the “Unremarkable” Meat Grinder
  4. Cheney’s Betrayal Made an IIPA Charge for Libby Possible
  5. SCOTUS Denies Valerie Plame Wilson Her Day in Court