Schumer Gets Messaging on Libby Right

Chuck Schumer did a very good job with messaging when he appeared on Face the Nation over the weekend.  Crooks & Liars has the video, but I wish more people would be echoing what he said (PDF):

Sen. SCHUMER: Under commutation, the person who’s commuted has much  greater Fifth Amendment rights, and so it means that if there were a pardon,  Libby could be called before Congress to testify on a whole bunch of things.  Commutation makes it much, much harder to do that. And I think that’s an  unspoken reason why the president did this.

AXELROD: You’re saying that commutation…

Sen. SCHUMER: Let me just say one other thing.

AXELROD: Senator Schumer, just let me make sure I got my arms around this.

Sen. SCHUMER: Yeah.

AXELROD: You’re saying what a commutation does is, in essence, insulate the  White House further from Scooter Libby being a…

Sen. SCHUMER: To a far greater extent, yes. To a far greater extent than  pardon, commutation, you’re allowed to keep your Fifth Amendment rights and,  therefore, you can ask — you have — you don’t have to answer many questions at  all. And I think that may be one of the reasons here that they commuted  rather than pardoned. Most Republicans, as Orrin said, preferred pardon.

George Bush commuted Scooter’s sentence rather than pardoning him to Shut.  Him.  Up.  The notion that he did it to “split the difference” and respect the jury’s decision is just absurd.  He did it to cover his own tracks, which is exactly why Congress should be looking into the whole matter.

Good for Chuck to getting that message out there.

Related posts:

1. Chuck Schumer for Majority Leader
2. Schumer Promises a Public Option… or Not? Whip Him into Shape!
3. New White House Counsel Bob Bauer and Scooter Libby Justice
4. Did Schumer Cause the AHIP Freak Out?
5. Schumer Raises the Stakes: If Final Bill Has No Public Option, Blame Harry Reid