The Legal Double Standard
It amazes me how the Republican party can turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by Lewis Scooter Libby when he committed the exact same crime as William Jefferson Clinton (perjury, and obstruction of Justice). When President Clinton committed these crimes, the Republicans impeached him. When Lewis Scooter Libby committed the very same crimes in the Valerie Plane leak case, the Republicans come out and turn a blind eye.
I mean really, most Republicans don't even believe that Libby committed a crime to begin with. They instead are accusing the prosecutor of having some kind of political vendetta or something; even though the prosecutor himself (William Fitzgerald) is a declared Conservative Republican himself. It just amazes me!
Most Republicans don't see anything wrong with revealing the identity of a CIA agent, so long as they can continue this horrible war in Iraq. Most Republicans will hide intelligences they believe will hurt their case, but they will kill the career, and evenput someone in harms way if they argue against them. Most Republicans don't see anything wrong with this. Do you smell a rat, or am I nuts? You tell me who is wrong in this one.
Then to top all this off, while President Clinton was impeached for committing these crimes, Republicans want to pardon Libby. Is this a double standard or what?
ooh, this makes me mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I mean really, most Republicans don't even believe that Libby committed a crime to begin with. They instead are accusing the prosecutor of having some kind of political vendetta or something; even though the prosecutor himself (William Fitzgerald) is a declared Conservative Republican himself. It just amazes me!
Most Republicans don't see anything wrong with revealing the identity of a CIA agent, so long as they can continue this horrible war in Iraq. Most Republicans will hide intelligences they believe will hurt their case, but they will kill the career, and evenput someone in harms way if they argue against them. Most Republicans don't see anything wrong with this. Do you smell a rat, or am I nuts? You tell me who is wrong in this one.
Then to top all this off, while President Clinton was impeached for committing these crimes, Republicans want to pardon Libby. Is this a double standard or what?
ooh, this makes me mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Any way it does not relate to the group so it is not getting posted there, but it is a good debate issue for all to consider. That being how some in government appear to be above the law while others get shafted by the law, I guess its all about who's your friend and who's your enemy, which is wrong all around. Double standards for the law are unconsciencable in a free society and equates to governments of old where dictators set the law and not the society. However in our nation it is the society that is supposed to be setting the laws by our representitives, and thus it should be equally applied to all, as in the phrase, "and justice for all." One can not have justice for all when some are above the law for the rest of the people!
Sorry for asking to post it in your blog. I guess my finger slipped.
The only way for Democrats NOT to be hypocrites is to state that Libby's sentence is too harsh. The President of the United States should by MORE accountable, not less, than an adviser, and if Clinton's law license being suspended was justice, how can 30 months be so for Libby?
I (and probably most Reps) don't want anything more or anything less. I don't want to punish Clinton any more than is appropriate for Libby and vice versa...For the crime of PERJURY.
Therefore it's kind of pointless to compare punishments.
I don't think Clinton put anyone's life in danger.
Living in America does not make you American. To be an American you must understand, support and defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights. If you look real hard you won't find one scumbag from the right who does that.
Remember, when you are dealing with a repig, you are dealing with a Redcoat who is defending their king george. Yes....a traitor.
I just don't want to blanket Republicans that is all. There are some really good people who are Republicans. They are just misquided. That is all.
I'll blanket all repigs....they are all scum.
Now if you want to call me scum by ending that last sentence with a preposition, you would have a valid point.
-snakelips
Now if you want to compare the "crime" of getting a BJ in the Oval Office to outing a CIA agent, there's no comparison. Obviously, what Libby did (and his guilt is arguable, but not relevant to this discussion), is much worse........BUT THAT WAS NOT WHAT HE WAS CONVICTED ON. And that's the point.
-snakelips
The proper comparisons are:
Clinton lied about getting a BJ in the Oval Office, Libby lied about talking to a reporter.
OR
Clinton lied in order to avoid being busted for sexual harassment, Libby lied in order to avoid being busted for what he mistakenly thought was a crime.
Let's be clear on one point: the law on outing an agent does not appear to have been broken. HOWEVER, outing the agent was immoral and unwise and should not have been done casually. It is reprehensible.
Shouldn't you be helping your organization with future terror attacks on the US? Elections aren't that far away, moron, and you scum are in great danger of becoming what you should be.....extinct.
while your opinions are valued, you should know that Snakelips has the support of lots of us (even the most liberal ones). It's rare to have a conservative in our midst who is open-minded and able to debate the issues fairly.
hang around for awhile and you might see what i mean.
I'm sure that many readers of this are cheering you on, but I'd bet that at least a few are ashamed of you for acting this way. I know I would if a fellow Rep spoke that way to a you. Luckily, I will not judge all Dems by your behavior, but like you say, they probably could care less.
Okay, Bill Clinton AND Lewis Libby both committed perjury. Nobody is arguing this.
However, they had committed perjury to cover up for very different degrees of crimes. Clinton had lied to keep from disrupting the political process with unnecessary red tape that would distract us from real issues. Libby lied because he had known that he had messed up in outing a CIA agent. One crime is much worse than the other because it compromises the security of the United States.
You can argue that Bill Clinton hurt the prestige of the presidency or whatever, but the fact of the matter is, is that the Republican congress was the group of people who publicized the whole thing and released the 400+ page report to all the major news networks.
Scooter Libby compromised the safety of the American people. Deliver guilt where it is due, but just because two people committed a crime based on a technicality, that doesn't mean that there weren't varying degrees of the crimes they committed.
Libby, of course, perjured himself to cover up the outing of a CIA agent. The damage of such an action is difficult to measure and can range from almost meaningless to contributing to the deaths of many.
Libby's is worse, yes, because even if the outing was not illegal, in Libby's mind it was, so Libby's perjury is no less reprehensible than if the outing was illegal. But Clinton's was not trivial.
Therefore a comparison of punishments makes no sense.
He has his views but I'll not be dragged into squabbling with him as I don't actually care what the republican view is. We've had it for the last 6 years and ask only the question, as it applies to you, "are you better off today than you were 6 years ago?" I do know my retirement, both civilian and military, have been grossly affected to the worse direction. Our true economy is in a shambles, and there are more poor and homeless in this country than ever before. Forget about unemployment all that money ended years ago and the jobs (good ones) aren't here anymore! This administration only needs the military to clean up their mess and when they are maimed (or KIA) it's up to them, or their families, to endure.nment just steps back and "oh well!"
Just my humble opinion
That makes a BIG difference.
Either perjury is a crime, or it is not.
I know it throws a wrench in people's arguments, but you cannot realistically compare Libby and Clinton when Clinton was found not guilty.
Let's also remember that Clinton did not get off the hook: a judge in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case found him in civil contempt of the court. He was fined $90,000 stripped of his Arkansas law license for 5 years, and as a result was automatically dismissed from the Supreme Court Bar.
These are not "apples and apples."
This is not a question of legal procedure, this is a question of justice in the philosophical meaning of the word. Otherwise, no one would object to Clinton or Libby, since a legal procedure to pursue justice in both cases was followed.
This is a case where Republicans whined for years that Clinton should be punished for perjury, and now when it comes to Libby they say he is being too harshly punished.
This is a case where Democrats whined for years that Clinton should NOT be punished for perjury, and now when it comes to Libby they believe that the punishment is not severe enough.
NEITHER side has the moral high ground.
For the record, I don't think Libby's punishment was enough. Frankly, it borders on treason. But I also think Clinton was not adequately punished. His offense was not as great, but his responsibility was far greater. What saves him in my eyes is that he did not abuse his power during the process. Bottom line, though, is that Clinton lied in order to protect himself from a sexual abuse claim. Had the CEO of Mobil Oil done so, we would be screaming for his head. And that, dear friends, is hypocrisy.
Clinton was not convicted and Libby WAS.
Now, people can discuss this philosophically and hypothetically to their heart's content, but it will always be hypothetical.
Clinton was not convicted of a crime. Period.
I'm not saying I'm OK with that, I'm just stating the reality. Comparing the two punishments as if they were convicted of the same crime seems ridiculous to me!
Great Post!
Poor Scooter he was the fall guy and a 30 month sentence plus becoming a felon is nothing to sneeze at. Well as my Scot Grandmother would say"when you supe with the devil use a long spoon".
Clinton lied about an affair--the most reasonable course of action for a hubby to take..lol
Why should the sentences be the same--when the crimes were actually VERY different in their effect?
*sigh
The world can be so unfair sometimes.
I totally agree with you.