Going To Jail For Dick Cheney
So the Scooter Libby verdict is in. Like many Americans, I am happy to hear that Dick Cheney’s former Chief of Staff has been found guilty (and I’m happy to rub this in Fox News’ face by displaying their write-up of this news). But, of course, the wrong guy is going to jail.
Scooter Libby lied under oath about the justification for the Iraq War, and he’s now facing up to 25 years in jail. Libby’s boss also lied repeatedly to the American people about the justification for the Iraq War, but since he did not lie “under oath” he doesn’t face criminal charges for perjury.
It sure seems to me that anytime a United States Vice President speaks to the American people about a decision to go to war, his words are “under oath”. What oath? Gee, I don’t know … the oath of office, maybe? It’s sad to see a hapless bureaucrat like Scooter Libby face jail time for his boss’s crime, based on the technicality that he lied under oath whereas his boss simply lied.
Enough about that. I still hope — naively, perhaps — to see both Dick Cheney and George W. Bush eventually cooling their heels in minimum security prison for their dishonest and harmful leadership of our country’s foreign policy. But maybe I need to let go of my anger and think about where this country will head next. This is a subject I touched on in a brief piece I just wrote for the PBS blog, Remotely Connected.
The subject of this article is an engaging documentary about an earnest but underfinanced young politician named Jeff Smith trying to beat the odds and get nominated by his Missouri district’s Democratic party to run for U. S. Congress. Does money really count for everything in modern electoral politics? If not, why do we hear so much about certain candidates “locking up” their nominations by fund-raising? If not, why did Tom Vilsack give up? If not, why does the press coverage speak of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as the only two viable Democratic Party presidential candidates?
I don’t want the race for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination to be “locked up” in fundraising bonanzas. I want at least ten candidates in this race. I want to hear debates — big, loud, angry, intellectually substantial debates. I want John Edwards to keep throwing curve balls. I want to get Al Gore back in the game (and if I could choose any favorite among them all at this point, Al’s my man). I even want to get Yellin’ Howard Dean and John “Investigate and Indict” Murtha into the mix.
It’s only March 2007, and our two front-runners for the Democratic nomination are already too bland, too careful, too poll-conscious for my tastes. Voters, let’s reject the idea of an early victor and demand a better race.
Of course, bringing this whole thing back to my earliest point of the article, I have to say that I don’t think the next American president will be a Democrat. I’m guessing the next President will be a Republican — John McCain, perhaps, or Tom Ridge, or Condoleeza Rice. That’s because I’m still guessing (and hoping) that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney will be out of Washington D. C. and safely ensconced with Scooter Libby and a bunch of other felons in a minimum security prison sometime before the next Presidential election takes place. I’m still guessing Cheney will resign and go to jail first, and whoever Bush picks to replace Cheney will be our next President, because I think Bush will resign and go to jail soon after.
So our next President will be a Republican. But the winner of the 2008 Presidential election will be a Democrat. You heard it here first.
March 6th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Bland or not (and I agree with you that the two front-runners are bland) the Democratic primaries will be won by big money and not fresh ideas, just as with the Republicans. What is needed is radical campaign finance reform, otherwise Hillary Clinton will win election solely on the basis of fundraising and organization, not ideas.
March 7th, 2007 at 9:09 am
I agree about the problem. Regarding the solution, I wonder if we need to wait for government to provide a legal solution with campaign finance reform. We *are* the voters — I wonder if we can help solve the problem just by raising awareness of the issue among registered primary voters, by making as much noise about this problem as possible. I will commit right now to NOT supporting any candidate whose path to nomination prioritizes fund-raising over directly communicating with the voters. Right now, for me, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are really pushing their luck on this count.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
I am also glad Scooter Libby has been found guilty. I hope that no convictions are thrown out on appeal. I don’t think Scooter Libby is hapless. I think he knew darn well what he was doing and is protecting others of his ilk. I spoke out about the situation a year back. The name of the poem was “Capitol Winds”. It was published on Lean Left. Nice to know that I was on the right side for now. I am undecided on whom I want for president in 2008. I’ll give you all a hint… I never have voted for a republican for president.
March 8th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Hmmm… that was a long post and I was oddly disappointed to not read some more in-depth recognition of the genocidal tendencies of history. Weird, I know. That said, I wonder if this is as important to address as that? Perhaps you could say it is connected — well I know many of your readers would say so unequivocally– but in the end, I feel like this newsbite is a minor distraction or a drop in a very large, looming bucket that really has nothing to do with “felons”, elections or party lines. Beyond politics, writing and banging the drums, how are we going to uniquely reach out to the guts of humanity and make a difference?
Also, just to piggyback on some of your word choices, I’m not sure what happiness this could bring … I’m not happy about this, what’s there to be happy about really? This isn’t to say your angle is necessarily wrong, though we understandably disagree on many viewpoints … but more to the fact that … I guess if you feel that way, as far as corruption goes, in the end, is jubilation the right endpath to figuring this all out? I’m genuinely asking …
March 8th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Caryn, I’m glad you’re asking in this way, because I’m probably not communicating as clearly as I want to. I guess the backdrop of this whole post (which I should have made more explicit) is that Congress seems to be gearing up to do some official investigations into the executive branch’s management of the Iraq war. I’m not sure if these investigations will get off the ground or not, but I am hoping they will, and like I’ve written about here before, I think it’s likely that these investigations could lead to findings that would cause Bush and Cheney to step down. I know some people think I’m indulging in counter-productive political bashing when I talk about this, but I really think that, based on their conduct of the Iraq war, our country has lost confidence in both of these leaders. So, bringing this back to Libby, like a lot of journalists who have been writing about this, I see the Libby trial as the first shot across the bow. Will more shots come? I don’t know … but anyway that’s why I said I was “happy”, and I do agree that it probably wasn’t the most seemly word choice. I do wish Mr. Libby and his family well, and I’m sorry they personally have to go through this humiliation.
March 9th, 2007 at 11:55 am
That didn’t really address my point, but thanks anyway.
March 9th, 2007 at 11:55 am
I don’t get it. Can I not be happy about Idi Amin’s humiliating fall, about John Couey being found guilty for killing that little girl, or Scooter Libby’s felony conviction; considering his role in the deaths of thousands of Iraqi’s and Americans? When you mass murder, people should be happy if you’re convicted. I do wish Mr. Libby and his family suffer as much as the Iraqi children. I’ve never heard Scooter’s family come out and say that they were always trying to persuade him that mass murder isn’t a good thing. That they always wanted him to testify against his employer, Mr. Cheney. No, they enjoyed the fruits of feeding at the public trough, and never batted an eye about who was being hurt by Scooter and Dick.
March 9th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Caryn, you’re right, I only answered one of your questions, and I didn’t answer this big question:
“Beyond politics, writing and banging the drums, how are we going to uniquely reach out to the guts of humanity and make a difference?”
It’s a good question, and my only problem is that I don’t know how to answer. I guess I tend to answer the questions I can answer before the ones I don’t know how to answer. I guess I was trying to let your comments stand because nothing I respond to that is going to be an adequate answer. I wasn’t ignoring the question, in other words — I was just letting it stand. I don’t know if that makes sense
Stokey — I wouldn’t personally go as far as you’re going here — I do not want Libby, or even Cheney, to suffer through the deprivation and violence of war as a form of punishment. I simply want them removed from power so they can stop doing further damage. I really don’t care that much if Cheney ends up in prison playing golf or in a mansion playing golf. Either way, I want to take the reins of government from the small group of people who have proven that they can’t handle the job. That’s really all I want.
March 9th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Yeah. I guess my point would be - glad WWII ended, too bad about Adolph and Eva. And they way they treated poor Mussolini. But if you go to the Italian cemeteries, see the same last name on the tombstone, followed by the many many first names of the guys who died between ‘41 and ‘45. I guess the folks were mad about that. Whole families lost, slaughtered.
And that was a good war, so they say. But maybe…if the folks back home had stopped Hitler and Hirohito before their adventerous escapades. Maybe that war wouldn’t have been necessary either.
I think you have to have lived through Vietnam to know the difference between war and peace. War is a bad thing, a last resort when there’re no other options. It isn’t patriotic or manly or heroic. Little kids die in war.
Their blood in on Libby’s hands. Tell me it isn’t. Tell me he had no role in the deaths of little children. Or that the lives of his kids have more value than that of other people’s children.
March 10th, 2007 at 8:27 am
You seem very interested in vengeance, Stokey. Personally, I wouldn’t waste my time on vengeance — I’d rather focus on fixing problems.
March 16th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
“Scooter Libby lied under oath about the justification for the Iraq War, and he’s now facing up to 25 years in jail.”
Umm, that’s just factually wrong. Libby was convicted of lying when he said that he learned about Valerie Plame’s CIA connection from Tim Russert. None of his statements under oath were about justification for the Iraq war.
March 16th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Jim, I accept your clarification and I will try to be clearer next time. I do think my statement remains broadly valid as a description of what happened, though. The White House’s campaign to lie to the American public about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was the backdrop to Libby’s crime.
I mean … Watergate was about burglary, but it wasn’t about burglary. I was just speaking in the broad terms.
However, I will try to be more specific and accurate in the future. Thanks.
July 11th, 2007 at 2:39 am
We live in interesting times. See “The Mayan Calender Comes North” see http://www.mayanmajix.com/
or watch David Ickes latest DVD. to understand the Divine rythm of this amazing planet.
The truth will ultimately win out, It is all Love. There is a massive shift of self and global consciousness at hand. To put it bluntly we are waking up.
The song Don’t Worry, Be Happy just about sums it up for me.
Remember…
God/Love is in control. Even if it seems It isn’t. Look beyond emotive, mental images and follow your heart. I believe the Illuminate agendas are crashing down all about us at a rapid rate. People are choosing to empower themselves. Those who are and want to remain ‘asleep’ so be it. This is their choice. But ignorance is no excuse. Good change will still happen.
I myself am follower of Eckankar.
May the blessings be…
Rod.