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Saturday, June 9, 2007 - 6:35pm Paris Hilton Goes Back to Jail...Will Scooter Follow? Scooter Libby was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison earlier this week, but you can be sure that he will spend less time in jail than Paris Hilton has already served. Everyone keeps talking about if George Bush will pardon Libby, but the only real question is when. 'W' will make sure that Libby doesn't do any time for his crimes.
The wrench in the administration's plan is Judge Reginald Walton, who was, coincidentally appointed by Bush. The judge may force Scooter Libby to go to prison while the appeal is pending. This would force Bush's hand ahead of time. Bush isn't going to let someone from his inner circle go to prison, so I'm betting the pardon comes quickly.
From Bush's point of view, he has very little to lose by offering up a pardon. His approval rating can't go much lower and he isn't running for anything. However, many people in the Repuiblican party are running for office in 2008 and a pardon would make the party look very bad.
Most of the yes-man candidates for the GOP nomination already support a pardon, but you can bet they didn't when President Clinton was in a similar situation. Like much in Washington, most politicians check which party is engaging in criminal activity before offering an opinion on it. The GOP will castigate Clinton for lying under oath because he is a Democrat, but if a Republican does the same, it's not that big of a deal.
Likewise on the Democratic side. President Clinton's crimes were brushed off by liberals, but they are first in line to string up Scooter. In my opinion, they should both go to prison for a long, long time....but it's never gonna happen.
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Even though Scooter Libby was sentenced to jail this week, he doesn't
actually have to go until the appeals process plays out. That
could take months upon months. The longer the process goes, the
better it is for Bush, as he would prefer to pardon Libby on the last
day of his presidency. This would be the least problematic time
for Bush because it'd be after the 2008 elections and because he
wouldn't have to answer questions about it.