To Be Male, Connected and White: American Big Man again

The Bush administration has, once again shown it's stripes. While young black men and women get automatic 20+ year prison sentences for holding a vial of crack cocaine and white female students get slaps on the wrist for doing numerous illegal narcotics, "Scooter" Libby gets his jail sentence commuted by US President Bush because Bush felt that the sentence was "too much".

When I first started the American Big Man series in response to the clear violation of the FISA laws, some "conservatives" namely the blogger at No Oil for Pacifists, went to bat for the administration. I found it troubling that so called "law and order" Republicans would be so quick to cover for a clear violation of basic constitutional rights of all citizens (regardless of political affiliation). I knew that when a President, or any other office holder believes that the law does not apply to them, that the entire system is in trouble and the abuses would just continue and continue. Mind you the abuses of the Bush administration started long before the NSA wiretapping, but that case was so clear cut that I mistakenly thought that not even the worst of the so called "conservatives" would stand for an attack on the most basic of constitutional protections from the hated "big government". Boy was I wrong. What is probably even sadder than the Republican capitulation to a criminal president has been the about face of the Democratic party and specifically John Conyers, on the issue of impeachment. But that is off topic.

When Lil Kim was convicted of perjury and sent to jail, I wasn't sad. She knew she was lying and was too dumb to realize that there was evidence that would prove that she was lying. All to keep some kind of street cred. Send her butt to jail I said. You lie you go to jail. When Martha Stewart was sent off for lying about her stock deals. I was cool with that too. We want people to be honest with the justice system, because the truth is what "keeps" the system "honest". I put those items in quotes because I'm very much aware that the system is not honest, but work with me here. Even Paris Hilton got hers for breaking the law. Bush and Co. knew full well that the American populace was not having it, in the case of early releases for celebrities or rich people.

Bush, who has seen fit to have mentally ill people executed, felt that "scooter" Libby's sentence was too extreme for the crime. I guess that since libby wasn't holding a crack vial on a corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. he didn't "deserve" to be put in jail. Jail is for poor people, women and the unconnected. But there is more to the libby commutation than meets the eye. Libby was the fall guy. He fell on his sword for Cheney. The plan was to have Libby out on appeal and any other scheme until the after the next election. Then Bush was to pardon Libby when he was headed out the door. However, the judge was not having the whole game playing and was to promptly put Libby in the big house. Bush had to then make good on his deal with his boys. It's not like Bush has a popularity rating to worry about.

Knowing this, it should be clear to anyone watching that this is a gang we're dealing with here. We can call it the Bush Mob. Personally I think that had the Democrats gone forward with impeachment, the Libby thing would have gone a whole lot differently since when criminals are under pressure it's every man for himself.

Some people point out that Libby is still a convicted felon and has that 250,000 fine to pay. First off. Libby is Rich and has rich friends who clearly sympathize with him. Unlike the unfortunate black men of Newark, NJ and in other 'hoods across America, Libby's felony record will not preclude him from real gainful employment. I smell a book in the works that will make him a couple of million. I also smell not a few speaking gigs worth many grands. I also foresee that some of the connected friends of his will kick in with some ends to pay down that debt. No, Libby was walking around with smiles 'cause the worst he had to worry about was jail.

The funniest thing about this whole thing is that Bush ran on a platform of bringing integrity back to the office of the presidency which was a reference to Monica Lewinsky. Yet this president has done more to tarnish the office of the presidency than Clinton ever did and I'm not even a Clinton fan. It shows the serious sexual hang-ups that a large number of Americans have, to have made a huge issue of Clinton getting head in the oval office, but can not even work up a stink over the assault on their basic constitutional rights.

Technorati Tags: critique, governance, Scooter Libby, US Constitution