The Scooter Libby situation has gotten completely out of hand.
The trial, the very definition of a political witch hunt, has resulted in the complete distruction of the career and life of a man who's done nothing but serve his country as an ordinary civil servant.
Yes, he was guilty, if you agree that a co-worker disagreeing with you about what you said to them a few years ago is indeed perjury and obstruction of justice.
However, the behavior of Patrick Fitzgerald in this case is completely out of hand. His note is the equivalent of saying "yes, we found him guilty of running a red light, but I know he murdered a person, so let's sentence him as if we had found him guilty of that" - and the judge agreed.
I can't rehash the details as well as National Review Online has, so I'll leave the heavy lifting to them. But 30 months and a $250K fine for Libby while Sandy Berger destroys documents from the National Archives and gets a $50K fine, loses his security clearance for three years and is disbarred.
Disparity? Political pandering? Fitzgerald trying to redeem himself because he could never prove any crime actually occurred? Payback for not being able to "stick it to Cheney and Rove?" Naaah.
Fred Thompson has said he would have already pardoned Mr. Libby by now were he President; let's hope that for once President Bush has the intestinal fortitude to do the same.
I'm not counting on it.
