I must not be the man you think I am.

Bill Clinton did something remarkably stupid for a graduate of the Yale Law School, an Attorney General of the State of Arkansas and a law professor at the University of Arkansas.

He suborned perjury and committed perjury while sitting as President of the United States. His oath of office was short and sweet and can be found in the Constitution.

Bill Clinton, like Scooter Libby, was found guilty. Bill Clinton was caught red handed. He had nothing to appeal. Therein lies the difference.

Had Bill Clinton chosen not to smear and rile up Paula Jones, he probably would have avoided everything that followed. I know that libs love to sweep it all under the “it was just about sex” carpet, but that is patently not true.

Clinton is a lot like Nixon. If Nixon had not been so arrogant about his legacy, he would have burned the tapes and left the Watergate investigation high and dry. If Clinton had not stonewalled the Paula Jones litigants, he would have escaped the whole mess with lying, probably would have never have had his Monica business revealed and would not have been impeached.

Sorry, Angel, but Scooter’s sin is small potatoes to Clinton’s foolishness. You can love Clinton all you want, but he was still an arrogant buffoon who is a classic protagonist for a Greek tragedy. And, he did not uphold the Constitution to the best of his ability.

I know Thompson’s resume. And, that’s exactly why I don’t think he would run. He’s an honest man. Reagan wasn’t Jesus. I liked his fiscal policies, but the social stuff….eh.

Thompson was a prosecuting attorney, counsel to the Watergate committee (responsible for some of the most pointed questions aimed at Richard Nixon), prosecuted the Tennessee Parole Board case that resulted in the fall of the governor on corruption charges, all before he got into acting. He then served two terms in the Senate before voluntarily leaving to resume his acting career. I’m not sure what in that resume would make anyone think that Thompson doesn’t have strength of character and a proper set of beliefs.

I’m not trying to offend you.

I never said or suggested that you have to prove anything to anyone by disassociating myself with anything or anyone or that you felt, or should feel, compelled to comment on every scandal. I simply took your words about Clinton’s impeachment, his “hare-brained” liberal defenders, and how their words led you to disassociate yourself with them, and asked if you felt the same way about conservatives who continue to defend convicted felon Scooter Libby. So, the comment/question wasn’t about taking out my frustration (of which I have none) with white conservatives defending Scooter and Coulter, it was about gaining insight into your thinking process.

Said another way, President Clinton’s impeachment played some part in your defection from liberalism because the more you listened to hare-brained liberals, black ones especially, defending Clinton’s disgusting behavior, including his lies, the more you realized you wanted no association with such people. Isn’t Scooter’s criminal conviction all about his lying to the FBI and a federal grand jury and obstructing justice, not the Democrats? Aren’t conservatives doing the same thing with regard to Scooter as liberals did with regard to Clinton? Of course you don’t have to answer, or agree, or even allow this comment to stay posted on YOUR blog, but isn’t it fair for me to ask if there is a possibility that you will have the same reaction to Conservatives now that you had to liberals then and defect from conservatism?

I guess it depends on whose ox….you know the rest. But, there was a little too much breast beating about the “rule of law” when it came to Clinton and if you’re the man I think you are, you know that too. That’s why again I say politics is a dead end as far as making real changes in the culture.

A man’s mainspring is his own concern.
Trey,

Fred Thompson could do it because as history as shown, we don’t necessarily want somebody who believes what they’re saying as much as we want someone to make us believe he believes it. Thompson is a fine actor. He has gravitas. I would buy him as President.

Just to throw some kerosene on the blaze—— Scooter Libby was entirely sucker punched by a special prosecutor who refused to hold either Tim Russert or Richard Armitage to the same charges in the prosecution of Scooter.

The Libby case was brought in an investigation to see if the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was violated in the naming of Valarie Plame as a CIA operative. The prosecutor (Fitzgerald) found no way to charge Libby with the violation. But, he charged that Libby had lied to a federal prosecutor about when he first heard the name Valarie Plame.

Angel, anyone who does not have a dog in this case would recognize that Fitzgerald over reached. I suspect that this opinion will be upheld when the whole case is overturned on appeal.

If the Democrats had any confidence that Scooter Libby, Carl Rove or Dick Cheney had any part in violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act in regard to Valarie Plame they could force resignations through exercising their Congressional powers.

But the Democrats prefer the Fitzgerald route as it lets him do their political dirty work for them. Fitzgerald knew from the very outset that Richard Armitage leaked the name of Valerie Plame. No government entity has claimed that Valerie Plame was covert and subject to the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. The cast of characters who are all in the boat with Scooter Libby are Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, former Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, Richard Armitage, Tim Russert and Joe Wilson. But only Scooter Libby was prosecuted. How strange is that?

Angel, you noted in #64 that: “Either someone is a criminal or he isn’t.”

I am sure you will agree that not all “guilty” verdicts are the final word. Right now, Scooter Libby is guilty and therefore a criminal. When the dust settles, he will be found to have been the victim of a political show trial.

By the by: Henry Waxman is planning to bring Valerie Plame before his House committee. I guarantee you that she will not testify under oath. Otherwise it would all be the taking of the fifth amendment or prison for Ms. Plame.

Let the politics of destruction games continue!

Trey

Dianne, you’ve hit upon something that has bothered me for a very long time. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to want a man in the Oval Office who respects his wife, and by logical extension respects himself by remaining faithful. Honoring marital vows is a rather basic test of character.

“Screwing”….yikes!!! When you “say” it, it sounds so bad. I’m really not picking on you. It’s just funny.

Your willingness to see Libby pay for his crimes was conditional. That should never be the case. Either someone is a criminal or he isn’t. I don’t mean to put too fine a point on this, but that is what you said.

Sorry, but I’m reading exactly what you said. If your intent was different, then I apologize. I’m sure if you look at what you posted, it’s easy to see how I could come to my conclusion.