new video -- on the president's decision to commute libby's sentence -- "from their own mouths. . ."

it took me a bit to distill
down the manifold possibilities for
a reaction video -- and, i've plainly
left a lot of good snark, and irony,
on the cutting-room floor, here,
but what remains is duly outrageous. . .
[because most of it is from bush's
own, and his father's own mouths. . .
bonus -- it is only 2:12 long.]

while the remarks of john dean -- the
lone lawyer in the nixon white house with
scruples -- are cogently dramatic, i think
the president's own father best puts this
in perspective. or perhaps, the president's
own broken promise, and hollow rhetoric, does.

one thing is certain -- as sen. patrick
leahy says, toward the end of the video -- "in
america, no man is above the law. . ."

it may take a while, but both mr. bush,
and mr. cheney, will see that they are
not above the law. libby may think he
is tonight, but that may soon change, as
well. . . it seems, in his haste to bury this
over the long fourth of july weekend, mr.
bush did not consult any real lawyers about
the ramifications of his commuting a sentence
that mr. libby has yet to begin serving -- and
imposing supervised release, instead.

in order to be eligible for release, mr. libby
must, by statute, have at least begun to serve
his sentence. that he has not done. and the language
of 18 USC § 3583(a), as judge walton has duly
noted, is clear -- mr. libby must serve some
of his sentence, before being eligible for any
supervised release. the positions of the
parties are due in to judge walton on monday
july 9, 2007. that will be an interesting
morning, as judge walton has encouraged
counsel to seek the views of the white
house on this matter -- i mean the president
made this mess -- let him clean it all
up, seems a fair reading of judge walton's
footnote, of today. . .

so, i guess, like many criminals, this
gang doesn't seem to have any of the sharper
pencils in its pack. the guys seem incapable of
shooting anything straight (save, of course,
mr. cheney's lawyer -- in the face -- but
cheney had the advantage of a scatter-gun, that day). . .

or, as prosecutors often say of "organized"
crime -- it often isn't.all.that."organized". . .