The real reason Scooter Libby won't be pardoned until after the 2008 election

The way I see Libby is as a neo-con true believer (and Mossad agent) who would never rat out the other gangsters. It's on the same tribal honor level (almost) as jihadists.

Maybe I'm dense, but I don't see the difference in whether Cooter would be able to plead the 5th or not. The way I see it he's in the administration cabal, so he'd follow the same path as the rest, he would either forget or lie.

Fitz, still having jurisdiction, thanks to the Libby appeal, could impanel a new grand jury, immunize Libby and call him as a witness against the man about whom this whole mess started in the first place, Vice.

He has no 5th amendment privilege if he is immunized. If the target is Cheney, any pardon of Libby for contempt of court, for refusing to testify, would be obvious obstruction (like the commutation isn't, for those with half a brain)

Actually, Fitz could drag out the grand jury until Bush has left office, giving him no chance to pardon himself or Cheney, as long as he doesn't lose jurisdiction by waiting.

Isn't there still a civil suit out there?

Under the Constitution, only the president has absolute immunity from prosecution while in office. The VP is fair game, as we saw with Agnew.

Do we, the people, now have to do everything is this country?

Are we going to have to band together and file charges against Cheney? I hear it's possible to do so. I'd like to hear it from a constitutional lawyer.

No new evidence is allowed in on appeal. No new testimony. Therefore no need for 5th.

Unless someone else is tried, and Libby was called as a witness, and somehow his testimony there biased his appeal?? Or his appeal was remanded or went to another trial??

But couldn't Libby be offered immunity for his testimony, thus depriving him of the 5th amendment loophole? Of course, if he still refuses to spill the beans and is nailed for contempt or perjury, Bush could pardon him for that offense as well. Maybe, we'll just have to wait until there is a new (Democratic) President in office who will not be so generous. I would like to see these matters fully investigated and prosecuted regardless of how long it might take. Hell, Nazi war criminals were apprehended and tried decades after committing their crimes.

It boggles the mind to think how long I have been commenting in blogs and e-mails that Bush would be reluctant to pardon Libby on account of the risk in making him immune to prosecution. People must have thought that Bush was a faithful deal-maker of some kind, rather than a selfish little troll whose actions are calculated purely for his own benefit. Bush made no deal with Cheney or Libby (neither of them a devoted Bush toadie) that wouldn't readily be discarded unilaterally; Bush didn't commute Libby's sentence as reward for service rendered, but to keep Libby exactly enough frightened to keep his mouth shut--not too little frightened, and neither too much frightened.

For Cheney, whose toadie Libby is, this 'gift' from Bush was no doubt good enough for now.

The mass-murdering president had no choice, not if he was to hold onto power. After all, way back then, one wouldn't have had to be a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on, who was running the show and all that. The problem was what to do about it; until, presto, ergo, troops out now happens along and changes the world.