Fouad Ajami and Scooter Libby
A peculiarity of the Bush admin has always been its tarbaby like ability to suck people in once they were stuck supporting the boys, destroy their reputation. I've said several times that Fouad Ajami is a favorite of mine and I was thoroughly educated by his last book on Iraq.
Alas, I was taken aback by his op-ed piece in the WSJ yesterday. I pretty much agree with this piece by Steve Benen on Talkingpointsmemo.
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Labels: Ajami, Bush admin, politics
posted by Clemens @ 12:25 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I like what Broder (not especially famous for his conservatism) wrote in today's Washington Post. I suppose you have to read the entire thing to "get" it, but the most relevant passage, methinks, is this: I think they have a point. This whole controversy is a sideshow -- engineered partly by the publicity-seeking former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife and heightened by the hunger in parts of Washington to "get" Rove for something or other.
Like other special prosecutors before him, Fitzgerald got caught up in the excitement of the case and pursued Libby relentlessly, well beyond the time that was reasonable.
Nonetheless, on the fundamental point, Walton and Fitzgerald have it right. Libby let his loyalty to his boss and to the administration cloud his judgment -- and perhaps his memory -- in denying that he was part of the effort to discredit the Wilson pair. Lying to a grand jury is serious business, especially when it is done by a person occupying a high government position where the public trust is at stake.
Knowing Judge Walton a bit, I was certain that he would never be party to allowing a big shot to get off more easily than any of the two-bit bad guys who used to show up in his courtroom for sentencing. When he goes to his next school session, he wants to be able to tell those young people that no one is above the law -- and mean it. You see, Walton is not just in the business of enforcing the law. He is also committed to steering youths in the right direction. This case will help.
I don't think it was entirely a sideshow, but that is beside the point as I think you are saying through Broder. "On the fundamental point, Walton and Fitzgerald have it right."
Walton has, I believe, impeccable credentials as a Bush-friendly, no nonsense judge who is a stickler for the law. To portray him, as the folks at NRO do, e.g., as part of some goofball liberal plot to get Libby or Cheney no matter what doesn't wash.
As for the pardon,which the same folks want, how do they square that with their bitter opposition to "amnesty" to illegal aliens? If el Prez can pardon one unrepentant convicted criminal, why not 12 million? Same principle.
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