Scooter goes free

When I first heard the news that Scooter Libby escaped from jail, my first impulse -- apart from the obvious disgust -- was just apathy. Eh. Libby is a small potato. He was put away for obstruction of justice, and not the main perpetrator of the crime. They should have kept following the trail until it reached Rove, Cheney, or Bush.

But then I realized: The crime of outing Valerie Plame is the ONLY crime that has been prosecuted in the service of investigating going to war based on lies. And Scooter Libby is the ONLY person who has received any kind of punishment for this crime. And now he's gotten off, with a mere word from the president.

Yeah, now I'm pissed. This wasn't a pardon of some "family man" based on a bunch of whiny commentators feeling sorry for his kids. This was the Bush administration brazenly pardoning themselves and ducking responsibility for their actions yet again.