Libby Guilty

I haven't been following this case closely enough to have any intelligent direct comments. I DO know enough about the Plame "leak" case to know it's full of [garbage], but often non-cases get people into trouble when they try to overdefend, feeling it's justified because the accusors are so full of it.

If Libby had a suspiciously selective memory, jerked investigators around, and fibbed under oath, I'm glad he was found guilty, no matter how stupid the original cause of the investigation was. I don't know enough to say he wasn't, and so I'll leave the outrage to others better informed. I'm not one of those people (say, for example, Clinton apologists) who thinks perjury is less serious just because the thing lied about isn't serious (say, for example, sex) - perjury is a direct assault on the entire system of due process, and should be mercilessly weeded out, no matter what the lie was about. I don't care which President or party or elections it hurts. I don't have any sympathy for perjurers no matter how sympathetic the witness or how obnoxious, overbearing, or abusive the prosecutor.

But I am bothered by some of the juror comments. I'm bothered by some of the legal rulings, and bothered that the jury seemed to be confused about some material facts and the narrowness of the issues they seemed to have considered. I'm bothered by the political nature of the original investigation. But that's why we have an appeals process.

Whether Libby is guilty or not, I don't know. What I DO know is that the fact Joe Wilson is running around doing Vanity Fair pictorials while Libby faces jail time is absurd. David Frum puts it best:

Scooter Libby is convicted in the Plame leak case. The man who actually did the leaking continues to earn millions of dollars, go out to dinner, and be respectfully quoted by attentive journalists.

Scooter Libby is publicly branded an oath-breaker on the basis of diverging recollections. Yet it was the man who set this case in motion, former ambassador Joe Wilson, who was caught in lie after lie by the Senate Intelligence committee.

Frum also noted the penalties Clinton suffered for his perjury, including all the jail time HE had to serve.

More cogent (if partisan) running reax on NRO's the Corner.

Michelle Malkin has updating reporting and more links.

A more diverse smattering of opinion compiled at RealClearPolitics.