BCT Editorial – 7/9/07

This page was last updated on July 9, 2007.

Delicious; Editorial; Beaver County Times; July 9, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Apparently in the view of I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby’s supporters, one misdeed justifies another.”

[RWC] Look out; the editorial is going to equate Marc Rich’s crimes with the crime allegedly committed by Mr. Libby.

Actually, if Mr. Libby lied, he should be punished. To pretend, however, that the Rich and Libby cases are remotely similar is BS.

“Defenders of President Bush’s commutation of Libby’s 30-month prison sentence were quick to cite President Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich, who was indicted in 1983 but fled to Switzerland to avoid prosecution.

“Clinton’s pardon was roundly criticized, and rightly so. Rich was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List at the time.”

[RWC] I know I’m nitpicking, but the editorial didn’t claim the Times “roundly criticized” Mr. Clinton’s pardon spree. I could be wrong, but I suspect the editorial would have made that claim if it could. Even if the Times did criticize the 140 pardons issued by Mr. Clinton on his last day in office, the criticism would have been easy and meaningless since Mr. Clinton was no longer in office.

“But there’s a fly in the defenders’ ointment. It turns out that Libby, who was in private practice at the time, represented the international commodities trader.

“On top of that, Rich received a congratulatory call from Libby when he got the presidential pardon.

“It’s one of those Washington twists that results in delicious irony.”

[RWC] Let me get this straight. When a lawyer defends a guilty party and then successfully lobbies for a pardon, the lawyer should be punished for something? This is an interesting position.

Oh, there’s one other item the editorial failed to mention. In addition to prosecuting Mr. Libby, Patrick Fitzgerald was one of the prosecutors in the Rich case. Hmm, I wonder why the editorial didn’t mention that. <g>