The Gentleman's Deal

Attaturk posts below about the New York Times' nonsense editorial regarding the potential for a Libby pardon. The NYT misses the bigger point, a point most of us conspiracy theorists on this side of the blogosphere have seen since, well since the Chimp took office. Well now we have proof that really these people are worse than we thought they could have been. They are more cynical, conniving, and craven than we would allow ourselves to believe. And they are worse than the most corrupt administrations in history, not just in their malevolence, but in the damage they have done to American interests around the world, not to mention the Constitution.

Libby is getting a pardon because that is the deal he made. He did exactly what he was told to do; now Bush will do what Cheney told Libby Bush would do if the trial ended with a conviction. Josh Marshall has it quite right I believe on the similar scandal which is now unfolding regarding Gonzalez:

For some, it is a matter of outrage that President Bush has renewed his support for Alberto Gonzales even after new evidence has emerged that the Attorney General has repeatedly lied about the US Attorney Purge. Myself, I see it more as a matter of confirmation and almost a welcome one in that it confirms the nature of the debate we're having.

This isn't a case where Alberto Gonzales has fallen short of the president's standards or bungled some process. This is the standard. The Attorney General has done and is doing precisely what is expected of him.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. When you factor in the FBI scandal involving NSLs and the now hot again inquiry into the OPR investigation being shut down for obviously political reasons we have major scandals brewing, but more important, light being shed on the way this administration does bidness, or as Josh Marshall writes:

Of course he's fine with it. Because it comes from him. None of this is about Alberto Gonzales. This is about the president and the White House, which is where this entire plan was hatched. Gonzales was just following orders, executing the president's plans. This is about this president and this White House, which ... let's be honest, everyone on both sides of the aisle already knows.

We are connecting all the dots and the pattern is just as we suspected, not that it smells any better now. So expecting a pardon isn't cynical, it is just recognizing the obvious. Libby has a deal, just like Gonzalez has a deal. It is just that simple.