Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Dionne on the pardon

Of course, E.J. Dionne, Jr. wants to make the Libby pardon about the politics of the Iraq war. For him, Scooter Libby is a symbol of all the war supporters:

The Libby case put their generation on trial, to use Alistair Cooke’s evocative phrase about a very different trial in an earlier age. The verdict against Libby was a verdict against them.

This is, of course, ridiculous, implying (as he wants to) that making the case for the war was criminal: "Bush lied; people died; if there were any real justice in America, all the war supporters in the Bush Administration would be going to jail."

I know this is the position of many on the hard left and of some on the isolationist right. I’ve come not to expect more and better of Dionne, who was once an interesting and thoughtful columnist.

Discussions - 6 Comments

Libby is a necon scumbag, and like all neocons, a born fifth-columnist traitor. They all should be deported permanently from the U.S.

I’ve come not to expect more and better of Dionne, who was once an interesting and thoughtful columnist.


Sometime during the last few years -- possibly the advent of Bush2 was the catalyst -- Dionne found his inner lunatic, and now he lives on easy terms with it. I suppose it's one of the saddest comments one can make about a writer: There was a time when he was worth reading.

Dionne is overreaching there, agreed. Even if you want to make Libby's troubles about more than obstruction of justice, it doesn't go all the way to the war itself. It is about the administration's ruthless attempts to silence its enemies. That's plenty.

Dionne's analogy to the Red Decade is ridiculous. Just for starters, Libby and the neocons are patriots. If we want to get more complicated, Libby and the neocons wanted to expand freedom, not slavery.

The case for the war was based on fraud, lies, and distortion. The human and financial cost have been incalculable, and the benefit questionable.
Those who tried to point this out while it was happening were labeled unpatriotic, traitorous,and delusional.

If "patriotic" means loyal to an administration, then Libby was a patriot. If patriotic means loyal to one's country, to the Constitution, to American ideals, then Libby was no patriot, and his lies on the stand were intended to hide the rest of the iceberg, of which his story is just the tip.

To advocate a pardon is to identify with the continuation of governance via lie, fear, and acting outside the law.

I agree with Joe and Michelle about Dionne.

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