1115.org

Scooter Libby, after a carefully conducted cost-benefit analysis, has decided that despite being wholly innocent of the charges he was convicted of, he isn’t going to pursue his appeal of the conviction:

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney whose sentence for lying and obstructing justice in the CIA leak case was commuted by President Bush last summer, has dropped his legal appeal.
[…]
“We remain firmly convinced of Mr. Libby’s innocence,” his attorney, Theodore Wells, said in a statement today. “However, the realities were that after five years of government service by Mr. Libby and several years of defending against this case, the burden on Mr. Libby and his young family of continuing to pursue his complete vindication are too great to ask them to bear.”

In case you misunderstand the position of Libby/Wells, the reason for dropping the appeal boils down to: “Of course we’ll win the appeal, but it’s not worth winning”:

“The appeal would lead only to a retrial,” he said, “a process that would last even beyond the two years of supervised release, cost millions of dollars more than the fine he has already paid, and entail many more hundreds of hours preparing for an all-consuming appeal and retrial.”

The L.A. Times, instead of wiping away tears from their eyes, chose to impugn the motives of Libby and Wells this way:

The decision also reflects the political reality that if the appellate court granted a new trial, it would probably occur during the administration of the next president, who might not share Bush’s interest in helping his former official.

Now that Libby has dropped his appeal, the White House can no longer hide behind the skirts of “ongoing-legal-investigation”. As you might expect, the question came up at yesterday’s White House press briefing. It was, in fact, the very first question:

Q Scooter Libby dropped his appeal in the CIA leak case. How will that affect whether the President issues a pardon for him?

MS. PERINO: Well, we never comment on whether or not the President will be granting or not granting pardons to anybody. So I’m not able to comment.

Q So it’s still an open question?

MS. PERINO: Well, you know, if he chooses to pursue a pardon, there is that route. And of course the Constitution provides the President the powers of the pardon. And we just cannot speculate, as we don’t on any possible pardons.

Q Okay. Well, now that the appeal — there is no longer any appeal, can you speak to what the President thinks about Scooter Libby disclosing the name of a CIA official?

MS. PERINO: I did not have a chance to talk to — chance to speak to the President after this announcement was made this morning, and so I don’t have his immediate reaction. He gave a lengthy statement in July in regards to the commutation and so I’ll have to refer you to that for now.

Q But he didn’t talk about what Scooter Libby had actually done in that –

MS. PERINO: And as I said, I haven’t spoken to the President about it, so I’m not able to provide you anything else at this moment.

Q Is he expected to do pardons during the Christmas break?

MS. PERINO: I have to give the same answer, which is we don’t speculate on any possible pardons.

The White House press corps is no doubt holding out King Bruce’s spider as a role model to themselves. How long can Dana claim she hasn’t been able to speak to George?