Inmate #28301016

That was his number, already assigned. He was that close.

The right-wing talking points were already in hand, and most involved Bill Clinton.

By contrast, I had just finished Clinton’s chapter in “My Life” about the right-wing power trip which lead to his impeachment - in the wake of 70 percent public opposition to impeachment and support for Clinton from the legal community and many foreign heads of state.

One right-wingette, Republican strategist Karen Hanretty, appearing on “Anderson Cooper 360” takes the prize with her defense of the commutation of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison term: “Few Americans even know who he is.”

Bush claims Libby’s 30-month sentence is “too excessive.” Even Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, quiet and low-key, couldn’t let that one pass, issuing a statement that the sentence is not excessive and reflects federal guidelines.

The obvious is being overlooked: this effectively removes the best incentive for Libby to cooperate with investigators.

Like so many of you, I have followed the CIA leak investigation since day one. I have seen the right-wing deny that Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA covert operative, despite CIA verification of her status. At every turn, they have insisted there was no criminal case involved, there was no misconduct involved, and, therefore, “Scooter” should never have been charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.

At the heart of this matter was revenge – getting back at Ms. Wilson’s husband Joseph, former ambassador to Iraq and several African nations.

At the black soul of the matter are lies which lead this nation to war in Iraq.

“Scooter” was the human shield blocking any investigation of Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Bush himself – as Fitzgerald put it, throwing sand in the eyes of investigators.

As Queen Latifah vamps in “Chicago:” “Got a little motto always sees me through … you take care of Momma, she’ll take care of you.”

In other words, “If it doesn’t fit our ideology, the law be damned.”

That has been the mantra of the right-wing in this country long before the 2000 Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore.

It was Kenneth Starr’s playbook. It became the rallying cry of Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay and Dick Army. And, it has been standard operating procedure in the Bush White House.

Now, where is that number? Ah, here it is. 202-456-1414. The White House switchboard.

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THE CATALYST:

“What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” Joseph C. Wilson IV, op-ed, New York Times, 6 July 2003: LINK

THE CONCLUSION:

Text of Bush’s statement, 2 July 2007: LINK