The Crossed Pond

I don’t get the whining over Libby’s prosecution, nor, historically, over Bill Clinton’s impeachment. Perjury’s no joke; if people can go into court and lie without consequence, the legal system won’t work. Now, whether or not we agree with the Grand Jury system, the fact is that it’s only going to work at all if witnesses are compelled to tell the truth by the threat of legal jeopardy if they don’t. Clinton should have been cast from office and Libby’s prosecution should have gone forward, as it has done, regardless of whether or not the jury judge him to have lied, so long as there was sufficient evidence to bring the case. For those, like the normally good Byron York, who prefer to imply that the case should never have been brought because the alleged offence occurred during the course of an investigation which itself bore no fruit, I would say to them that this prosecution fulfills one of the primary purposes of enforcing the law, to wit, deterrence.

Evidence suggests that Bush isn’t planning a Clinton-style disgraceful pardon medley, for which kudos to him, leading to the conclusion that Libby’s jeopardy is real. So it should be.

Oh yeah, and Martha Stewart deserved what she got, too.