Atleast that gets rid of the "Legal Fund will just pay the fine" talking point.

If only little "Scooter" had a multi-millionaire friend. Perhaps some kind of guy who might have got in trouble if little "Scooter" hadn't obstructed justice. Perhaps some guy who might have been "impeached" if little "Scooter" hadn't obstructed justice might chip in a small tad of his multi-million dollar net worth.

Just saying...

Jake is well known troll from Thinkprogress. Ignore him.

I don't even know what "Thinkprogress" is.

If you want to know more about I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's holdings, spend a little time looking at "Swift Gift" as well as his oilpatch holdings in Louisiana.

He's not a pauper.

His disclosures are available here:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/candlook.asp?txtName=libby

I did research on charter schools in the 1990's. Hudson was sponsoring an advocate of charter's named Chester Finn. I hope Chester likes having his research linked with a convicted felon.

The Sun says that Hudson let him go after the conviction.

http://www.nysun.com/article/55943?page_no=3

what's REALLY painful is reading comments like this from the wingnut news fringe...

It was noted on an earlier thread that Libby's cashier's check is dated July 2. I assume before 5:00 pm on July 2.

According to The New York Times:

The decision was announced by the White House in a formal statement, just after Mr. Bush had returned to Washington from Kennebunkport, where he spent the weekend meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. ...

The decision was closely held; only a few aides knew. The commutation seemed to catch Justice Department officials, and even some of Mr. Bush’s closest aides, off guard. At the Justice Department, several senior officials were on their way out of the building shortly before 6 p.m. when news flashed on their Blackberries. They were floored.

At the White House, Tony Snow, the press secretary, said he did not know who was consulted, or how the decision reached. Asked if Fred F. Fielding, the White House counsel, had been advising Mr. Bush on the matter, Mr. Snow said, “My guess is Fred did, but I’m guessing with you right now.”

Has anyone stopped to think maybe we were had by Patrick Fitzgerald from the very beginning? First of all, he was appointed by the Bush Justice Department, and we've all seen how they value being a "loyal Bushie" above EVERYTHING else. Also, notice how careful Bush and the White House are not to criticize Fitzgerald in any way. Bush criticized the Republican-appointed judges sentencing, but not Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was praised as a non-partisan rule of law type, but so was Bush's Supreme Court appointee John Roberts if you'll remember. Roberts is turning out to be just as "loyal Bushie" as Scalia, Thomas, or Alito.

I read the other day that Fitzgerald's office was surprised the commutation did not take place even sooner than it did. Why did they know that already?

I'm starting to think we were had by Fitzgerald, and that he only went after the small fish on purpose. He knew the White House would just pardon or commute the sentence of any small fish like Libby.

It's not like there was no evidence that could have been used to charge Rove or even Cheney himself.

My "conspiracy theory" on this whole issue is that Fitzgerald did not target any big fish on purpose. In fact, he protected them.

Question (and I haven't seen this raised by any of the early reports or commentators):
If I. Lewis Libby is appealing his conviction, and therefore also his sentence, WHY did he pay the $250,000 fine plus $400 costs that were part of his punishment (the "excessive" part of which punishment was commuted by President Cheney, er...Bush)? Does Libby agree that his conviction and sentence were proper? Is it just to stop the running of interest on a fine he knows would be upheld? Comments from any who have insight or experience on this issue?