Clinton Did It First

Admittedly, Pasadena Star News' Debra Saunders is not a columnist I read regularly. When I saw this from her in our local paper, though, I was impressed. Even though (quoting R.W.Emerson) I may say 'consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds', I like to see some one in the talking heads media department that doesn't roll over and play dead when some one makes a break with his principles of the past - to favor his own party.

Seems Fred Thompson, the new darling of the GoPervert Party, stood up for the justice system in his vote to convict President Clinton, of obstruction of justice. Now it's Scooter Libby in question. You guessed it. That's not a crime anymore. Obstruction, mobstruction.

Thompson was one of 10 Republican senators to vote against convicting President Bill Clinton after the House impeachment for perjury, but he did vote to convict on the obstruction of justice charge.

Yet Thompson does not come across as fair in a recent speech defending Scooter Libby, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. Thompson called for a presidential pardon on the grounds that "when you reverse an erroneous court decision, you are not disregarding the rule of law, you are enforcing and protecting it."

That's a problem. I don't want Libby to go to prison. I think it's an outrage that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald prosecuted Libby for covering up his actions during Fitzgerald's probe into the leak of a former CIA official's identity - especially because Fitzgerald never saw fit to prosecute the original leak itself.

Still, you can't vote to convict Clinton for obstructing justice, then argue that pardoning Libby would preserve justice.

Thompson's supporters promise an "unconventional campaign" that uses free media creatively. They point to Thompson's YouTube video response to filmmaker Michael Moore's challenge to a debate - which siphoned away media attention from the second GOP presidential primary debate of announced candidates. He was a no-show, but he won points in the spin game.

Others wonder if the unconventional campaign spin is an attempt to make a virtue out of Thompson's reputation as a man not willing to work Washington hours.

There is such a lack of character in the GOP, candidates and all, that E.J. Dionne in WaPo this morning made an interesting comment about the parallel universes of theirs vs. Dems.

So when Democratic presidential candidates get together, they argue about who has the best health-care plan. When Republicans have a big discussion, it's about torture and who'll use it when.

He goes on to develop this theme, showing with great clarity that we're talking good vs. evil on the political scene. How long Dionne will last at WaPo with this clarity of vision is a wild guess. Maybe Pasadena will find a place for him.