It Makes Me Smile

Tiffany Midgeson has created a new standard for the application of criminal sanction:

I'm not a lawyer, so I have no idea what the odds are of any appeal by Libby being successful. But here's what I do know for a fact.

I know that nothing Scooter Libby did led to the publication of the name of CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson in Robert Novak's column - the event that began this legal fiasco.

I know that Scooter Libby, who is an old friend of mine, is suffering today. I know his wife, Harriet, is suffering. I know his children are in torment. And it breaks my heart.

Because if a criminal suffers when he's convicted of a crime, the crime didn't happen. And the immediate family deserve a veto on conviction, or at least the right to make a criminal impact statement, as it were.

These sentiments make sense coming from a man like Poddy, whose first and only accomplishment occurred that night, many years ago, when Norm and Midge got plastered, cried like babies and then did their duty for posterity. (And they weren't even psychic!) If you can't use your family to carry your worthless ass throughout your life, then what good are they?

Meanwhile:

While the rest of the Scooter Libby Fan Club is getting all the ink they want to spin their fables, Marty Peretz, who is a Founding Father of the Libby Legal Defense Trust, has remained silent as the grave. And it's not because his dictaphone is broken. Perhaps Marty is a shrewd investor after all.